Best Memory of Providing Community Outreach

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Permalink Reply by Michael O. Johnston on December 11, 2008 at 10:49pm

My best memory of community outreach was an event which I developed during my undergraduate internship with a local mall. The event was called "Take a Shot for M.S. (Multiple Sclerosis)".

This event took place around the time of NCAA Mens Basketball tournaments and was centered toward participation from youth. This event required that youth take a free throw shot and if they made it they were able to draw from a hat, and the number although anonymous at the time would the next day correspond with the team that was chosen for that specific bracket number.

Also, local businesses were also recruited for this event, in which they would provide either contribution of prizes, sponsorships for teams, or both. The local businesses used whatever they had available to build a sort of hype for there young free throw shooter. As the tournaments began to wind down and the bracket began to move in, participants started to become winners of prizes and the activity began to gain a lot of hype from the community. Before we new it the sweet sixteen, the final four, and then finally it was just two teams duking it out. The event went by way to fast, it was exciting, and the winner was crowned before we were ready.

Some of the prizes:
For Youth:

1st Prize- Season tickets for the Indian Hills Warriors (Local Community College), Volt throughout the previous tournament rounds a trophy, and a spot on an inaugural plaque.

2nd Prize- A year supply of Volt, as well as additional supplies from the previous rounds which they were winners of.

Additional Prizes- Giftcards to local businesses, shirts, posters, etc.

For Winning Business:

1st Prize- For the team that won they received a trophy and a spot on the inaugural plaque with the businesses "team member"

- Michael

Permalink Reply by GeekChick on December 12, 2008 at 11:29am

This is a no-brainer for me. There's one program that outshines just about everything else I've ever done. When I became an Urban Park Ranger in New York City, two of the other rangers had just received a DEC grant to start a nature center/environmental ed program of sorts at Jackie Robinson Park. This park is a classic inner-city situation -- crack vials everywhere, women giving BJ's in the bushes in exchange for drugs, packs of feral dogs, etc. This park was essentially one of the City's public swimming pools, but it also housed a large community day care. There were something like 60-70 kids there, of all ages.

Anyhow.....At one point one of the rangers who started the grant process moved on. I jumped at the opportunity to fill his shoes. My partner and I built a small room inside the main day care room and made it a colorful haven of joy in this most dismal of neighborhoods. The kids clamored to go inside. We painted it all rainbow-y -- used blue pool paint for the ceiling (sky), green benches/shelves (grass), had flooring that looked like sand, etc. It was the only spot of color in a 'hood where everything else was dark and sombre.

We started doing after school programs for the kids -- things like taking them on nature walks (there actually were some decent forest areas in the park, though we had to be on the lookout for the illicit activity mentioned above), teaching them how to use their senses (eg, listening to the wind), planting flowers along walkways, and so forth. Sometimes, we just took them out to play.

My partner and I were the only two white people for miles. A lot of people in the area distrusted us and weren't very receptive. But it wasn't too long before some of the "village elders" (so to speak) realized that our mission was for the children, and they protected us. They made sure no one messed with us. And this was definitely the kind of neighborhood where we needed it!

The experience of working with this program was immensely rewarding -- and depressing. Here were all these sweet little kids who had so many decks stacked against them from birth. They were so into the things we were teaching them. You know how kids are -- so innocent and loving. It was so sad to see their lives, and yet it was also so great to see how we were influencing them. For example, after about a year of the program, we noticed that the kids were starting to mediate each other's disagreements, rather than fighting. It was an amazing thing to see. We also started reaching out to the community schools, offering four-part programs on a few different environmental topics.

There was one truly horrible moment: someone had been shot on a park stairway, and let's just say that no one bothered to clean up. I cannot describe the impact of this -- that the system and the police valued this person's life so little that they didn't give him (or the community) the dignity of hosing off the steps. I went home and cried in despair and sadness, and I guess maybe also embarrassment at my privileged white status and how my "peers" treated these people.

In the end, I had to request reassignment for a couple of different reasons, the biggest of which was the departure of my partner and his replacement's being a complete jerk. I felt so guilty for leaving, and I don't know what became of the program.

But it was the singlemost meaningful year of my life, and one that colors my perception of my current job to this day. How can I feel good about pushing papers around, when I could be doing something like that? I hope to return to work like that again someday, and in the meantime I try to offer my moral and financial support to similar programs. It kind of ties into my spiritual philosophy: I feel so thankful to have been born into a society and family where my being educated was never a question. I could have so easily been born into a county where I'd have no value other than as a baby-maker, where I could've been beaten, never educated, and even sold into prostitution and/or slavery. I realized a few years ago that the best way for me to show my thankfulness was to help others gain greater access to the education that can set them free from such cycles. I hope to get more actively involved in something again in the not-too-distant future, and now that my kids are old enough, I'd like to get them involved in a service kind of way. Showing them how to be thankful as well, and how to be compassionate and caring for the less fortunate.

Sorry this is so long, and sorry if any part of it bummed you out. It breaks my heart to see such injustice, but it makes me feel better to know that there are people out there who've dedicated their careers to correcting it!

Permalink Reply by Michael O. Johnston on December 12, 2008 at 12:31pm

GeekChick (for lack of remembering your real name),

This is great, I love to see other individuals feeling as passionate about serving a mission to todays youth. It is unfortunate that there are so many wealthy individuals in such a great country as the US, but yet there are still so many that are highly disadvantaged and from day one those individuals have as you put it so many decks stacked against them. However, the individuals who have the decks stacked against them do not have those opportunities available for them to make this change themselves, and we need to provide the resources to help make the change.

Anyways, enough with my rants and raves. It makes me happy to know that there are others out there that are making steps toward a better nation for all, and I hope that the opportunity comes available for you to get back into the field, after hearing this story if I had an opportunity available I would definitely hire you :).

- Michael

Permalink Reply by Allan Eustis on December 12, 2008 at 12:15pm

I was a mentor to two young men while they suffered through public high school in southeast DC in the 1990s. I really did not do much except meet with LeRoy and Sam once a week- usually for dinner- as an adult friend. I did take Sam on a college visit to Penn State.

LeRoy is now a DC cop and Sam graduated from Ohio State University a few years back. I felt like I made a difference since over half the men in DC high schools do NOT graduate. The sponsoring group: Mentors Inc. still survives, although they have lost substantial funding previously provided by FannieMay.

See: http://www.mentorsinc.org/

.

Permalink Reply by Michael O. Johnston on December 12, 2008 at 12:40pm

Awesome Allan E.,

Equally great story, although only two lifes were impacted directly and as you say "you did not really do much except meet with LeRoy and Sam once a week." You did make a difference in these two young gentleman's lives which seems to have been long lasting, as you show they both have made it not only through high school but also through college, and one has an excellent career. Without you they may have not (highly likely NOT) made it through high school and possibly may still to this day not have a G.E.D. Furthermore, what I thought when reading this is the indirect impact that you may have made to several peoples lives, such as the young lives that these two men may go on to provide mentoring just as you have provided to them.

With that being said it is great to see that you extended yourself above and beyond your personal duties to make such an impact on these two mens lives, and hope to eventually see community outreach become an epidemic by ALL members of society and SPREAD LIKE A WILD FIRE!!!

- Michael

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Wall on February 4, 2009 at 2:36pm

I have many, many fond memories of providing community outreach in my hometown, East Providence. Some of my fondest, come from my work with the DICE program. DICE stands for Drug Intervention Community Educators and they are the youth branch of the East Providence Prevention Coalition. They have been around for over a decade and have done over 800 community service projects/events. These youth are motivated, empowered and resourceful and their passion is what has fueled my work ethic and dedication to prevention for more than 10 years now. This group has taught me more than I could ever teach them.