Peaslee Neighborhood Center
215 East 14th Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Creative Expression, Social Justice and Mentor Programs
When no grant application was received by June 2023, the Foundation made a "renewal grant" for the program for which funding had been provided in the previous year. For more information about the program, see the Grants Section of the 2021-22 Dater Foundation Annual Report on this web site and/or go to the grantee organization's web site.
Program Results:
No formal Grant Evaluation Report was submitted with results for the program. This “Success Narrative” was submitted in January 2024.
This grant is being used to help sustain Peaslee’s school year and summer enrichment programs for children and youth ages 5-19:
Summer Camps (June 6th - July 28th, 2023)*Peaslee Kids (25 campers, ages 5-9) - This camp combined high quality enrichment opportunities and summer childcare for kids and their parents. Kids focused on play, reading at the library, gardening, swim lessons at Ziegler Pool, and positive affirmations. Campers also took yoga and African drumming lessons, and were introduced to social justice issues connected to caring for other people, animals, and the earth.*Risers (21 campers, ages 10-12)- This camp was a fun and supportive environment for students to engage in critical thinking, book clubs, writing poetry, social emotional learning. Risers also learned about gardening, harvesting fruits, veggies, and herbs from the Pendleton Children’s garden and learning to cook healthy food with them. Some fan favorites included stir fry, pickles, and pesto! Risers’ favorite field trip this summer was to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.*Agents of Change (15 participants, ages 13-15) - This camp offered space for personal growth, book clubs, creative expression, and leadership development for our teenage students. Students celebrated the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop, learned about the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, and talked about disinformation and how to think critically about media representation. They also took an overnight camping trip to Winton Woods, and made short films about their daily lives and the meaning of family.*Youth Mentor Program (3 mentors, ages 16- 18): This program provided paid summer positions for youth graduates of our Agents of Change program. They gained valuable work experience assisting teachers in our Peaslee Kids program, sharing their assets as youth leaders and building close relationships with our 5-9 year-old campers.Campers across all age groups participated in our second annual Field Day, with challenges including cup-stacking, 100-meter dash, water balloon toss, and trivia. Our older campers illustrated care and leadership with our youngest kids. Agents of Change were the winners of the final challenge, Peaslee Pursuit, and look forward to defending their title in 2024.School Year Programs (September - December 2023):Piano Program (20 students, ages 6 - 17) - Students (many beginners) who participated in our Fall program fully in person advanced in their musical learning and skill development using Faber Piano Adventures. All their practice and dedication culminated in a Fall recital at Christ Church Cathedral’s Chapel in December where they played for fellow students, family & friends. Peaslee also offered a small pilot summer group session for returning students that focused on music theory, which we plan to continue offering in 2024.Girls’ Writing Circles (18 students, ages 8-12) - This program provided an opportunity for creative expression, affirmation, and community-building through writing to 3rd - 6th grade-school girls at Rothenberg Preparatory Academy, our neighborhood’s public school. The girls received support in writing, self-expression and sharing their work through readings, and displayed their work at their school.Social Justice Education (125 participants, ages 15-22): With over 60 students as part of our partnership with Miami University’s Urban Cohort this fall, we have been busy mentoring students and teaching them about the social justice movements that have made up the history of Over-the-Rhine. We conducted 3 community journeys with students from St. Ursula Academy and Xavier University. Students were introduced to the history of Over-the-Rhine and current issues facing our neighborhood and our city, with a special focus on social justice, race, and class. The walking journeys of our neighborhood ended with discussion and reflection time at Peaslee, and students offered thoughts on how to apply what they had learned to their own lives and communities. Finally, we were able to deepen our relationship with Xavier University through this program, acting as a site for XU’s Community Action Day and Alternative Breaks.Volunteer support and population served:
Volunteer support was utilized throughout the year in these programs. University student volunteers, interns, former interns, parents, grandparents and community members assisted in multiple ways to support our children and youth, including reading to children, chaperoning field trips and swim lessons, assisting with family engagement events at the Center and recitals and performances in the community. We also have a dedicated group of volunteers from a local church who collect in kind donations such as classroom supplies and snacks for kids to help keep program costs low.
The majority of our families and program participants live in the neighborhoods of Over-the-Rhine, Mt. Auburn, the West End and Pendleton, but learners from around Hamilton County come to our community center for the educational and arts enrichment opportunities that this grant sustains. Most program participants are African American, with some Multiracial, Caucasian and Latino, and students as well. Our families self-report their income ranges, and almost all of the families we serve are low-income.
We also remain committed to diversity in our programs by highlighting artists, musicians, and changemakers from marginalized communities. For our youth book clubs, we choose books with BIPOC protagonists whom our program participants can easily identify with and relate to.
Qualitative data from Surveys
Mission Moments documented by program staff:“This week our Peaslee students learned about bullying and the critical impact that it can have on others. Peaslee Kids also learned about the importance of kindness and why it’s important to spread it to others. The Peaslee Kids decided to make kindness rocks to show gratitude to others. It brought me so much joy seeing the Peaslee Kids passing them out to others throughout Peaslee to spread love.”“This week, I especially noticed some of the Peaslee Kids have been expressing their emotions more clearly to the teachers. Compared to the first week, they have been increasingly coming to us when they had issues and listening to the solutions we come up with. It is very interesting seeing some of the personal growth these kids are going through, and knowing that they are learning more about their own emotions and wellbeing as well as others'.”“On Wednesdays when Ms. Clark is here for yoga, she often helps PK with our free reading time. She is a reading specialist, and she has expressed how impressed she is with the progress that some of the kids have been making. She talked about how she knew some of the students from school and seeing their engagement here has been incredible. I have even seen some of the kids improving from the past weeks, whether it comes in the form of starting to shift to more advanced books, or if it is just an increase in the amount of books they read weekly.”“During our album cover creation project this week, our Agents showed a lot of creativity and unique design choices while working. The Agents had the option of creating an album title or a list of tracks for their hypothetical album, and we got some really cool work done in response to those prompts. The artistic work that was done really blew me away.”Social Justice Education Student reflection:
“Thank you for telling the story of OTR and Peaslee. It was really enlightening and I really enjoyed learning about the mothers fighting for their kids’ education. I think it is important to keep fighting even when others try to turn us away, just as the mothers did.”
:
http://www.peasleecenter.org Amount: $20,000
Date: July 2023
