| Wednesday, 18 February 2009 | |
Community needs recognized through meeting with FreshMinistries FreshMinistries held a neighborhood assessment meeting for North Jacksonville residents at the El Bethel Youth Development Center Saturday morning to determine the community’s needs. The meeting was an extension of FreshMinistries’ Communities Empowering Youth (CEY) and 6-Point Community initiatives.CEY partners with the El Bethel Youth Development Center, offering capacity building and other forms of training to help the organization operate more efficiently and effectively. The purpose of the meeting, according to Michelle Hughes, CEY director, was to enhance the programs El Bethel brings to the community and to find out what new resources are needed in the area.  “We don’t want to bring you a program if you don’t need it – that’s why we’re asking you first,” Hughes said to the meeting’s attendees. “But we also want to improve on the current services in your area so you can make the most of them.”Residents were first divided into small groups for a team-building exercise in an effort to foster communication during the rest of the meeting and afterwards in the neighborhood. “A really important aspect of a community is for residents to know each other,” said Beverly Toney, director of the 6-Point Community Initiative. Later, the residents were asked to discuss and fill out a survey addressing the community’s currently available resources and the resources they think the community needs. Hughes and Toney then held an open discussion with the attendees about their responses. Among the many services the residents feel are needed for children are after-school programs, more sports programs, homework assistance and tutoring, girl scouts, a YMCA, and drug and sex awareness classes.  For adults, the needs are even more numerous: job training and placement, GED programs, a community center for adults and seniors, social security administration, better transportation and more bus stops, parenting classes, financial literacy training, health education, a pharmacy close to seniors and a laundromat.“This is an area of great need, so we’re looking to mirror the success we’ve had in the 32206 neighborhood by bringing needed services and improvements to this area too,” said Toney. FreshMinistries established a neighborhood resource center in the lower Eastside of Jacksonville to directly connect residents to services they need and to act as a meeting place for community meetings and other neighborhood outreach programs. A number of housing, health, economic and security programs have been implemented there by FreshMinistries as well.  “We can go to the Mayor’s office with the list of needs from this meeting and find out why this community doesn’t have what it needs,” said Toney.The meeting at El Bethel attracted more than 30 residents of all ages, ranging from fourth-graders to retired seniors. Also in attendance at the meeting were representatives from Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Jacksonville and Girls Unlimited. In addition, Bishop Dr. Lorenzo Hall of El Bethel was at the meeting to greet attendees and help prepare lunch for residents, but also offered a stark reminder that their community cannot change unless the community itself enables that change: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”           |
Coming Up
'7 Habits of Successful Families' workshop
(open to the public)
August 7 & 14, 8:30am - 1:00pm
Jacksonville Children’s Commission
Contact
1131 North Laura St.
Jacksonville, FL 32206
Phone: (904) 355-0000
Fax: (904) 355-3004
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