Marva Reid treats local children to a
day at the water park
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
For more than 15
years Marva Reid, long-
time president of the East
Northeast Neighborhood
Association, pushed for a
swimming pool to be built
in the East Winston Com
munity and her continued
push played a major role
in the construction ofWin-
ston Waterworks Aquatic
Park in 2018, so much
so, that there’s a marker
honoring Reid inside the
water park. Reid said she
continued the push for
a swimming pool for so
long because she wanted
to introduce youth in the
community to water and to
swimming, and last week
she made it possible for 20
kids to enjoy a day at the
water park free of charge.
Reid said she fell in
love with swimming at a
young age and she wanted
the kids from her neigh
borhood to have the same
opportunity.
“When I was grow
ing up there were pools
throughout this commu
nity, but they were closed.
That’s why we fought so
hard and now that it’s here,
we want to make sure chil
dren from this community
have a chance to enjoy the
park and get familiar with
the water and water safe
ty,” Reid said.
In addition to the pool,
children also got to enjoy
the spray ground and wa
terslides. The water park
also has a lazy river and a
concession stand.
Winston Waterworks
Park is located off New
Walkertown Road at the
corner of Waterworks and
Winston Lake Roads. For
information and hours
of operation visit https://
www.cityofws.org/Facili-
ties/Facility/Details/Win-
ston-Waterworks-116.
Photos by Tevin Stinson
Last week Marva Reid, president of the East Northeast Neighborhood Association, made it possible for 20 local children to enjoy a day at
Winston Waterworks Aquatic Park.
Liberation Education, Part 2: Empowering students and creating
a space where they feel safe to be themselves
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Since 1964 the Chil
dren’s Defense Fund Free
dom Schools’ summer
program has helped curb
summer learning loss
for smdents in cities and
towns across the corm-
try. While much has re
mained the same with the
overall purpose and theme
of Freedom Schools, at
a time where the lack of
African American history
courses and Critical Race
Theory dominate talks on
education, now more than
ever Freedom Schools are
being used as a platform to
empower Black students in
a way that may be missing
in the normal classroom
setting, a term organizers
at the Lit City Freedom
School here in Winston-
Salem have coined as “lib
eration education.”
Terrance Hawkins,
founder of Lit City, a lo
cal nonprofit geared to
ward uplifting the lives
of Black and brown youth
in the city, said his jour
ney to hosting a Freedom
School began in 2011, but
he wasn’t able to get the
funding until 2020. Lit
City officially launched
earlier this summer at Zion
Memorial Baptist Church
Photo by Tevin Stinson
Students from Lit City Freedom School during a recent rally held for National Day
of Social Action.
for students in middle and
high school.
Like other Freedom
Schools, Lit City Freedom
School is a six-week, liter ¬
acy-rich intensive program
that helps build strong, lit
erate children. The sched
ule is basically the same
breakfast each day, stu
dents participate in a Ke
nyan tradition called “ha
rambee,” which means “all
During harambee, students
sing songs and say differ
ent motivational chants
and meditation. Students
also get a chance to meet
different people from the
community who volunteer
to read.
After harambee, stu
dents go to different class
es based on their grade lev
el where they spend most
of the day, before coming
back together for lunch
and other activities in the
afternoon. Students also
have the opportunity to go
on field trips and receive a
stipend every week.
What sets Lit City
Freedom School apart
from other summer pro
grams is the emphasis the
coordinators and instruc
tors put on empowering
students and creating a
space where they feel safe
See Safe on A2
for most programs: after pull together” in Swahili.