See It: The Community being helped

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.