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The Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation
The Argus Community, Inc., in the South Bronx, NY, is an extended family program founded in 1968 by Elizabeth Sturz, a poet and former probation officer. As its brochure states, this agency provides "an alternative life program for adolescents and adults who have been on the treadmill of unemployment, underemployment, street hustling, welfare, substance abuse, crime and prison, and who saw no way out for themselves." Argus has residential and non-residential programs for high-risk youth and adults. Programs such as Access (Argus Community Care, Equity and Support Services), Access II, ACT I (Argus Counselor Training Institute), Argus High Tech, Argus IV, Harbor House, Job Horizons, Learning for Living Center and New Leaf are provided in a drug-free, safe and nurturing environment. Argus offers other services: Acupressure/Stress Reduction, Addiction Counselor Training (CASAC licensure), Advocacy, Aftercare, Case Management, Computer Skills Development, Crisis Intervention, Education and Remedial Education, Health Education, Home Visits, Hotline, Housing Referrals/Placement, Internships, Job Training and Placement, Life Skills Training, Recreation Therapy, Therapeutic Communities for Homeless Men and Women, Vocational Training, and World of Work Training/Work Experience. The Eisenhower Foundation National Cluster Workshops and Argus Replication Training (on and off-site) provide capacity building to the agency's staff.
Capital Commitment is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in 1991 in the District of Columbia. Now located in Capital Heights, Maryland, Capital Commitment serves the metropolitan area. The program prepares participants from economically disadvantaged backgrounds for jobs in the telecommunications industry. The core curriculum focuses on skills training in telephone installation, maintenance and repair. Capital Commitment's comprehensive approach, encompassing both life skills and technical training organizations. Capital Commitment's program is responsive to the needs of the participants and the employers. An indicator of the collaboration between the agency and potential employers is Capital Commitment's state-of-the-art facility, designed and sponsored by Norte Networks, Lucent Technologies and Verizon Communications (DC). Capital Commitment's programs comprise the following components: case management, education, social services support, and telecommunications training. Capital Commitment prides itself in other essential services it provides, among them, conflict resolution, counseling (individual/group), job training and placement, life skills, public speaking, remedial education, and self-esteem building.
Centro Sister Isolina Ferre (Centro) was begun in the La Playa neighborhood of Once, the second largest city in Puerto Rico, in 1968 by a Catholic nun, Sister Isolina Ferre. Centro is a good example of youth development combined with community regeneration. Centro was replicated in Caimito, San Juan in 1987. The Caimito community is essentially rural, but falls within an extremely high population density for a rural area. The Centro's program components include: Advocacy-Advocates/Intercessors, Education, Job Training, Recreation, Residential Koban, and Safe Haven. The services provided at the Centro include Arts and Crafts, Computer Literacy Training, Cooking Classes, Counseling, Education-Tutoring, Homework Assistance, Health Services, Honey Bee Project, Horticultural Project, Leadership Development, Mentoring, Nursery (for children of participants), Office Skills Training, and Recreation. San Juan Police Cadet Training, Eisenhower National Cluster Workshop, San Juan Replication Training, and Site-to-Site Training have provided technical assistance and capacity building and contributed to this program's success.
Delancey Street was begun in 1971 by Dr. Mimi Silbert as a residential center in San Francisco for criminal rehabilitation and vocational training. It was designed to be for ex-convicts and run by ex-convicts. Delancey Street has strict rules of behavior and a self-governing system. Each resident must develop at least three marketable skills as well as earn a high school equivalency diploma and pass a core liberal arts curriculum taught in-house. The Embarcadero Triangle complex contains 177 apartments for Delancey Street residents. It also contains meeting rooms, a movie theater, a swimming pool and space for businesses including moving, chauffeuring, printing, picture framing and catering. There are over 400 residents in the Embarcadero Triangle complex. Delancey Street has two sites in California, one in Los Angeles and the other in San Francisco. It has other replication sites in New York, North Carolina and New Mexico. Program Components Business Management TrainingFire Cadet Program - Youth Cadets Life Learning Academy Performing Arts Center Historic Architecture/Landscape Architecture Services Arts and CraftsComputer Programming Culinary Arts Training Education Mediation - Student Council Mentoring Recreation Transportation Vocational Training Capacity Building Multi-state Delancey Street ReplicationEisenhower National Cluster Workshops Argus Replication Training Delancey Street Foundation offers Business Management Training, Fire Cadet Program - Youth Cadets, Life Learning Academy, Performing Arts Center, and Historic Architecture/Landscape Architecture. Service includes Arts and Crafts, Computer Programming, Culinary Arts Training, Education, Meditation-Student Council, Mentoring, Recreation, Transportation, and Vocational Training. Multi-State Delancey Street Replication, Eisenhower National Cluster Workshops, and Argus Replication Training collaborate to ensure Delancey Street's success.
The Dorchester Youth Collaborative (DYC), established in the late 1970's in Field's Corner, Dorchester, MA, is a safe haven and sanctuary for youth. The mission of DYC is to engage the most at-risk youth Boston in relationships and projects that promote the health and safety of the community and the psychosocial development of the youth. DYC provides non-traditional services. The Collaborative's program components are Outreach/Crisis Intervention, Educational Enrichment, Income and Job Opportunities, and Directing Acting and Producing (DAP). Services provided by DYC include 24 hour Crisis Intervention and Conflict Resolution Support, Safe Haven, Food and Clothing, Referrals, Mentoring, Homework Assistance, Field Trips, Health Education, Work Experience, and Media Training. The Eisenhower Foundation Cluster Workshops provide technical assistance and capacity building to the agency's staff.
Norris Square Civic Association (NSCA) is a grassroots, community-based development corporation founded in 1982 by a group of community women. These women were committed to developing the human potential of Norris Square residents while restoring and revitalizing the physical and economic aspects of the neighborhood. NSCA's mission is to empower residents to improve their lives by becoming self-reliant, and to unite and build the community through the development and improvement of the physical, economic, social, cultural and educational aspects of the neighborhood. In 1996, NSCA established the Norris Square Family Center, offering educational and recreational activities to community residents. The Center is located in the McKinley Elementary School and is accessible to residents of Norris Square's southwest quadrant, an area long neglected by city services. The Family Center is open until 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Current program offerings include: early childhood parent training, job development and placement, GED classes for adults, aerobics, and an after school/summer program for 1000 neighborhood children. The children's program is designed to improve reading, mathematics, critical thinking and computer skills. In addition, NSCA is developing a childcare center with a capacity for 200 children. Efforts to establish a home-based child care training program for 60 residents also is a part of their plan. NSCA has developed a Mercado (market) to sell ethnic food items. See their website for more information.
The Village of Arts and Humanities is a non-profit, community-based arts organization located in North Philadelphia. Since it began in 1986, the Village has been creating a true urban village by rebuilding the community through its unique multi-faceted arts, education, construction, and social and economic development programs. What began over a decade ago as a single park building project by Lily Yeh has grown into a full-scale community building project encompassing education, family, employment, and housing programs impacting over 5,000 children, teens and adults annually. The Village programs are organized into four main categories: Community Development through Art, Property Development through Art, Economic Development through Art and Outreach. The Village of Arts and Humanities has been offering arts education programs for youth ages 6 to 18 since 1986. Through multi-disciplinary activities, these programs aim to nurture, inspire and motivate the young. The majority of Village students come from North Philadelphia. Ninety percent are African-American and ten percent are Latino, with the vast majority coming from low-income households. Key program components at The Village Arts and Humanities are after-school/summer programs, community meetings, community theatre, creative arts, economic development program, education through arts, neighborhood transformation, outreach, property development through art, social support programs, and village caf. The Village provides a myriad of services, among them, community oriented festivals, computer graphics, exhibition-art, field trips, nutrition and food preparation, parades, performances, and rites of passage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
