A Special Visit at a Special Time:
Working Together Works
By Antwan Diggs, Buffalo Weed and Seed Coordinator
The Safe Haven gets a makeover.
|
First Lady Laura Bush is interviewed by Weed and Seed teens.
|
There's nothing like teamwork, and Weed-and-Seeders know that "teamwork makes the dream work."
It was the dream of New York's Buffalo Weed and Seed to make the Coalition for the Redevelopment of Unified Community Involvement And Leadership (CRUCIAL) Community Center—a Safe Haven—the best it could be. In October, the center celebrated two milestones: its completed renovation, and a visit from First Lady Laura Bush.
To use the center for community events and after-school programming and to help more people, West Seneca AmeriCorps, Home Depot, and Hands on America transformed the building from front to back. Workers painted the hall bright colors and completed several murals throughout the building, bringing fun and color to the community center.
The planning, developing, and implementing of the makeover was the result of a month of weekly meetings. With the help of community members, local high school students, and partnering organizations—including the African American Police Association, Stop the Violence Coalition, the City of Buffalo's Division of Citizen's Services, and the County of Erie—work began, and the building began to take on a new look and a new life.
Ten Home Depot stores from the region and the African American Police Association also helped refurbish the community center one room at a time. The gym was overhauled, with the addition of a mural and two new basketball courts.
The arts and crafts room looks like a completely new wing. The mural in this room was painted with the help of local high school students who were in trouble with school officials. They agreed to participate in the project, and some say that their room turned out the best.
After the renovation was complete and the dust was settling, a White House representative called to say that First Lady Laura Bush would be visiting. She arrived soon after in Buffalo and saw firsthand the new and improved center.
Mrs. Bush was then interviewed on the center's youth radio broadcasting program. The radio program helps youth gain experience in a professional field in which they are already very much interested. The disc jockeys are between 14 and 21 years old, but they know how to ask probing questions. Amber Bellamy, the DJ who interviewed the First Lady, asked Mrs. Bush about funding issues and her work with the Helping America's Youth initiative.
Mrs. Bush was traveling the country to promote the initiative, visiting with mentors and Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and checking out fatherhood initiatives and after-school, sports, and gang intervention programs. She praised CRUCIAL and the radio station, saying they are both "very important groups in the Buffalo area that help young people learn to make wise decisions for their lives, which is exactly the point of Helping America's Youth."
Mrs. Bush urged young people to think about their lives and make a list of their goals. She suggested they get involved with Helping America's Youth and find the resources to help their communities.
Through CRUCIAL and these other programs, members of this Buffalo community center hope that youth will understand that no matter what they may be going through in life, there are people on all levels—from the White House to a neighbor's house—who care about them and are available to help them make a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Thanks to the U.S. Attorney's Office, our CCDO Program Manager Joyce Bradford, and the staff at CRUCIAL, we were able to pull it all off with teamwork. Like a well-oiled machine, we did it and we did it the Weed and Seed way: working together to make it happen.
For more information, contact:
Antwan Diggs
Buffalo Weed and Seed Coordinator
|
