It’s been a while
14 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in my project, political laboratory Tags: government services, self-sufficiency
I realize it has been quite a while since my last blog post. I apologize for the gap in writing but I have been up to a lot and been quite busy! We spent a great deal of time writing grants for our organization that would allow us to continue our funding for 1 and 3 year terms. We received all three grants that we applied for and were able to create 3 full-time positions! I will be taking over one of those positions at the end of the month and continuing to work on and develop programs for our community.
On August 2nd, we celebrated National Night Out with a special twist. Normally NNO is put on my neighborhoods without a lot of intervention. For example, when I lived up north I remember people having BBQs (or “cookouts” as I am told they are called if no BBQ sauce is present), meeting neighbors, and having police drive or walk down the street meeting people. Granted, I grew up in the 80s and 90s so things were different than they are now. However, there was still a sense of community and neighbors took it on themselves to get these activities going. It wasn’t odd for people to have a cookout and you to wander over and have a beer and chat. These types of activities continue on today in a lot of neighborhoods, just not the ones I work in. People frequently keep to themselves. Sometimes cultural or language barriers create additional hurdles that prevent new friendships from being formed. Which really is too bad because regardless of the color of your skin or the language you speak, impoverished families face very similar (if not the exact same) challenges day-to-day. If these groups of people could/would work together then I think a lot of things would change. If we don’t like what is going on then we need to speak out and change things. Everyone, regardless of how much money they make, where they live, what they do, or who they know, only has one vote.
But I digress.
So, on August 2, 2011 over 20 organizations got together and decided that we would bring supportive services TO residents. Instead of hoping they’d take it upon themselves to light up a BBQ we brought the hot dogs and turned on the burners. Nothing cost them money, but it did require them to participate and learn before they received anything “free.” We had the Health Department come and do HIV testing, immunizations for kids, and bike helmet fittings. Healthy Start came to talk to mothers about the importance of breast feeding. Whole Child came to talk about a comprehensive approach to child care (developmental screening, dentists/doctors, and health insurance). And the Sheriff’s department came to help create and mend community relations. There were also a ton of other people who came out and helped empower this community to make smarter, better choices for themselves. We had over 113 people participating within 5 neighborhood blocks. 53 people turned in a completed “passport” showing how many stations they visited. However, we went through over 200 hot dogs, and since you needed a passport to get a hot dog… there were more than 53 people who came out to get some information and education.
The worst part about the night was I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off and therefore wasn’t able to enjoy the sights and sounds of families getting out and enjoying themselves. Luckily though a few people took pictures.
