Help Our Neighborhood Get Healthy!
Kim Luz (Director of Community Outreach) and Wendy White-Mitter (Regional Outreach Facilitator) for St. John’s Hospital will tell us about the Kohl’s Gotta Dance program. We will be offering FREE dance classes two days a week for children in grades 1-5.
Cory Blackwell from Kumler Outreach Ministries will tell us about plans for expanding the neighborhood garden and how you can be involved this year, either with a personal plot or assisting with the community plot.
When
TUESDAY, Feb. 11th, 7 p.m.
Where
3rd Presbyterian Church
North 7th Street & Bergen
February Meeting Recap
EPNIA Meeting on February 11, 2014
Neighborhood Police Officer Report:
Officer John Dorsey first explained what it means to be an NPO, who they are and what they do. When a street officer has incidents that do not involve writing a report but still feels it needs attention the information gets passed along to an NPO who then investigates the problem. The NPO gathers information from the street officers and residents in the area to put together the pieces.
Recently, the NPOs have been following up on issues that have been occurring on 4th Street, there have been several undercover surveillance details, trying build cases on some suspicious activity that has been occurring.
There was also a ride along with Paula Zink, our city housing inspector. She comes in when we are having trouble with rental properties and we are not getting any help from the landlord, she finds code violations that can be used as leverage with problem properties.
Strengthening Our Partnerships:
Rochester Christian Church – the first involvement with McClernand was the reading mentor program, which is ongoing. Now Rochester Christian church has partnered with Third Presbyterian Church and has taken over the dinner on the third Thursday of every month. The goal for these dinners is to promote more involvement for the families of the McClernand elementary school students and engage them in neighborhood activities.
Springfield Green – Earth Day Springfield is on Saturday, April 26. We would like to set up a booth again this year to emphasize our efforts with the salvage shop and promoting the reduce, reuse, recycle concept.
SIU – A work day is planned for Friday, May 2 from 9am – 4pm. The 150 SIU medical students have been given a day off for a service day in Enos Park. They will be cleaning up alleys, working in the sculpture garden, preparing the community garden, and the working at the salvage shop.
Mini O’Beirne – The children’s crisis center is celebrating their 25th anniversary and would like to partner with EPNIA to do a family friendly type of event in the park with a cookout, cake, bounce houses, face paintings, etc. The date is Sunday, June 29 from 1-5 p.m. We are still in the organizational phase of this and are anticipating 200-250 people. Need some volunteers for planning or helping with this event.
Strengthening Our Communication:
Ryan Mobley is working on a website redesign and keeping our Facebook updated, and we are experimenting with some new social media ideas.
Strengthening Our Presence in the Community:
House of the Rainbow – City council denied the motion for re-zoning which means the 5 single family homes can no longer be used to house multiple parolees.
Gas Depot – City council will vote on February 18 on a zoning variance which would allow the sale of alcohol.
Guest Speakers: Wendy White-Miter, Regional Outreach Facilitator and Kim Luz, Director of Community Outreach for St. John’s Hospital:
Kim reviewed the Kohl’s Gotta Dance Program, there will be two hip-hop classes each week available for grades 1-5, it is a 30 week program. The first class is at McClernand elementary school on Tuesday afternoons from 3:30pm-4:30pm. The second class is at Third Presbyterian Church on Wednesdays from 3:30pm-4:30pm.
Would like to promote a community dance day during the summer that would also serve as a mini recital to prepare for the Hoogland event. St. John’s also sponsors Destination Dinner Table, a four week class that teaches families how to prepare and cook meals on a budget.
Cory Blackwell, Director of Kumler Outreach Ministries
Explained how we will be able to expand our community garden this year. Ways of getting involved with the gardens are by having a personal plot or helping with the communal plot. We will have multiple locations this year, raised beds, more personal plots, a bigger communal plot, and possibly plots to sell at the Farmer’s Market. First meeting to organize these efforts is on February 27th at 7 pm at Kumler church on North 5th and Carpenter Street.