Northport/Packer Technology Learning Center: PROGRAMS
Dane County Parent Council operates two Head Start classrooms within the Packer Community Center. The morning class serves children from outside the housing community. The afternoon class serves children from within the housing community. Head Start is a pre-school program for children ages 3 to 5, which focuses on school readiness and socialization skills. Parents are encouraged to become involved in their child's education program in a number of ways: as classroom volunteers, through monthly teacher home visits, and through monthly Parent Advisory Council meetings. The Packer housing community has the most active PAC in the Dane County, with the highest percentage of parents turning out for these monthly meetings. The Packer Head Start classroom employs one resident (Wanda Verdon) as a Teacher Assistant, and has several parents whom volunteer on a daily basis (Jane Buell, Christen Coyle, Ebony Kenerson, and Henriette Marshall). A typical day in the Head Start classroom might include: breakfast or lunch, storytime & songtime, cooperative craft projects which focus on developing pattern recognition, cutting and drawing skill work, sharing & talking time, outdoor play, rest time, free play time, and lots of encouragement and praise.
English as a Second Language Classes:
Thirty percent of the residents of Packer Townhouses do not speak English as their native language. These families, of Asian descent, speak Hmong (Laos highlands), Lao (Laos lowlands), Khmer (Cambodia), and Thai (Thailand). The highest percentage of non-English speaking residents speak Hmong. The Hmong language was not a written language, until an alphabet was developed during the Vietnam War era; only the recently educated Hmong adults will be literate in either their own, or the English, language. ESL classes begin with noun identification, common greetings, and functional phrases. The Packer ESL program meets three times weekly, and is attended by 5 to 12 persons each session. This program is funded through Madison Area Technical College. GED/HSED Classes: Classes for adults and teen parents whose education has been interrupted are offered two mornings each week in the Packer Community Center. An individualized program is developed by the instructor, which may address anything from basic literacy skills, to applying for higher education programs. The oldest participant is in her 60s; the youngest participant is not yet 20. This program is a collaborative effort of Dane County Parent Council, MATC, and Packer Community Center. Family Enhancement: Weekly support group for parents, which addresses issues of interest developed by resident participants. Recent topics included violence in society, women's health issues, and crafts. This program is a joint effort of Family Enhancement and Packer Community Center. When the group began 18 months ago, the turn out was small (sometimes as few as one person each week for several weeks). After hiring a Packer resident, through Family Enhancement funding, to serve as a Community Outreach worker, involvement grew, peaking at about 20 residents participating in weekly meetings or events.
Briarpatch Parenting Seminar:
Briarpatch, a non-profit organization which works with parents of teens to maintain family stability in an age of change, wrote a cooperative grant with Northport & Packer communities to offer a 6 week parent-education class entitled: "How to Survive Being the Parent of an Adolescent". Parents of youth entering, or enrolled in, middle school are a unique group among Packer residents. Of the 18 families of middle school youth, all but two have lived in the community since their adolescent was 3 or 4 years old. All of these families are experiencing adolescence for the first time, having no older children. This group of parents is already tightly knit and supportive; this workshop will primarily serve to enhance mutual support and offer information.
In a cooperative effort between the City of Madison, Open Air Bicycles of Fitchburg, and Packer Community Center, youth and adults have gained skills in bicycle safety and repairs. Steve Meiers of the City of Madison, presents summer classroom training and a bicycle rodeo to teach youth the basics of bicycle safety. Rich Schuman of Open Air Bicycles taught an 8 week bicycle repair course to a core group of residents who will service bicycles for youth in the community. A small grant from the city provided for the purchase of a bicycle repair stand, basic tools, and the establishment of an ongoing account for brake pads, tubes, etc. with Open Air Bicycles. The funds are replenished through fundraising events put on by the youth.
Wheels for Winners, a non-profit organization working to provide youth and adults with bicycles, challenged Packer youth last fall to complete community service hours in exchange for a reconditioned used bicycle, new helmet, lock and key, and free licensing. Eleven children completed the program; for many, it was their first experience with bicycle ownership. This summer, Wheels for Winners will again work with Packer youth and adults to provide a means to earn bicycles.
During summer 1995 youth programs, children in grades K-7 participated in the UW-Madison College for Kids Lego Logo program. Youth constructed machines from legos, powered them with battery packs, and directed movement, sound, & lights through logo computer programming. The children were led through the process by a team of UW School of Education summer students, who received credit for their participation. Packer youth participants also toured the UW-Madison School of Business and computer lab. This project was a collaborative effort of: UW-Madison, MMSD Instructional Technologies, and Packer Community Center.
Youth from the Packer community care for Windom Park, adjacent to the property, during the summer months: picking up trash, raking sand, wiping down playground equipment, and reporting any needed repairs. The youth are then honored by the Parks Dept. at a dinner with the mayor.
FAST (Families and Schools Together):
A support and informational group for families with children in the public school's 4-year-old program, meets weekly at Packer Community Center during the first semester of each school year. Families have a meal together, with family banners designating tables, and assigned work-tasks; then, have family play time, where individual families work together to do a craft, solve an interesting puzzle, etc. This group is a collaborative effort of Madison Metropolitan School District, Family Services, & Packer Community Center.
Community Action Coalition supports the efforts of the Packer Community in a variety of ways. Occassionally, they provide foodstuffs for programs or to meet community needs. The primary partnership of Packer and CAC is in the garden program. Hope Finkelstein, CAC's Youth Gardening Coordinator has worked with the Packer community to develop garden space on Troy Drive in the summer of 1995 and to participate in Olbrich Gardens educational programs. Through the generosity of landowner, Dave Bruns, the Packer community will have its own garden within walking distance this summer.
UW-Extension and the 4-H project
4-H will be bringing rural youth artists and a local artist & UW professor to the Packer Community Center this summer to work on art projects reflective of culture (your own: who you are, what you do, where & what you eat, etc.). These artworks will be displayed this summer in the Memorial Union at UW-Madison. The group will also cooperatively produce one large scale creation/free-standing sculpture to be displayed in the Packer Community Garden.
Residents serve on the Sherman Middle School SIP (School Improvement Plan) committee. Mark Parish, Technology Instructor, and his assistant Todd Wambold have served as advisors in software & equipment purchases. Mendota Elementary is assisting with development of a community youth peer mediation council--Briarpatch will also assist in this effort. Mendota Elementary is using the community center to train their school peer mediation council. Title One (addressing reading needs) funds the Book House Clubs (Ellen McGaughey) at both centers, which merge books and computer skills. Instructional Technologies (a dept. of MMSD--Madison Metropolitan School District) has advised on software & hardware purchases, lab operation & has allowed residents to take training in software applications provided by the school district. These residents will be serving on the MMSD Instructional Technologies committee to develop benchmarks and standards in technology instruction this coming summer at a one-week camp called "Camp TLC--Teaching & Learning with Computers".
Wisconsin harvest recovers vegetables & fruits from local grocers for distribution at the Packer Community Center.
Sterlin Schallart, Amercian Baptist board member, has built libraries in both Packer and Northport locations over the years. Approximately 4000 select volumes have been donated to the sites. Reference works, fiction and non-fiction are all available for unlimited "check-out". The placement of learning centers (and now computer labs) in the Community Centers establish the the tone--the centers are places of learning and community development.