Agencies teaming for ambitious project for students
BY LAYLA FARMER
THE CHRONICLE
A collaborative of more than 25
local agencies is working to improve
outcomes for children and families in
the local community.
Promise Neighborhood, an ambi
tious project that aspires to act as a
pipeline of support from the "cradle
to career," plans to target citizens in
the residential areas that surround
Prince Ibraham Elementary. Mineral
Springs Middle and Carver High
School, though the exact parameters
have yet to be determined. The ini
tiative is modeled after the famous
Harlem Children's Zone, created by
educator Geoffrey Canada.
Called "one of the most ambi
tious social-service experiments of
our time," the HCZ is a multi
agency, volunteer-supported effort to
offset the temptations of street life
with positive influences, role models
and educational support to. produce
better outcomes for children and
families in a nearly 100-^tyck area in
one of the nation's roughest cities.
The HCZ has been so successful that
President Barack Obama has called
for the creation of Promise
Neighborhoods based on its model
across the nation.
"Having a model that has been so
successful is what 1 think inspired
the community," commented Nikki
Byers, executive director of Imprints
(formerly ABCD-the Association for
the Benefit of Child Development)
and one of the initial visionaries for
l
the local effort. "The outcomes are
dizzying. What's happened in
j^arlem is they've essentially closed
the black/white achievement gap."
Experiment in Self Reliance
(ESR) is serving as lead agency for
the collaborative, which encompass
es a wide array of community part
ners including CHANGE, United
Way and Habitat for Humanity.
"We really are trying to leverage
the partners that have worked togeth
er for years," explained ESR
Executive Director Twana Wellman
Roebuck. "We want to make sure
we're working in concert with agen
cies that strengthen the community.
Our goal is not to be separate and
apart."
Tutoring programs, financial lit
eracy workshops and parental educa
tion seminars are among the offer
ings that could materialize under the
Promise Neighborhood umbrella,
said Byers, a mother of nine, and
project leaders hope to attract new
resources, such as early childhood
education service providers, to the
area as well.
"One of the key principles is cre
ating a culture of success," Byers
explained. "...The deficiency is not
in the children, it's in the environ
ment."
This month, project leaders will
begin hosting community meetings
to gain input from residents on the
elements they feel are most needed
to enhance their respective neighbor
hoods. The hope is that the meetings
Photo by l-ay I a Farmer
Twana Wellman-Roebuck with Nikki Byers.
will shed light on what is needed to
dismantle the generational poverty
that plagues the area and the societal
ills associated with it, said Wellman
Roebuck, who has led ESR for the
last 13 years.
"Our goal is to be able to link
families to the necessary services so
that the whole family can be empow
ered," she stated. "We really want to
strengthen the neighborhood. It does
us no good to create a program for
them; we have to create a program
with them."
The collaborative has already
received grants from the Winston
Salem Foundation and Smart Start of
Forsyth County to hire a coordinator
and an administrative assistant to
help streamline the project's many
facets and use the information
gleaned from community meetings
and other sources to write a grant
proposal in hopes of landing federal
dollars for the project, Byers said,
though its implementation will not
be contingent on receiving the grant.
Matching funds will be sought from
locally-based foundations to diversi
fy the project's funding and reach.
The group hopes to expand its efforts
to other communities in the future,
she added.
"We want to fashion a model
that's effective for the Winston
Salem / Forsyth County community
so that it can be replicated in other
communities," she remarked.
Project leaders are also working
to create an assessment group, which
will monitor progress in the area in
the coming years, Byers said.
Though the changes in the communi
ty will likely be gradual, group lead
ers are hoping they will be perma
nent. Wellman-Roebuck says it will
take a concerted effort to make the
Promise Neighborhood thrive.
"We have lots of dreams and
visions of what we want this to be,
but in order for this to be successful,
we will need resources from various
agencies," she noted. "This is a com
munity-wide effort. We recognize
that it truly does take the entire com
munity to make change happen."
Upcoming Promise
Neighborhood community meetings
are as follows: Thursday, March 17
at 9:00 am. at Brown & Douglas
Recreation Center. Breakfast will be
provided. Monday, March 2 at 6
p.m. at Solid Rock Missionary
Baptist Church. Dinner will be pro
vided. Tuesday, March 22 at 12 - 1
pjn. at Brown & Douglas Recreation
Center. Lunch will be provided. To
register or for more information
about the meetings, call (336) 722
6296 ext. 221 or email
rbrooks@ imprintsforfamilies .org .
For more information about Promise
Neighborhood or to get involved,
email Byers at nby
ers@imprintsforfamilies.org or
Wellman-Roebuck, at
twana.wellman@eisr.org.
1
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