Community service (1 Viewer)

[wnelson]

Rebooting a thread that needs it.

Folks of means who want to make a gym etc. happen. Continue here civilly.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

last 2 years i've been in Programming for the Rec Dept - this means i've worked closely with tons of organizations of various means offering programs for the whole city but mostly youth/teens and mostly "working poor" families

i wish there was a sure fire answer for what works and what doesn't, but i haven't seen it - like businesses or relationships - success is hard to predict and harder to replicate

the one things that will bring people on is food - if you can hook-up with a "No kid Hungry" campaign, all the better

things to try:
giving kids agency (asking them to help plan activities, design t-shirts, choose music, establish discipline protocol)

things to avoid:
talking down to kids - you are entering their neighborhood - even if you consider it "hood" it's their home - they understand the situation much better than 'you' do
expecting too much and/or too little - this is tricky and it's why bringing them into the design helps
expecting them to be grateful - they've already had tons of people coming at them to "fix" their situation - trust and gratitude won't be given out for quite awhile
yelling/fussing at them about schedule - they might be late/they might not show up - they do not have control over their schedule

good luck
but mostly good patience

 

[RazorOye]

at this time of year, things to do in the summer are extremely important for kids who are in the lower socioeconomic brackets

there's a lot of information around this topic, but here's a sample article from the Toronto Star:

Summer widens rich/poor learning gap | The Star

Children in rich, educated families tend to become better readers over the summer — improving at almost the same pace as if they were in school — largely because they have more time with their highly literate parents, new research shows.

But students in less affluent, less educated families can lose almost a month’s worth of reading skill, widening the learning gap between rich and poor while school is closed for the summer.

The study is the largest ever done in Canada into the “summer setback” in literacy experienced by students in low-income families. While continuing this summer in nearly 40 school boards across the province, pilot programs over the past two years have already shown that children of wealthy, university-educated parents tend to read about five months ahead of their poorest classmates by the end of June each year, and the gap stretches even wider in summer when children are immersed in their diverse family backgrounds without school to level the playing field.

A child who is reading four to five months behind his richer classmates in Grade 1 can fall more than a whole year behind by Grade 3, the study showed.

the cumulative effect over time can be pretty stark.

Now, the article goes on to say that the activities don't have to be overnight camps or vacations to exotic locales:

“It’s also the daily conversations that are sophisticated and expand children’s vocabularies, and being read to regularly by seasoned readers, one-on-one,” he said in his latest report, to be published in Canadian Public Policy. “This informal role-modeling is available to affluent children seven days per week. Less advantaged children, in contrast, have less constant exposure to those quality resources.”

But the research project also sponsored about 60 summer literacy camps across 30 school boards over the past two years, targeted at low-income, struggling readers, to see if they make a difference. And they do, Davies said.

and, for me, this is really important. And that's part of the reason why I mentioned, in the other thread, libraries are so critical. Reading to/with and talking to/with adults is so important.

I'd say get in touch with the library and see what is available, what options might be.

This also means, however, that funding public libraries needs to be a focus for municipal budgets, and these things have increasingly been cut, unfortunately.

 

[mt15]

I couldn’t agree more with the reading angle. My daughter has participated in a pre-K program for disadvantaged kids where they simply read books to them, for one thing. A lot of those kids have never owned a book of their own, let alone never having an adult read to them.

 

[You]

I like the idea. citizens ought to be more involved directly in helping fill the needs of their community rather than reliance on the government.

problem is though. politicians have done such a good job of dividing us that no one wants to get involved on grassroots issues.

 

[Domefan504]

I like the idea. citizens ought to be more involved directly in helping fill the needs of their community rather than reliance on the government.

problem is though. politicians have done such a good job of dividing us that no one wants to get involved on grassroots issues.

I agree. It is disheartening that our governments (Local,State,Federal) are cutting programs like TOPS, Grants for education, Meals on Wheels, as well as mental health care to those who need it. I'm think in many ways government has failed us.

We need more parks for our children. More recreational programs. We need to take care of children making sure they get the proper education!

Another way to help community is to donate to organizations . I donate to Bridge House. They help suffering alcoholics, and addicts. Alcohol, and addiction strikes all walks of life not just the poor. Anyway just my thoughts.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

those who are really interested in doing good works in communities that you're not currently 'invested' in, i suggest some training
The Peoples Institute has workshops about 'entering communities'
i've done it/seen it - it's strong work
Programs

 

[wnelson]

I don't think the parks are the issue so much as the times they are open due to a lack of funding for oversight. I would work for 10/hr 5 nights a week as a bball coach in central city if there was a spot and I had off duty police as coaches and refs.

as for reading over the summer... I am far from rich and debatably intelligent but I just gave my 14 year old daughter my Hitchikers collection to read this summer. she is way smarter than I am as she finished her 8th grade year with a 4.0. that makes her 8th year in a row, she cant make a free throw tho.