The East Durham Children’s Initiative will hold a community celebration Saturday morning. There will be refreshments, performances by local schoolchildren, storytelling and information on community services.
The event runs from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Holton Career and Resource Center, 401 N. Driver St.
By Matthew E. Milliken
mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684
DURHAM -- The East Durham Children's Initiative has founders, funding and programming in place. In a matter of months, it could also have its first paid employee.
After receiving a $150,000 challenge grant from the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, the initiative's organizers persuaded other benefactors to match that amount, EDCI co-chairwoman Ellen Reckhow said. The group -- dedicated to helping East Durham residents from birth through post-adolescence obtain an excellent education and prepare for college or work -- plans to begin advertising for a director shortly.
The group is also waiting for the U.S. Department of Education to release specifications for a $500,000 planning grant through the new Promise Neighborhood program. Dozens of communities sent representatives to a program conference last fall, so competition for that grant is expected to be stiff.
In a recent presentation to the Durham school board, initiative co-chairwoman Wanda Boone said that the project has adopted many things from the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City. That includes the determination to do whatever it takes to help neighborhood youngsters.
"The way to do that is create a pipeline of success through which the child travels," Boone said. "The focus is on the child. So whatever the child needs to be successful, then that's what we want to do. Whatever it takes -- engaged adults, engaged community, sound health care, commitment to sharing knowledge and improving services."
In conjunction with many partners, EDCI has arranged for several efforts that further its goals. There are classes for parents of newborns, of children 3-to-5, and of teenagers. There are family literacy programs. There are tutoring initiatives for students at Y.E. Smith Elementary School. There is college counseling and application assistance for seniors at Southern High School. There is a food aid program for needy Smith students. And plans are in the works to launch a youth orchestra that will offer free classical music training at Smith Elementary.
EDCI, which had its first community event last October, is holding a community celebration Saturday morning.
Initiative organizers are focusing on one of the city's poorest neighborhoods -- a 120-block or 1.2-square-mile area roughly consistent with the Smith attendance zone. The population of about 7,900 had a per-capita income of $11,200 in 2000, half that of the city overall.
Reckhow noted that it could take a long time before some of the improvements that EDCI is hoping to produce, including higher high school graduation rates, manifest themselves. But her hope is that EDCI's early-childhood programs could result in a higher percentage of kindergarten-ready youngsters within a few short years.
EDCI supporters, she emphasized, are prepared for a long haul.
"We have a commitment to move forward whether we get the Promise Neighborhood grant or not," said Reckhow, who also serves on the Durham Board of County Commissioners. "We feel that this initiative is important enough that we will continue the work. Obviously the Promise Neighborhood grant would be terrific, and we are going to work very hard to get it, but there is a level of commitment whether the grant is obtained or not."
