While partaking in my daily ritual of scanning and reading news stories online yesterday morning, I came across a Washington Post article about a YMCA in Tucson, Arizona that served as a common ground between four people involved in the tragedy that occurred there last weekend. (Click here to read the article) It does not surprise me that a Y was a link. Ys are meant to be an area to bring people together from all aspects of a community, be it a judge, a nine year-old girl, a Congresswoman, or a mentally unstable twenty something. This got me thinking about my own Y, the work that I do there, and even the members who I see everyday who come to work out, take part in classes, participate in the youth programs, and take advantage of child watch so that their kids will be looked after while they work out.
I spend my Mondays and Tuesdays more or less as a PE Teacher (see Part I), but the majority of my time at the Y is spent writing grants to obtain funding for different programs. At first this was not the easiest job for me; I felt like an outsider as I was the newest person at the Cahokia YMCA, and thus, the least familiar with the people and the programs of all of the workers. While familiarizing myself with our Y, I saw the numbers and statistics that represent the people and this area, and realized that there are a lot of different needs to be addressed. Here are some of the numbers that I have had to work with:
Nearly a third – 30 percent – of their residents have not finished high school, and 90 percent have not attended college. More than half of their families have a household income of $35,000 or less. Currently, three of every four students in high school in the Cahokia School District live in low-income households, score well below the state average in math, reading and science, and have little chance of entering college. At least 50% to 60% of the student population (in the East St. Louis area) is overweight or nearing obesity. This plan reflects an overall increase in obesity in East St. Louis among all individuals from 19.5% in 1998 to 44.5%. The same dataset reveals that number of those individuals trying to lose weight was 24,304 or 47.2%. While 37.7% people feel they are getting enough exercise, only 24.3% met the moderate activity standard (30 minutes, 5 times a week).
These statistics paint a bleak picture of the area. However, I am fortunate to be at a YMCA that is becoming a strong influence in the Cahokia area as a community outreach center despite it only existing for two years. My Y already has programs running to address the issues of the area. Instead of creating new programs and trying to obtain funding for these programs (something I do not feel entirely comfortable doing since I am new to the area and do not know it very well), I have been applying for funding for new components to enhance programs that already exist. We already conduct a very large, all-encompassing afterschool tutoring program to assist kids with homework that provide the students with enrichment activities. The program even has a college readiness program designed to guide high school students to do everything that they need to do to apply for and be accepted to college. I have written grants to obtain funding for a college tour component of this, an invaluable aspect of a college readiness program.
The Cahokia YMCA also already has a program in place to address fitness and healthy eating and living for youth. I recently wrote (and received) a grant to enhance this by combining aspects of this program with one of our youth outreach/mentorship programs (The Cahokia Y currently has three, one oriented towards male, one towards female, and a mixed one that is volunteer service project based) to do a service learning project in which the youth plan and put on a week of health and wellness activities. Today I am sending off another grant to try and obtain funding for college tours. Next up are grants to enhance the girl mentor program, and environmental ones to improve the actual Y building itself and make it greener, as well as ones seeking to do partnership projects with classes at a few of the local community colleges. Here at the Y we are told that our identity is to be a transformer, to do what we can to improve the people who walk through our doors in whatever capacities that they seek. The Cahokia Area YMCA is growing rapidly in both members and presence within the community, I now know that my role is to do whatever small role I can to transform a good thing, and make it even better. That is what I accepted when I signed up for when signing up to become a Jesuit Volunteer; to work for social justice, and live and work in solidarity with the people that I serve. I am far from the only one who shares this in this recognition of service. The man with the hardest job and top public servant in the world, President Obama echoed this last night during his speech about the Arizona shootings. This quote has stuck with me the most from any words spoken during the speech, as I think that it embodies the spirit of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, and a year of service:
“We recognize our own morality, and we are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame—but rather how well we have loved—and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better.”
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