Center for Democracy and Citizenship - Neighborhood work
Neighborhood Learning Community
West Side Circulator
All Around the Neighborhood
Youth Apprenticeship Project
Neighborhood Learning Community
The Neighborhood Learning Community (NLC) is a network of people who believe that creating a community alive with learning, where everyone is an active teacher and learner, will improve learning for children and families and strengthen the neighborhood. The Center for Democracy and Citizenship initiated and served as a leader in this collaborative effort based in the West Side neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota, and remains a partner.
The NLC is not a fixed organization. NLC leaders help broker resources, provide space and support for civic learning and leadership development, and connect people and organizations to generate ideas.
Those involved in the Neighborhood Learning Community:
• Build pathways between schools and non-formal learning opportunities in the neighborhood.
• Develop their capacity to engage in public work and lifelong learning.
• Organize to generate community responsibility for childrens' learning.
Parents, young people and others are developing their confidence and capacity to be contributing members of their families, neighborhood, and society. This work nurtures individual and collective hope and sense of possibility.
History
The NLC got its start in 2001, when the Center for Democracy and Citizenship helped a diverse group of young people and adults come together around their shared values and interests. They believed that children’s learning improves if they grow up in a place with a culture of learning—where there are rich learning opportunities and contexts, and great expectations. Since 2001, West Side residents have worked together to reclaim their streets, parks and community buildings as sites of learning and connectedness. Examples of projects promoted by the NLC include All Around the Neighborhood camps, the circulator bus, and the Youth Apprenticeship Project.
The pioneering work of the NLC is being expanded throughout the City of Saint Paul as part of the mayor's Second Shift Initiative. The Center for Democracy and Citizenship is a lead partner in Learning in Cities, a collaboration with the Second Shift Initiative, Saint Paul Public Schools, St. Paul Federation of Teachers union, and many community-based organizations that aims to ensure the academic and life success of all young people in Saint Paul. In addition, Center co-director Nan Skelton serves on the Second Shift Commission of advisors to the mayor.
The Center for Democracy and Citizenship also plays a leadership role in the East Side/West Side Learning Collaborative, which coordinates out-of-school time learning and youth civic engagement activities in the East and West side neighborhoods, and is a collaborator in the Saint Paul Youth Commission, which supports and creates a space for high school-age leaders from neighborhoods across the city to work with other civic leaders and advance the goals of the city's Youth Policy Platform.
Resources
Creating a Culture of Learning in St. Paul: A Framework to Improve Children's Learning by Nan Kari and Nan Skelton for the Kettering Foundation (PDF) — condensed version and full paper
A Framework for Neighborhood Public Work (PDF) — includes guiding principles, organizing tools, and reflection and action worksheets
A Community Alive with Learning: The Story of West Side Neighborhood Learning Community 2001-2005 (PDF)
West Side Circulator
In 2003, the Center for Democracy and Citizenship brought together community organizations and parks and recreation workers in St. Paul to begin thinking of ways to bring kids to places where they could learn and socialize with one another. They imagined–and secured funding for–a free bus that would run after school and during the summer, connecting the library to a neighborhood landmark, with stops in between at schools, parks, community and recreation centers, and a large housing complex. The West Side Circulator worked so well in its first few years that staff in the mayor’s office worked to establish another circulator on the city’s East Side in 2007. "Cities have a role in the development of young people," says Mayor Chris Coleman. "Through creativity and partnerships with leaders in our neighborhoods, schools, and businesses, Saint Paul is leveraging resources to prepare our children for school and life and set them on the road to success."
In late 2009, the West Side Circulator reached a milestone when the 100,000th rider boarded the bus.
Connecting Communities: Youth Circulator Bus Toolkit (PDF)
All Around the Neighborhood
The Center for Democracy and Citizenship provided leadership in creating the first All Around the Neighborhood (AATN) summer camps in 2003 and helped expand the program to cover school release days. Today, the Center continues to provide coordination.
AATN camps are offered free to young people in kindergarten through grade 6. Neighborhood residents and staff of local institutions are considered resources and participate in the design and delivery of week-long programs such as Critter Camp. Last year, the star of Critter Camp was the teacher’s dog, Stone. He came every day and stoically tolerated the “love" of 25 kids. Other cast members included the pet ferrets of a teenage Youth Guide (a leadership program for middle schoolers), and some backyard chickens provided by the Peace Camp leader. During River Camp, kids spent the afternoon along the Mississippi River doing pretty much what Huck Finn and his buddies were doing down stream in 1884, except with signed permission slips. Their teacher had lived for years on a houseboat and had enough river stories to last a whole afternoon. AATN doesn't rely on bells and whistles—just the wonder of the ordinary shared with friends and neighbors.
From June 14 to August 13, 2011, more than 100 five to eleven-year-olds will get up close and personal with the places and inhabitants of their West Side community. AATN camps are free of charge and freewheeling, much like the childhood activities of older generations.
Youth Apprenticeship Project
Since 2004, the Youth Apprenticeship Project has connected 110 youth to mentors, to one another, and to a larger movement
of community building in their neighborhood. These connections are a foundation of support for young people to engage their curiosity and enact their power.
Teens who participate in the summer Youth Apprenticeship Project are paid through the City of Saint Paul Youth Job Corps to spend 15 hours a week in a neighborhood business or organization working with a committed mentor. While the young person does work for the organization, his or her position is transformed from just a job to an apprenticeship because of the committed support of the mentor and the opportunity for meaningful work. This is an exciting way to build capacity in neighborhood organizations and develop young people’s skills in a place-based context.
The Center for Democracy and Citizenship provides coordination of the Youth Apprenticeship Project and works with teen participants at weekly meetings to develop and reflect upon the skills they’re learning in their apprenticeships. Staff provide coaching to apprentices as they do additional work on projects related to relevant issues in the neighborhood, bringing their personal skills into a community context.
“He had such rich experience, we were essentially mentoring each other," said Neil Cunningham of his 2006 greenhouse apprentice, Chang Xiong.
“I was at Baker Community Center, where I helped kids with lunches and recreational activities," said 2008 apprentice Taijon Ferrell. "I learned how to manage my money, skills of working, and how to stay consistent and focused. I met a lot of kids – learning how to deal with them was important. I also learned to think about my future options."
