GRANNY’S BAND

President Clinton’s proclamation that “volunteers are vital for our country to live up to the true promise of our heritage” may have been the incentive three years ago for the formation of a group called, “Granny’s Band.” With unique talents and experiences, the members of Granny’s Band have performed at most of the nursing homes and nutrition centers in the Caledonia community. They have also entertained at the Wabasha and Houston county fairs, Houston Hoe Down, family reunions, and birthday parties.

Granny’s Band is composed of five senior citizens, all more than 80 years old, except for one member who is 78. Between them all, they have 30 children and 12 great-grandchildren. By entertaining senior citizens and youth, Granny’s Band member are helping to develop physical and mental health, not only the health of their audience, but their personal health as well. They often ask themselves, “Who enjoys it the most?”

The music, humorous skits, yodeling, singing, and dancing of Granny’s Band are a service to the elderly. These nursing home residents look forward to the band’s return each month. Watkins Rest Home in Winona, 40 miles away, scheduled Granny’s Band for every other month for the entire year of 1999.

The group is especially welcomed to Camp Winnebago, a camp that caters to special children with disabilities. Their music spurs merriment and dancing from their wheelchairs. When the smiles on the faces of these youngsters are seen, it makes the effort worthwhile for the band members.

Early childhood and physical education classes also request Granny’s Band music to teach children how to dance the chicken dance, the bunny hop, the Hokey-Pokey, waltzing, and two-stepping. This past school year and again for this year, the members of Granny’s Band are pen pals to sixth graders for a journaling project. The pen pals’ identities are kept a secret until the end of school.

As they put on many miles doing their entertaining, they are thankful to the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) for paying a portion of their mileage. All of their work is done on a volunteer basis.

ALPHA CENTER

The Alpha Center is an organization that is seeking to bring positive change to the lives of youth and elderly in Baton Rouge on an ongoing basis. The motto of the Alpha Center youth is based on the idea that “in order to be successful in life you must have high self-esteem.” The objectives of the Alpha Center are: threefold — to improve the math, science, reading, Language Arts, and creative writing skills of youth, to provide recreational and community awareness seminars on violence, crime, health, and teen pregnancy, and to provide arts and crafts, fellowship and health screenings for senior citizens.

The Alpha Center has established an Alpha Center Learning Academy Program (ACLAP). ACLAP is a holistic approach to community service. The program components address serious needs of the community. Programs are conducted year-round. The programs are cultural and race neutral. During the summers, an Alpha Center Learning Academy is held. Last year more than 46 inner-city youth participated. Educational programs, recreation, field trips, museum visits, and cultural tours are a part of the program.

The educational component of the Alpha Center Learning Academy Program includes: an after-school tutorial program, high school exit exam test assistance, high school exit examinations, ACT College Preparatory assistance (held on Saturdays), post-secondary education financial aid assistance, community awareness seminars, and computer classes for all grades.

The recreation component of the Alpha Center stimulates good sportsmanship and character building. Recreational activities offered by the Center are year-round and include martial arts, dance classes, basketball, softball, tennis, golf, billiards, ping-pong, soccer, and air hockey. Teams are formed for sports such as tee ball and basketball. The program continually strives to strike a balance between academic and athletic pursuits. Students who do not make satisfactory progress in their academics are not allowed to participate in the recreational sports teams.

Approximately 65 middle and elementary students are members of the Alpha Center’s five Golden Eagles basketball teams. The students often practice and work out with Southern University Men’s & Women’s basketball teams. The teams have also performed during half time at SU’s Men’s basketball games and at Istrouma & McKinley high school baskbetball games.

The Alpha Center also incorporates a senior citizens component into its agenda that consists of serving lunch, a spiritual hour each day, arts and crafts, bingo and other games. A health-screening program is provided to the senior citizens. Efforts are made to target senior citizens that live at or below the poverty level. On January 5, Alpha Center sponsored a welcoming reception for New Year’s that was attended by fifteen new seniors. The staff members informed participants that mid-day meal services, arts and crafts, computer literacy courses, nutrition counseling, exercise classes and additional fellowship opportunities among the Center’s new offerings for the Senior Citizens Program. Future expansion of the Alpha Center includes finalization of plans to make the Alpha Center a designated nutrition site to be serviced by the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging, which will serve meals to the senior citizens program participants.

Since the fall of 1997, the Alpha Center has conducted more than 50 community service projects. These projects include, but are not limited to, hosting a Christmas party for children with AIDS, teen parenting workshops, a senior citizens Christmas dinner, tutorial/computer labs, a martial arts tournament, and girls’ dance recitals. The Center recently hosted a teen parents conference for teen parents and grandparents, in partnership with Inner Reflections II, a teen advocacy group, which focused on the topic “Teen Parenting: Preparing for the 21st Century: What Every Teen Parent Needs to Know But is Afraid to Ask.” There is discussion of adding a teen parents program to the Center.

THE ILLINOIS FATHERHOOD INITIATIVE

The Illinois Fatherhood Initiative (IFI) is the country’s first statewide non-profit organization dedicated to connecting children and fathers by promoting responsible fathering and helping equip men to become better fathers and father figures. This group has worked tirelessly to raise the issue of the critical importance of fatherhood, the role of fathers and father figures in children’s lives, and to give men the tools they need to fill that responsibility. The organization is based on the philosophy that children and society are both better served when men meet and fulfill their roles in children’s lives.

Started in 1997 by David Hirsch, a private citizen and father of five children, the initiative is funded largely by Mr. Hirsch himself along with in-kind contributions and private donations. Another major funding source is the sale of an award-winning calendar created solely by IFI’s dedicated volunteers. The 12-month calendar includes resources for fathers, colorful and vibrant photographs of fathers with their children, reprints of winning “Father of the Year” essays, and inspirational and motivational quotes for fathers. The award-winning calendar features in its center several pages of coupons for food, products, and services provided by family-oriented vendors, restaurants, and amusement parks. As well, the IFI distributes a Fathering Resource Guide, full of family activities, resources, inspirational messages and information to help men be the fathers that children need.

The IFI also sponsors an annual statewide essay contest for school-aged children to reflect and write about their relationships with their fathers, father figures, grandfathers and stepfathers. Nearly 140,000 essays on the topic “What My Father Means To Me” have been submitted in the three years of the contest. Each year, more than 1,000 volunteers have read each essay and helped to eventually choose and publicly honor Father of the Year in each of the four categories. These volunteers are not paid for their time or services, but commit to help each year because of their belief in the goals of the Illinois Fatherhood Initiative.

In 1999, the IFI sponsored its first Fatherhood Conference, held in Chicago, at which both family practitioners and regular families shared ideas and enjoyed activities with family. On the first day of the conference, doctors, social workers, school counselors and other practitioners in the field of family services, participated in informative discussions with speakers from the family industry and authors of books on family topics. The second day included dads from throughout the state of Illinois and their families enjoying a luncheon and fun, educational sessions on various aspects of fatherhood. IFI plans to continue the conferences on a yearly basis.

The IFI has also conducted several training programs to help men from all walks of life, including incarcerated men, gain the knowledge and skills to be good role models for children. A new endeavor for IFI is the Boot Camp for New Dads, which is a national hospital-based program that supplies information to expectant and new dads to help them prepare for parenting. The program already exists in eight Illinois locations, 5 of which are in Chicago. IFI has a future goal of offering this program in every hospital in the state of Illinois. In addition, the organization is focusing on raising its profile with corporate sponsors. A recent corporate donation from the Chicago White Sox, a major sports franchise, of $1 million in free home game tickets is a result of the group’s fundraising efforts.

ACADEMIC VOLUNTEER & MENTOR SERVICE PROGRAM

In 1996, Pio Pico Elementary received a grant from the Governor’s Office of Child Development and Education to establish a mentoring program to improve students’ academic achievement by providing children in need with a caring adult. Pio Pico was the only elementary school in Orange County awarded a grant because a) The school is located in a one square mile area that has 26,000 young people 21 years of age and under; b) Ninety-eight percent of the student who attend Pio Pico have limited English proficiency; and c) Ninety-three percent of the students receive free or reduced cost meals.

The neighborhood served by Pio Pico Elementary is linguistically and economically isolated. Demographically, it has a majority of families who have been in the U.S. a little more than a decade, and the average level of schooling among adults is third grade. Accordingly, the family income of the parents is substantially below the standard set by the Federal government for poverty income level.

What is exemplary about Pio Pico’s mentoring program is its 35-member Advisory Board composed of members representing five categories of membership including: elected and appointed officials, business and industry executives, college and university professors, community-based organization administrators and volunteer mentors. It is the support of this group that has made the mentoring program one of the most successful in Southern California. During the 1998-99 school year more than 250 volunteers were recruited to provide mentoring assistance to 254 students.

Using a commercially developed reading and language arts instructional component, 90% of the students who have participated in the mentoring program have increased their language proficiency by at least one reading level as measured by pre- and post-informal reading inventories. In addition, the students who have participated in the program have also shown a dramatic reduction in the number of discipline referrals made to the Principal’s office; and, there has also been an increase in their average daily attendance when these two indices are compared with a comparison group of similar third, fourth, and fifth grade students.

In 1999, the City of Santa Ana was designated as an empowerment zone by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and one of the target areas selected for redevelopment includes the neighborhood where Pio Pico Elementary is located. Accordingly, the 35-member Advisory Board voted to expand the academic mentoring program to all 13 elementary, intermediate and high schools located in empowerment zone target areas who elect to establish an academic mentoring program.

Recognition for the program has been made in the form of financial support from private industry and United Way. On August 25, 1999 the Bank of America provided the program with a $90,000 gift; and, on October 5, 1999 the United Way of Orange County awarded it a three-year, $300,000 grant to enable it to expand its mentoring service.

Both Bank of America and United Way explained that the reasons they selected Pio Pico’s mentoring program to be the recipient of their respective financial awards were: a) the broad-based community support it has developed through its 35-member Advisory Board; b) The program’s focus on student academic achievement; and c) The quantifiable student outcomes measured by pre- and post-tests for reading.

Pio Pico’s Academic Volunteer and Mentor Service Program represents a strategic initiative by an innovative urban school to rally the entire community in order to bring “ordinary people who reach beyond themselves to the lives of those in need, bringing hope and opportunity, care and friendship.”

SHIPBOARD AIRCRAFT FIREFIGHTING SCHOOL

The Shipboard Aircraft Firefighting School is located in the Central Valley of California in the City of Lemoore. A major component of the Naval Air Station in Lemoore for the past 15 years, the Fire School’s primary mission is to train military personnel in aircraft firefighting techniques. During the past year and a half, the Fire School staff, which consists of nine instructors, has enthusiastically devoted time to work with the community’s youth by starting the Helping Hands program. The program’s “Helping Hands” seek ways to achieve goals that address the concerns of the entire community.

Through the Helping Hands Program, members of the Shipboard Aircraft Firefighting School work with area high schools, elementary schools and the City of Hanford Probation Boot camp. The Fire School has hosted 20 training sessions onboard Naval Air Station Lemoore with the Probation Boot camp. Troubled teens are taught responsibility and given alternatives to violence and drugs. The youth are also taught fire-fighting techniques and are actually tasked with extinguishing a fire. This teaches them the importance of teamwork.

The boot camp kids have been featured on two of the local television station’s news telecasts while performed fire fighting duties at the Fire School. The Sergeant in charge of the kids has noted a great improvement in their self-esteem, morale, and ability to work together. Fire Personnel also go to the boot camp three nights per week as part of an academic mentoring program.

Another outstanding example of the Fire School’s volunteer spirit was their response to Mary Immaculate Queen (MIQ) Elementary School’s call for assistance in its mandatory CPR training for teachers and staff. The MIQ staff was within days of their certifications being expired. Fire School personnel, who are also certified Red Cross CPR instructors, certified the entire staff in a two-day period. In addition, MIQ Elementary School was saved $300 in training costs.

During Fire Prevention Week, the Fire School staff taught home fire safety lectures at MIQ Elementary. Last year, Fire School personnel gave lectures to grades K-4, as well as giving home safety coloring books to each child. The Fire School also has established partnerships with three high schools’ NJROTC Programs. The volunteers give these students first-hand information on careers in the military and help with academics in Military Science. These students also have the opportunity to received hands-on training at the Fire School facility. NJROTC units in Oregon and Seattle have traveled to the Fire School to train with Fire School staff and the Navy Sea Cadets. Overall, the volunteers in the Fire School’s Helping Hands program consistently demonstrate genuine concern for the education and development of young people.

TRUDY BRADLEY

Trudy Bradley serves as program director for the Clarke County Mentor Program, a partnership program established between the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce (AACC) and the Clarke County School District. In 1989, after a study about the high school dropout problem revealed a steadily rising 17% dropout rate in Athens, a city centered around a major university, the Clarke County Mentor Program was established to address this pressing community need.

Bradley serves 20 hours a week as a volunteer for the Clarke County Mentor Program, which was designed to pair trained community volunteers with local students who need extra attention and guidance to achieve their potential. Although she receives a small stipend for her work, more than half of the time that she devotes to the program is on a voluntary basis.

In order to promote the Mentor Program, Bradley has become involved in many community and educational endeavors. She often has demonstrated her ability to bring about innovative changes for the betterment of our community and the well being of students through participation in programs such as: the annual Child Watch Project, the Summer Opportunities Program (for rising 8th graders), Junior Achievement, the School-to-Work Initiative, Teachers in Industry, the University of Georgia Standards in Education Committee, the Teenage Drug Abuse Prevention Council, the statewide P-16 Council (addresses the educational trends and needs of pre-kindergarten through college), and the Foundation for Excellence in Public Education in Clarke County, to name a few.

The Clarke County Mentor Program has grown from a core of 30 volunteers to approximately 540 mentors in 1999. More than 1000 children have received the help of mentors thus far, and the dropout rate has dropped to 12.7%, partially due to the influence of mentors on needful students. School administrators endorse the program to the point of expressing a desire that every student have a mentor.

Much of the success of the mentor/mentee pairings is due to the constant support that Bradley gives to the mentors. She provides training, plans and conducts special events and parties, and follows up on every segment of the program. Bradley has extended the scope of the program by providing leadership and materials for replication to more than 50 communities.

Not to be overlooked is Bradley’s success in involving the University of Georgia resources. She has developed a sound relationship with the College of Education, the Terry College of Business, and the UGA Athletic Association.

In 1997, Bradley was a delegate at the President’s Summit for America’s Future in Philadelphia. She and the delegates from Athens then worked for a year to establish the Volunteer Action Center, whose main focus is to recruit volunteers, young and old, for programs and projects that positively impact upon youth.

REVEREND KENNETH FESKE

Moving to Salinas ten years ago, Rev. Ken Feske found himself in a community that was experiencing rising crime and violence, increase in destructive gang activity and an escalating sense of fear and hopelessness. He vowed to make a change and soon emerged as Chair of the Community Education and Awareness Committee of the Violent Injury Prevention Coalition. In that role he worked tirelessly building bridges, establishing networks, identifying concerns and connecting them to solutions. He has used his leadership and service, to make it possible for thousands of young people and adults to have hope in their lives.

Rev. Feske is best known for his leadership in reducing the city’s juvenile crime. It begin in 1994 when Rev. Feske initiated, organized, and inspired a community-wide effort that now includes three school districts, 23 schools, 180 businesses, 20 religious congregations, 31 service clubs, and more than 22,000 students in a program that has effectively reduced crime by giving young people the skills to bring peace and hope to their peers.

In 1998, Rev. Feske challenged another group of people to connect business leaders with classroom students. Through Rev. Feske’s leadership, 713 volunteers, under the banner Salinas Reads, were mobilized to read in 780 classrooms with 14,883 students.

Another community initiative Rev. Feske spearheaded was the first City Youth Summit, which called together more than 300 high school students to share their visions and their needs. The Youth Summit was completely youth led, with the students building and carrying out their own agenda. Every high school in the city was involved, including ethnically, academically and socially diverse delegations from the four public schools, two private schools, an alternative school and the local juvenile rehabilitation unit. It was Rev. Feske’s insight and determination that made the gathering possible.

In addition to his volunteer efforts, Rev. Feske is the Pastor of First Baptist Church that has a congregation of 300 members. Six years ago, his congregation, in response to community unrest over another group’s Nativity scene on public property, took it upon themselves to “recreate” Bethlehem on its church parking lot. Now, nearly 40,000 persons travel to the “Streets of Bethlehem” in a unique, diverse celebration of this religious holiday.

Rev. Feske has also been key in the development of a volunteer-led shelter for homeless men in the City of Salinas. What began with seven men spending the night at First Baptist Church, has become a program sheltering, feeding, and finding jobs for a much larger group of men, assisted by more than 30 churches and synagogues and their volunteers.

Rev. Feske has initiated programs such as Salinas Reads, I-HELP, PeaceBuilders, “Streets of Bethlehem”, “Cultivating Peace in Salinas: A Framework for Violence Prevention” and the Salinas Youth Leadership Institute. He has also called on the City Council to pass a strict trigger-lock policy. Rev. Feske has been joined by a myriad of caring and committed persons in his fight for improvement, but he has often been the motivator and initiator.

TULSA YOUTH COURT

Tulsa Youth Court is a volunteer program for area high school students coordinated by Youth Services of Tulsa, Inc., in collaboration with the Oklahoma Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and the Indian Nation’s Council of the Boy Scouts of America’s Explorer Post Division. All participants in Tulsa Youth Court excel in youth leadership, community youth development, youth-adult partnerships, and an unwavering commitment to improving their community. These young adults, who donate their time during evening hours, demonstrate a willingness to provide services that are beneficial to others.

Since 1994, volunteer high school students have staffed Tulsa Youth Court, serving the juvenile court system by offering first time, misdemeanor juvenile offenders the opportunity to have a trial conducted by their peers. The Youth Court participants must attend a one night a week, seven-week training, pass a comprehensive test covering the training, and commit time to serve the court when called upon.

These trained youth participate in actual courtroom trials in the roles of judge, prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, court clerk, and bailiff. The court participants divert early offenders from further involvement in the juvenile justice system. The defendants, through the court of their peers, have the opportunity to learn about the consequences of their actions. Ninety-seven percent of the first time offenders who go through this program do not commit a second offense.

Currently, there are 188 dedicated youth serving the community and saving taxpayer dollars through the Tulsa Youth Court program, by providing a peer-court system for youth who would otherwise have to be seen by judges serving the juvenile court system. Through the use of courtroom trials, the participants educate defendants so that their first offense will be their last.

EAST TENNESSEE CONSORTIUM FOR SERVICE-LEARNING

What began in 1994 as a three-campus partnership has grown to nine campuses from Bristol to Chattanooga. Private and publi, two- and four-year colleges and universities have joined together to establish service-learning programs on their respective campuses. From both urban and rural campuses, the students, faculty and staff have learned, served and led initiatives in literacy, youth leadership, hunger, service to our national parks, health care, historical preservation, America’s Promise, anger management for teens, domestic violence prevention, and completing community needs assessments for multiple counties.

Service-Learning courses have been developed in such disciplines as English, Spanish, art, chemistry, biology, business, astronomy, psychology, history, geography, nursing, law, education, communications, statistics, theatre, freshman year experience, economics, physical education, and philosophy. Through these courses students have learned about the issues of our communities and the methods for creating change. In six years, thousand of students in Tennessee have learned that they can make a difference; that they can find time to do service; that they enjoy giving of themselves; and that they want to have more opportunities to serve and to grow as leaders.

These nine campuses have come together to make a commitment to community engagement and partnership. They have established a model of service and collaboration to be emulated by other colleges and universities in the state. In fact, they have chosen to expand their consortium to include new members from other higher education institutions in Tennessee and to serve as teachers and mentors for those schools.

The East Tennessee Consortium for Service-Learning and its member campuses: King College, Milligan College, East Tennessee State University, Tusculum College, Walters State Community College, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Maryville College, and the Chattanooga State Community College In are responsible for exciting growth and development of leadership in service and community engagement in East Tennessee.

FOUNDATION FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The Foundation for Affordable Housing is an organization that helps individuals and families who cannot currently afford to buy a home. The organization is a separate, non-profit subsidiary of Central Christian Church.

The Foundation’s central program involves renting a house to a qualified buyer and training them in how to manage their money. Subsequently, a down payment is accumulated and the renter is allowed to assume the mortgage at a low interest rate. The Foundation’s group of volunteers work with potential homeowners by counseling and supervising them to ensure that they clear credit obstacles, accumulate down payments, and are able to assume the mortgage when they become eligible. These 28 volunteers select the applicants, and teach financial management skills and property care to clients in 23 monthly classes.

In 1997, the Foundation entered into a partnership with Community Ventures Corporation for a Lease/Purchase Program. This has been an exciting new outreach opportunity for Central Christian Church, and helps families and individuals who cannot currently qualify to buy a home. Program participants have the chance to obtain decent, affordable, rental housing while under close supervision and counseling. The Foundation actually owns the house for the period of time needed for the tenant to become eligible for financing. One eligible, the tenant assumes the loan, and the Foundation no longer has responsibility for the debt or the property.

William R. Embry, Jr., Chairman of the Foundation for Affordable Housing, has been the driving force in bringing both of these projects into reality. Volunteer members of Central Christian Church have volunteered many hours in helping to see the project move forward.

The Lease/Purchase concept was developed to provide an opportunity for people to move out of the Central Christian Church St. James Place, which is designed specifically for those who are trying to help themselves. Comprised of 99 apartment units, St. James Place space filled very quickly since its opening in 1994 and there has always been a list of people waiting for apartment at this location. The Lease Purchase program began in 1997 with Community Ventures cooperating with the Foudnation for Affordable Housing to provide the funding for this project. People who qualify for this program will receive ongoing counseling in financial planning, and assistance in dealing with the challenges of home ownership.

The idea to provide an affordable resident for working people in need started within the Lexington, Kentucky community in 1989. There was a growing awareness that many homeless persons did not qualify for existing housing programs. By most accounts, some 26% of the nation’s homeless population are working people – those who are doing the best they can to improve their situation, but who need the help of others if they are to succeed.

Bill Embry, an active member of Central Christian Church, was asked to serve on a community committee that was looking at this problem. With the help of Judy Lenthall, a participant in the successful Single Resident Occupancy program in San Diego, California, Embry successfully replicated the concept in Lexington.