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Wednesday, Jul 23, 2008

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GROUPS THAT CHANGE COMMUNITIES

Operation Shoestring

Operation Shoestring
Warren Yoder, Executive Director
Robert Langford, Development Director
Sara Williams, Director of Family Development
Julia Washington, Director of Family Day Care Training
John Crossley, Director of Children and Youth Development
P.O. Box 11223 / 1711 Bailey Ave.
Jackson, Miss. 39283
(601) 353-6336
(601) 353-5369 fax
E-Mail: 75040.3077@compuserve.com

This same happy progression seems to repeat itself over and over among Mississippi's most effective grassroots anti-poverty initiatives: A group of local church people, concerned about the needs of poor people in their community, started providing emergency services and soon expanded into a holistic effort aimed at building self-sufficiency.

Such is the case at Operation Shoestring, founded in 1968 in the basement of Wells United Methodist Church, with the vision, as Warren Yoder says, of "helping disadvantaged families climb the ladder out of poverty. It's a ladder with many rungs missing, and it's our job to provide the missing rungs."

Operating five distinct programs serving children, young people and adults, Operation Shoestring works with more than 1,000 families in three low-income inner-city Jackson neighborhoods.

Here's a look at the varied things Operation Shoestring does:

Children and Youth Development. This is a series of programs for young people, most of them offered in a large, bright building -- a renovated furniture store -- next door to Shoestring's storefront office. Project KIDS, for grade-school youngsters, offers both after-school and summer curriculums aimed at giving the students supplemental help with math, reading, science and social studies as well a motivational and cultural field trips. The older youth join Project Y.E.S. (Youth Empowered to Serve), with adult "mentors" offering role modeling and instruction for teenagers in sports, dancing, and "the daily choices they face related to drug use, gang membership, dropping out of school and teen parenthood." In one particularly inspiring project, a Project Y.E.S. group wrote a short play about HIV and AIDS, and has presented it at a number of public forums around the area. Another model partnership brings together Operation Shoestring and Galloway Elementary School nearby for after-school education programs using the school's computer lab.

Child Development Centers. Two professional, affordable day-care centers, with fees on a sliding scale that may drop as low as $5 a month for the truly destitute, provide quality day care in two areas, one in the neighborhood of Tougaloo College, the other in a very low-income public-housing project.

Family Development Programs. Under the supervision of Sara Williams, this array of services are united in their focus on improving the lives of Jackson-area children and families. Specific initiatives include emergency assistance help with food, utilities and rent as well as referrals to other helping agencies; Teen Mentor Parenting for young mothers; Christian Children's Fund, a sponsorship program for youngsters; and Neighborhood Development, a community organizing initiative that has focused on neighborhood issues ranging from landlord-tenant disputes to drug-trade policing.

Family Day Care Homes. This outstanding model project, under the direction of Julia Washington, addresses two community needs, jobs and day care, by assisting and mentoring individuals in starting in-home day care facilities as small businesses. A total of 68 individuals in Hinds (Jackson) and neighboring Rankin and Madison counties are currently caring for 350 children.

AmeriCorps/Metro Jackson Service Coalition. In Operation Shoestring's final program, it administers and manages AmeriCorps volunteers for 11 community-service agencies (itself included) throughout the region.

Operation Shoestring's staff of 30 includes six full-time volunteers; its annual operating budget is about $1.25 million. The organization appears to enjoy good local support and favorable media; as The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported in a feature article last autumn, the organization "daily helps [youngsters] to go beyond the poverty and violence and crime that surround their young lives."

All the feature stories on @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG's pages are reported and written by Robin Garr, a prize-winning journalist who has visited more than 500 innovative grassroots programs in all 50 states since 1990.
Browse his book, Reinvesting In America, at Amazon.com.
Send him E-mail.
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