Central Zone

Home of Ford Middle School and Baxter Community Center

I Believe I Become community meetings in the B2B central zone kicked off in August 2010. Hundreds of residents came to five open meetings, culminating in a community-wide celebration in November 2010. Action planning continues.

LINC Community Revitalization Inc. leads the I Believe I Become community engagement efforts. LINC believes it is important to raise up the community’s voice and follow the community’s lead in creating change. The engagement strategy combines relationship building, leadership development, listening and learning through a community planning process unique to each B2B zone.

I Believe I Become central zone neighborhood team:

Willie Patterson, B2B Community Liaison from LINC
616.308.6315 or willie@lincrev.org

Montel Pierre, B2B Natural Helper from LINC

Victor Williams, B2B Natural Helper from LINC

Central Zone Integrative Planning Meeting

What: Integrative Planning Meeting
When: February 23, 2012, 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Where: Ford Middle School, 831 Madison Ave, Grand Rapids, MI  49506

Central Zone Update

What we’re working toward: Parents and guardians actively involved in their child’s education from birth to high school graduation and beyond.

What we’ve done:

• Community Center: Collaborate with existing schools and centers to provide parent/child-focused services and programming.
• Family Fun Night with over 100 participants
• Essay Contest with 67 participants
• Reading Rewards with 75 participants
• Homework Table with 12 participants
• Three Resident Meetings
• Parent Advocacy: Increase parental participation in the Parent Teacher Community Council (PTCC) in the four central zone schools by 75%.
• Parents from Central Zone schools are being recruited to be part of the PTCCs
• Launch of the VIPS (Value. Instill. Promote. Success) program at Campau Elementary and Gerald R. Ford Middle School
• Homework Help: Create a network of parental homework support within the schools.
• Two resident meetings
• Homework hotline launched in all four Central Zone schools, 54 parents signed up
• Parent recruitment in Central Zone schools
• Partnered with Community Center on summer activities
• Male Involvement – Train and empower fathers to be active in their children’s lives which will increase the graduation rate.
• Family Fun Night (in collaboration with Community Center)
• Safe Routes to School – Gerald R. Ford Middle School is registered as a site for SR2S
• Partnered with Community Center on summer activitie
• Courageous Movie outing with 119 participants
• The majority of adults signed the Believe 2 Become pledge
• Youth: Create projects and activities that will reinforce the vital behaviors and empower children to realize their God given potential.
• Family Fun Night (in collaboration with Community Center) with over 100 participants
• Reading Rewards (in collaboration with Community Center) with 67 participants
• Essay Contest (in collaboration with Community Center) with 75 participants
• October fest opportunity to recruit for Baby Scholars and deliver yard signs
• Photovoice with 20 participants

Over 3200 Community Members Have Joined This Movement and it’s Growing

The Believe 2 Become Central Zone is in the midst of the Integrative Planning phase. Integrative, defined as combining and coordinating diverse elements into a whole, is so fitting for this phase of work. When it was originally named, it represented the integration of all the Action Team’s work into a community plan. It now also represents the integration of the community’s work and collective voice into the four Central Zone schools. On November 17, 2011 the community gathered to design school-based implementation for each of the action strategies.

The planning, action and community building that has taken place over the last year will now be married with the action and energy currently taking place within the schools. Principals, teachers, KSSN workers, parents, and students will now come together and dive deep in creating opportunities for each of the strategies to take shape in a way that best fits their school community. Increasing male involvement, the creation of Parent Homework Support, engagement of parents around advocacy for their children, and the realization of each school as a Community Center may look different in Ford Middle School, MLK Leadership Academy, Southeast Career Pathways, and Campau Elementary, but that is where the power lies. The work will take on unique shapes because it is influenced by the passion, skills, and unlimited potential of every person involved.

The community has expressed its gratitude over and over for the space that large gatherings provide for them to be reunited with their neighbors. Relationships are being strengthened not only between the Neighborhood Engagement team and the neighborhood, but between neighbor and neighbor, parent and child, and now this strengthening will occur between parent and teacher, parent and principal, community and school as we all work in unison to prepare our children to succeed in school, in work, and in life.

Oakdale Neighbors B2B Adventures

Download a copy of of Believe 2 Become Adventures created entirely by the I Believe I Become summer learning students!

Parent Homework Support Hotline

The Parent Homework Support team has designed a hotline for parents to call with questions regarding their child’s homework or other school needs. The homework hotline will be operated by school coordinators who will connect the parent calling to a parent-volunteer with strengths in the subject in question.  The hotline will be open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 4:00pm-7:00pm. The goal is to strengthen relationships between parents and their child’s school as well as with other parents.

Participate in GRPS Parent Committees

The Parent Advocacy team has set its sights on bolstering parent participation in GRPS Parent Committees within each of the four Central zone schools. Current participation in the Parent Committees is very low. Resident leaders will begin to reach out to parents at each of the four Central zone schools, recruiting them to advocate for their children through partnerships with other parents and teachers.

If you are interested in joining or would like more information contact Willie Patterson at 616.308.6315.

Safe Routes to School

The Male Involvement Team will lead the planning process and implementation for a “Safe Routes to School” Program at Gerald R Ford Middle School. This will allow males to be involved in schools while providing safe passage to and from schools, which in turn will decrease absenteeism, bullying and unsafe incidents occurring before and after school hours. 616.308.6315 to register.