What would you like to know about St. Joan of Arc? Do you have a story about our parish or of general interest that you think others would like to hear? For story ideas, contact Jeff Rholl, jeff@stjoan.com.
Greetings to my fellow journey persons at St. Joans. As coordinator of an organization that has received support from St Joan's Justice Fund, I would like to tell you what the Family Opportunities and Literacy Collaborative(FOLC) has done this year. I would also like to present you with opportunities to get to know the immigrants and refugees leaders and residents of the Cedar Riverside neighborhood. As a Collaborative Ministry of St. Joans, I welcome you to learn more about the work of FOLC.
The Self Reliance Work Group is working on proposals that will provide a welcome wagon type orientation project for immigrants and refugee new to the neighborhood. As part of this proposal, a staff person would visit the homes of our new neighbors, inform them of the services and provide information to address their individual issues. On each of the visits, this staff person will bring a volunteer who would work individually with just that one family or individual to help them through the maze of services over the weeks following the welcome wagon visit. If anyone is interested in joining the Self Reliance Work Group to help with the writing of proposals for this project or to serve as Volunteers, Please contact Eileen at 612-747-2046 folc@earthlink.net. FOLC has brought together the Brian Coyle Community Center, Fairview University Medical Center, Cedar Riverside Peoples' Center with immigrant and refugee led agencies on the The Health and Wellness Work Group to increase health awareness and access through specific grass roots activities. FOLC is also working with the YWCA to fund private swimming opportunities for Moslem Women and girls. FOLC is also looking for other places where Moslem women and girls can swim and/or exercise in privacy. If anyone is interested in helping on the Health and Wellness Work Group, please call Eileen. The Children and Youth Work Group is working on a joint proposal where neighborhood teens would provide a link between the neighborhood Children's Home Society Child Care Center and neighborhood home childcare providers to help the home providers prepare the children to be ready for school and to help Children's Home Society to be more culturally appropriate. This group is also trying to find people who can tutor individual students to help them pass the Basic Standards Test. Immigrant and refugee children come here to Minneapolis and even though they need to learn English, they are still expected to pass this test in order to graduate. Tutors are needed to work with these very eager students. Please call Eileen if you can work once or twice a week with a student Also if anyone is interested learning about The Space and Transportation or Quality of Life Work Groups, please call Eileen. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell you about the work of FOLC. FOLC would be glad to provide the opportunity for people at St. Joans to get to know our new neighbors, many of whom are Moslem, while working together to build a more just society in this one square block of over 1,300 apartments in Minneapolis, the most densely populated block between Chicago and Los Angeles. Sincerely, Eileen Watson | |||||||
The collaborators who make up FOLC include Cedar Riverside immigrant and refugee leaders, Local Immigrant/Refugee Led Agencies, neighborhood institutions and Twin Cities institutions. During 2002, FOLC has identified and begun to address the issues for immigrant and refugee families in the neighborhood. Most of the families come from Somalia or Ethiopia. FOLC now has 5 work groups to address neighborhood issues that have been raised: Self Reliance, Children and Youth, Health and Wellness, Quality of Life and Space and Transportation. The work groups meet every other month and are initiating activities and writing grants together to support their activities.