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A small town in Nebraska is trying to raise funds to build a new community center to replace the old one that was tore down several years ago due to poor condition.

We are in need of a place that our residents can hold family events, youth events, senior citizen events in their own hometown.

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The NorthWest Initiative (NWI) is a non-profit organization working to develop healthy communities in Lansing, Michigan. Through the Youth Engagement Program we teach youth how to discuss and handle topics that influence choices in their lives, as well as providing positive community service experiences and a variety of learning activities. We offer a number of programs including the Westside Youth Corps Program(summer program), Pre-Teen Program, homework help, family fun night(once a month), Young Parent Program, a children's gardening project at a local school, and Young Phoenix Project(Saturdays, males grades 6-9). We are also in the process of starting a peer mentoring program, matching at-risk 6-8 grade students(selected by their principals) with successful 11th and 12th grade students.

The neighborhoods we work in are rich with diversity; however, there are several neighborhoods within our territory that have been identified as very low income according to the 2000 census data. The neighborhoods we focus on for youth engagement programs have a high density of children of color and at-risk populations. We put our focus on working with at-risk youth in the middle school years(ages 11-14) because they are difficult time for most students because of peer pressure and hormones. It is especially a difficult time for youth who do not have a father figure at home or a successful role model. Most of our students that participate in our programs come from single parent, low-income households.

All of our Youth Engagement Programs are geared towards youth to make healthy choices, and how the impact of choices affect their daily lives, as well as providing leadership skills and training to help the youth understand the importance of "giving back to the community" (i.e. positive community service projects). The Westside youth Corps and the Young Phoenix Project are both service orientated programs that help to instill in our youth the importance of personal accountability, responsibility, and pride in a job well done. For the past two summers, "Westside Youth Corps" has engaged over one hundred individuals throughout the summer months in performing community service projects(i.e. cleaning up Potter Park Zoo, planting a garden at the MSU Student Organic Farms, and painting and landscaping the yard of an incapacitated senior), as well as, taking fun, educational field trips(for example: the local wastewater treatment plant,Urban Option, MSU Dairy Farm, and a camp on Lake Michigan).

Currently we need to replenish our stock of games and activities for the community center. We recently assembled a computer lab with four computers that we would like to buy educational software for. We also have access to a gym but right now need funds to purchase more basketballs, footballs, jump ropes, etc. I would also like to purchase more fun and educational board/card games to play. Often kids come in with little or no homework and it would be nice to have more educational games to play with them. There is a plethora of good games to buy from a website I found http://www.educationallearninggames.com. It would also be nice to have games to enrich our mentoring program. Games would help build the mentoring relationship and facilitate a stronger bond.

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VOCAL is a student-run organization that advocates for and empowers those who are often considered voiceless. We work with the cooperation, knowledge and experience of these people to provide the logistical and financial resources necessary to improve their quality of life.

Our current project is to improve the quality of life for the residents of Waltham, a city that has become a second home to many students. To accomplish this, we are assisting in the ongoing project to convert the Prospect Hill Terrace Apartment’s Day Care Center into a new community center.

The three goals of this campaign are (1) to raise awareness of the need for out of school youth programs and affordable housing, (2) to raise money for our ongoing project to convert the Prospect Hill Terrace Apartment’s Day Care Center into a new community center and (3) to strengthen the relationship between Brandeis University, Bentley College and the Waltham community.

We are planning to raise awareness of and money for the much needed after-school programs and affordable housing through a charity spoken word concert called VOCAL 2008: SPEAKING UP FOR THE FUTURE. The show featuring an all-star lineup of award winning poets of all ages is scheduled for Saturday, January 19, 2008, in the 747-seat Spingold Theater at Brandeis University. In addition, we have started a letter writing campaign to ask for the support and approval of the city of Waltham for the conversion of the Day Care center and to further provide awareness of the issues listed above. Lastly, before and after the show, VOCAL members will hold writing and poetry workshops for youth across the Waltham community.

We plan to use the proceeds from this event to work in conjunction with the Community Engaged Learning Program at Brandeis, the Bentley College, the Waltham Alliance to Create Housing (WATCH), Waltham Public Housing, Community Service Department, and the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance towards converting the Prospect Hill Terrace Apartment’s Day Care Center into a community center.

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I was part of a project that created and produced a fund-raising video to support saving the East Side School in my home town of Decorah, Iowa. It was built in 1897, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The video was used to show to people to encourage them to give a pledge of support for the renovation of the East Side School. The fund raising effort was very successful. My role in the project was as spokesperson on the video. On the video I gave a tour of the building and interviewed people who had ideas for programs that could be used in the school. YOu can see the video online at http://www.eastsideschool.org/vid.html

See It: The Community being helped

There is a need in our community that has developed over the last decade that has been steadily ignored in the dogged pursuit to maintain the status quo. This need is for a community arts center that has evolved to meet the needs for a new kind of community – a community that has become centered on the latest technological advances. We have moved our style of communication and our sense of community to text messages, emails, and social networking websites. The North Texas area is a hub for technological advancement with companies such as Texas Instruments and Perot Systems, among countless others, but the structure and presentations in community arts centers in the area have remained for the most part stagnant.

The North Texas area has experienced a drop in the attendance of traditional art galleries, but popping up in their stead are exhibitions, lectures, and even universities studying and examining the combination of visual art and technology as it changes and becomes such a large part of our daily lives. A painting hung on a wall or a sculpture on a pedestal has become mundane, leading to a progressive lack of interest on the part of the average member of the community.

The art works being created have evolved into new media works, but the galleries have stayed the same and in most cases do not have the equipment or know-how to incorporate new media works into their exhibition schedule. New media is visual art either created or displayed in a way to reflect recent technological change. From Gordon Young’s copy machine collages to Nic Nicosia’s surreal video narratives, new media has become the majority of art work created in this day in age.

Simply New Media is in the process of creating a community arts center to address just this need. With a background in non-profit arts administration and technical arts presentation, Simply New Media has the experience and passion to carry through this idea to its full fruition. There are no other organizations, non-profit or otherwise, looking to fill this need in the community.

We are looking to you for your support in bringing this community arts center to the North Texas area. With your generous donation, Simply New Media will be on the way to creating a venue, offering educational and exhibition programming to the North Texas community.