| "Y
ou've been talking back to your
teachers," Kyev Tatum tells a student he just pulled aside as he straightens her
collar. "I need you to go into class and be focused and cooperative. This is a new
day," he tells her. |
and grant opportunities. Fortunately for Tatum, he also found the TEES Center for
Community Support (CCS) of Texas A&M University. CCS staff helped Tatum locate grant
opportunities and prepare a proposal to the Meadows Foundation. |
| For
many of the kids of the Mitchell Center), this is indeed a new day. Many of the 300+
children who were touched by Mitchell Center programs in 2001 come from different home
environments, and 98% of participating students are minority, at-risk, or latchkey youths.
Some were labeled as troublemakers in other schools. Here, Head of Schools Martha Tatum
tells me, they are "labeled for success." |
| "We had a vision [and] you
provided the technical expertise to help us get the grant to make that possible." |
|
For
Tatum, that push was all it took. Five years after the center opened, his vision has
acquired a life of its own. In September 2001, the Mitchell Center opened a charter school
and received certification as a Boys and Girls Club, and they are working toward opening a
daycare and preschool. |
| The
Mitchell Center began in 1993 with a vision. Where other people saw abandoned army
barracks, the old wing of the "colored school" of San Marcos, in the middle of
an impoverished neighborhood, Kyev Tatum dreamed of a vibrant community center with
after-school programs including character-building and performing arts classes. In his quest to renovate the building and
hire staff, Tatum found himself in uncharted waters, a maze of foundations |
Their goal
is to join these programs with their already-thriving after school programs to create a
web of activities that will challenge kids and keep them safe from 7 AM to 7 PM. "If
we can keep these kids for 12 hours a day, you're going to see the brightest, most
talented kids come out of our program," Kyev beams. "Just you wait," he
laughs, "Our school's going to send 75% of our kids to A&M schools." |
The renovated
Mitchell Center opened its doors in 1995. |
"It was truly heaven-sent, your involvement in our program," Tatum says
of the Center for Community Support. "We had a vision, a God-given mission. You
provided the technical expertise to help us get the grant to make that possible."
|
|
TEES Center for Community Support