[NEohioPAL] EAST END NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE - UBUNTU YOUTHEATER NEEDS YOUR HELP

[james jones via NEohioPAL]

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Contact


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James Jones/ Na Kia Smith

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Telephone


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216-791-6007

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Cell


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216-326-4491

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Email


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jjones at eenh.org/nsmith at eenh.org

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Website


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www.eenh.org

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


  
March 25, 2015


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THE UBUNTU YOUTHEATER NEEDS YOUR HELP!!

Brand New Amphitheater in the Buckeye-Woodland Communityof Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio, March 25, 2015– TheEast End Neighborhood House of Cleveland, Ohio (East End), is requesting the support ofthe community in its monumental endeavor of constructing a communityamphitheater in the Buckeye-Woodland Neighborhood. The Ubuntu Youtheater, adynamic space of inspiration, and a monumental site for local youth and thecommunity-at-large. An outdoor, sculpted-earth amphitheater will provide aflexible arena for a variety of events, speaking for those who help design andconstruct it, and speaking to those who will gather within its bounds. Theamphitheater will be the product of a community-based process commencing withforums to gather input from kids, teens and community members to reflect theneeds and aspirations of our youth population. Ideas will be generated thru workshopswith a landscape architect, designers, and East End’s youth and communitymembers. We will present an initial site plan that has been devised in ourvision of the Ubuntu Park, where the theater will reside.  We will discuss inherent challenges, and howthe hurdles of location and budget can often be overcome with good collectiveinput! Nearly 3 acres of land, our campus space allows us to triangulatevarious activities for community use. The Ubuntu Youtheater will enhance thevision by serving as our initial catalyst for action driven by youth request ofnow!


“It Takes a Village to raise a CHILD. I see YOU, YOU see metherefore WE are,” Ms. Na Kia Smith, Director, East End Cultural and CollegiateLearning Center


WE NEED THE SUPPORT OF THE COMMUNITY (financial or in-kind),The Ubuntu Youtheater will foster synergies through educational hands-onprojects that will guide design opportunities, encouraging an interweaving ofideas to create a space of interaction, ensuring participation of localVeterans of the greater Cleveland Community that have also enlisted to help atevery step along the way. Youth participants will then be inspired by localvolunteer artists to explore their creativity and ideas thru public art usingrecycled materials. Together their ideas will build upon one another and therecycled works of art created by youth will speak to the community by servingas permanent art features in the amphitheater

As of 2013, after completing a strategic plan, East EndNeighborhood House’s mission is to compassionately provide culturally-basedintegrated social services with enriching leadership development and healthyactivities that nurture and affirm our community’s individuals and families –children through seniors – to become self-sufficient and ultimately thrive! East End NeighborhoodHouse (East End) has been a vital anchor of the Buckeye, Woodland-Hillscommunity for one hundred and eight years. East End is a lead agency forvarious county wide services therefore extending help beyond the Buckeye neighborhoodto other neighborhoods including inner ring suburbs.  Services include but are not limited to starrated early childhood education and all year round youth programming; parentsupport and preventive services; senior day center inclusive of home deliveredmeals to those unable to attend the center; and nationally recognized volunteerprogram to strengthen intergenerational activities between children and seniorsfor academic success.  East End is home tolocal street clubs, and various alcoholic anonymous groups and community drivenactivities.   

East End’s CEO Zulma Zabala enhanced our cultural practicefour years ago utilizing the philosophy of Ubuntu, ahumanistic approach from South Africa that recognizes interconnectednessbetween individuals for the betterment of the whole. The principles of Kwanzaa,a set of values for personal and community development, used historically byEast End are also still in practice.  Ourwork commitment operates from Ubuntu’s most popular adage of “I am because weare therefore I am”. 


East End is best known for providing culturally competentservices that support cultural identity and leadership development. Nationalfoundations like the Kellogg Foundation have introduced East End as a site tosend other Day Care providing agencies from around the country to shadow EastEnd’s Early Childhood practices for child identity development and parentengagement. Parent engagement, has been primarily praised by East End’s own parentsfor its ability to fully relate and affirm.

For example: Ubuntu Leadership Classes by East End,supported currently by volunteer hours and as funding is available, go muchmore in depth into the lessons of Ubuntu, nurturing  leadership compassionately to eachparent.  Our approach is not to “Teach” aparent how to be a parent, but instead to support a parent, while nurturingtheir individual leadership abilities to support their families. Ultimately,parents have shared to feel empowered, more comfortable and certain in thefunction as a parent; not because they lacked abilities but because they wereunaware of supports available to them.  

Another strength of East End is its ability to engage atlarge community voice continuously:  EastEnd’s R.I. S.E. Collaborative (to Reach, Rebuild, Integrate, Support andEngage); in existence now for over decade holds a membership of thirty plusservice providers, churches and residents. The group meets monthly to shareservices, initiatives and family focused networks to help sustain families.Most recently, they began their own separate strategic plan process, to renamethemselves, re-focus mission and identify ways to sustain by engaging residentsin new initiatives. Resident input is forefront of this process.    Town-hall meeting styles are frequentlyhosted, giving residents of all ages an opportunity to voice their concerns,share in support and build upon community assets!


 
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If you would like more information about this topic, pleasecontact James Jones/ Na Kia Smithat 216-791-6007 or email at jjones at eenh.org/nsmith at eenh.org.


James Ronald Jones, II Director/Singer/Actor    
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