Look to the Community

(From Neighborhood Leader, Spring 2009 issue) 

Dear Neighbor,

Let me share a bit of wisdom from one of our Neighborhood Leadership Cleveland graduates.

Craig Sullivan (Class 24) has been teaching art in a variety of settings, including schools, hospitals and community centers, for the past seven years. He is also an accomplished artist in his own right.

Three years ago we were fortunate enough to hire him to teach the Art Tech class at our Schools as Neighborhood Resources (SNR) site at Lincoln-West High School. A year later we recruited him to take part in Neighborhood Leadership Cleveland. 

Craig says that his participation in Neighborhood Leadership Cleveland changed the way that he approached his teaching. "Prior to taking the class," recalls Craig, "I was mainly interested in producing art. After the class, I saw that it didn't begin and end with the art—that you could use the art to reach out to the community. The Neighborhood Leadership class helped me look to the community."

An event that Craig organized earlier this year demonstrated the benefits of looking to the community.

Craig invited Gabriel Gonzalez—a sculptor, painter, visual artist and historian who grew up near Lincoln-West and still lives just a few blocks away—to make a presentation to his Art Tech students.

Gonzalez told the students about the Civil Rights Movement in Puerto Rico and showed them how he has begun to document that history through his art.  

The students responded enthusiastically to both the art and history lessons, just as Craig had hoped.

But something else happened that evening that caught Craig off guard.

The students brought in home-cooked Puerto Rican dishes for the guest artist. One student proudly displayed the dish that she had cooked with her mother's help.

"I was surprised at how involved they got," says Craig. "It got some teamwork going between the parents and the local community around the school."

As Craig learned, when we "look to the community," we find that our neighborhoods have not only challenges but also assets: mentors willing to share their talents, young people eager to learn from them, and neighbors ready to support their efforts.

When we bring these community assets into a neighborhood school, we are building something more powerful and lasting than a recreation program. 

We are creating a place for neighbors to come together as a community. 

Warmest regards,

Don