Ten campus-community projects receive grants from BGSU

Partnerships for Community Action and the Center for Innovative and Transformative Education have awarded $42,800 in grants to support 10 University-community partnerships.

The winners, who will be formally announced at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday (Feb. 11) during ceremonies in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union, were chosen from among 23 applicants requesting more than $111,000 in support.

Projects receiving funding include:

• “Abused, Neglected and Dependent Children: Inspiring Community Awareness and Volunteerism Through Art,” which will increase awareness of the Court Appointed Special Advocate program (CASA), which provides volunteers to represent the best interest of abused and neglected children. The $4,900 grant will also help to recruit donors to the program and volunteers to work with the children. CASA-inspired artwork made by BGSU students will be displayed throughout the community. The project will be co-directed by Carol Fox, director of CASA, and BGSU School of Art faculty Sarah Emily de Araujo and Mille Guldbeck. Sponsors include the School of Art, Friends of Wood County CASA, the Wood County CASA Program and Wood County Juvenile Court.

• The “Family Friends” program received $4,900 to provide family mentoring to homeless families who leave Family House, a homeless shelter in Toledo. Social workers, students and staff of Family House will be paired with each family and serve as their mentors for one year. Co-directors of the project are Sue Brown, executive director of Family House, and Maria Spence, BGSU Department of Social Work. University and community sponsors include the Department of Social Work, Toledo Community Service Center, Family House and Toledo Public Schools.

• The Firelands Learning Zone is a partnership between the Early Childhood Program at BGSU Firelands and the Norwalk Salvation Army. The $4,200 grant will facilitate Firelands students’ work with children in an after-school program sponsored by the Salvation Army. Co-directors include Anne Leser, director of the Early Childhood Program, and Linda Hamaide, BGSU Firelands; Sanchia Roderick, director of the Learning Zone for Norwalk Salvation Army, and Major Brenda McKay, Corps Commanding Officer for the Norwalk Salvation Army. The Firelands humanities department and Early Childhood Program, Norwalk Salvation Army, Norwalk Public Schools, Gardner’s Supervalu Supermarket and United Way of Huron County are sponsoring the program.

• A $5,000 grant will aid in the “Intensive Attendance Intervention” program, which will work with about two dozen freshmen at Toledo’s Waite High School who are frequently tardy for class. The program will prescreen the students to determine factors that lead the student to be truant, then provide education in personal, family and community service. Robin Wheatley, assistant principal of Waite High School; Larry Hamme, chief clinical officer of Unison Behavioral Health; and Peggy Adams, field coordinator of BGSU’s Department of Social Work, are co-directing the project. Sponsors include the Department of Social Work, Toledo Public Schools and Unison Behavioral Health.

• The “Kids in the Kitchen” program was awarded $2,200 to support a program that provides area youth and their families a place to learn about healthy foods, basic cooking skills and safe food handling. Carol Jambard-Sweet, childcare director of YMCA Child Care at Summit Street; and Christine Haar, director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics in family and consumer sciences, are co-directors. Sponsors include the School of Family and Consumer Sciences and Didactic Program in Dietetics, YMCA of Greater Toledo-Summit Child Care and Toledo-Lucas County Health Department.

• A $4,000 grant went to the “Behind the Mask” workshop planned by the New Works Writers Series, a community theatre group in Toledo. The six-week mask-making workshop will include discussion of the historical significance and community symbolism the masks represent with master performer Margarita Espada of New York. Imelda Hunt, popular culture, and Vivian Crawford, director of the Maureen Simmons Family Investment Center, will co-direct the program. The Department of Popular Culture and School of Art are sponsoring the event with New Works Writers Series, Positive Choices of Toledo, the Maureen Simmons Family Investment Center and the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority.

• A $2,600 grant was awarded to “Older Adult Outreach,” an applied research project that will evaluate the effectiveness of Telecare. Begun in 1975 by the American Red Cross, Telecare volunteers have daily telephone contact with senior citizens who live alone. Project directors are Kenneth Robinson III, branch director of the Wood County District Office for the American Red Cross; Diane Dixon, director of volunteer and personnel services for the Greater Toledo Chapter of the American Red Cross; and Laura Landry-Meyer and Randall Leite, both in human development and family studies. Sponsors include the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, College of Education and Human Development, the Greater Toledo Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, Toledo Police Division, Lucas County’s Sheriff’s Department and Area Office on Aging.

• “P Extra: After-School and Summer Camp Motor Development Programs for Children with Motor Learning and Development Problems” received a $5,000 grant. The funding will aid in the creation of an after-school, motor-development program for children with coordination disorders and cerebral palsy, followed by a summer vacation camp. Directing the program will be Becky Frank, adapted physical education teacher for the Wood County Educational Service Center, and Geoffrey Meek, human movement, sport and leisure studies. Sponsoring the program are the School of Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies and the Wood County Educational Service Center.

• The “Safer Communities” project, which seeks to reduce the number of complaints and police reports linked to student parties in Ward 2 in Bowling Green, received a $5,000 grant. The project will strive to enhance student and community relations and improve safety. The Citizens on Patrol program will link BGSU students and local residents to work together by patrolling the area. Co-directors of the program are Lorrie Lewandowski, coordinator/supervisor of the Community and School Based Prevention Program from the Wood County Educational Service Center; Gary Spencer, Bowling Green deputy chief of police, Thomas Votava, chief of police, and Barbara Hoffman, health promotions coordinator for the BGSU Wellness Connection. Sponsors for “Safer Communities” are the BGSU Wellness Connection, Wood County Educational Service Center and the Bowling Green City Police Department.

• The final award, a $5,000 grant, was presented to “Using the Visual Arts to Make Connections across the Curriculum, the Community and the Population in the Vistula Neighborhood of Toledo.” The yearlong project comprises three parts. First, at Lagrange Elementary School in Toledo, a sixth-grade teacher and an art teacher will collaborate to integrate Waldorf Education methods into the curriculum and the neighborhood art program. The Waldorf Education method, which originated in Germany in 1919, encourages holistic learning, stimulation of the imagination, integration of arts into the curriculum, and a sequenced lesson content carefully correlated with individual student differences and developmental characters of children. The second part of the project will involve bringing together young people and adults in the neighborhood art program to complete a public art project for the community. The third part will enable a BGSU art education student to participate in both the in-school and after-school art programs. Program directors are Karen Kakas, art education, and Gary Forquer, principal of Lagrange Elementary School. The BGSU Division of Art Education, Lagrange Elementary School, Salem Lutheran Church and The Friendly Center will sponsor this project.