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Our Initiative

  The Communities for All Ages Team :
  Our Funder:  
  • Kalamazoo Community Foundation

Phase of Development: IMPLEMENTATION

 

 

Starting date: October 1, 2009 

Our work:
 Based on our community assessment and planning, our team chose to focus on engaging the community and helping residents of all ages bring high quality, intergenerational supports to the alternative middle school and the children and families of that school in ways that engage, build leadership, remove barriers to learning, and provide enrichment, encouragement and support so children can succeed in school.  The alternative middle school has, to date, been unable to access many of the supports and opportunities offered to other schools in the public school system including afterschool programming, on site libraries and tutoring services.  
 
 One of our first decisions was to hire a local community resident activist to provide additional organizing and coordinating support to the team. The team has been very excitied to bring on board Pamela Jenkins, a passionate and committed community activist and resident of Northside. 
 
 Our next step to kick off our efforts was to organize and coordinate a community resource fair that was intended to build relationships and enhance communication between local residents and community organizations. The students and parents from the alternative middle school were engaged in the organizing process and helped to make the event a success. 
 
 The Communities for all Ages team then began a summer pilot program by collaborating with the Alternative middle school students and staff , local organizations, businesses and Northside residents of all ages to create a range of leadership, academic support, recreation, creative arts, mentoring and service learning opportunities over the summer for the alternative middle school students and their families.
 
By bringing together many existing resources and creating new opportunites within the community, the CFAA team successfully designed a comprehensive 9 week program for 15-20 of the 40 students from the Alternative Middle school.  It was the first summer program for many youth, who had previously been  unable to afford a summer program in the past.  An intergenerational group of residents aged 20-72 volunteered  as mentors and participating with the youth throughout the summer.  The business community and other individuals also generously donated supplies for community greening projects, and personal computers for each youth who successfully complete the summer program.  Dr. Hodge, the school principal, held a youth golf outing fundraiser to provide stipends for additional youth to participate in the fall as we continue our work.  The youth who participated in the summer program have shown a change in attitudes and perception about school.  They showed higher expectations which are carrying over to the school year.  Some of the youth have returned to receive additional tutoring.  

 

 The youth are not the only ones who have benefited through the summer program.  Parent engagement among parents of the youth who participated in the summer program has increased.  They are willing to volunteer and show up because of the positive change in their child.  At the Christmas family event at the school this year, there was the the highest recorded attendance by families and caregivers.   A new call system for the Alternative Middle school was acquired with the help of CFAA Northside CFAA tea,.  The Alternative Middle School did not have the proper phone system to keep their school safe and interact with the families.  The team was able to advocate with Kalamazoo Public Schools and emphasize the importance of a phone system that every other school in the system currently has.

After the success and energy from the summer, the team took some time, with the support of a local consultant, to reflect on our successes and challenges, identify effective collaborative management strategies and plan with the school administration, staff and students about how to grow and expand our enagement of the community and residents of all ages.  This process has helped to support new and expanded collaborations with organizations that have not worked together before and helped build the capacity of organizations on the team to offer intergenerational programming.  

Over the next year we will continue building our team by reaching out to key organizations in the Northside and tapping the students at the Alternative Middle School and older adult residents  for leadership opportunities within the team and the Alternative Middle school.  The CFAA Northside team will also conduct an intergenerational leadership development training series to support our work with the school staff, students and caregivers.  We will develop a range of compelling opportunities for residents of all ages to become involved with supporting the the school.  Our upcoming efforts include intergenerational arts based activities and a community history project in collaboration with the Black Arts Council for Black History Month.

 

 

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