WE'VE COME A LONG WAY...
While 2020 upended life for everyone 2021 brought opportunities to lean into not just a new normal but a deepening of direction for Love City. Masks became an everyday part of life as we opened a new school in January (Mighty Oak Academy), celebrated the return of summer camps, started the first full school year of Mighty Oak Academy in August and once again joined our friends throughout the West End to put together food boxes for the holidays that fed around 20,000 people.
In January we opened Mighty Oak Academy and welcomed around 30 students grades K - 8 for in person learning. Both kids and parents were just excited to be back in school. Our attendance for the semester was around 97%. We jumped in with both feet, hiring teachers at the end of December 2020 and opening the Mackin building on January 4, 2021.
With small class sizes we were able to meet our students where they were and help them gain back some of the achievement gap that had been growing since schools had to close because of COVID. We finished the school year in May and celebrated our student's accomplishments with a party for them and their families.
Summer camps were back in 2021! It wasn't just the kids that were ready to play again, but adults as well. We welcomed special guest camp counselors from all over the city in various different sports, including field hockey, lacrosse, basketball, and even theater.
In August we wrapped up summer camps and turned our attention to the new school year. We had increased our enrollment to almost 50 and added new teachers. We wanted to take a new approach to education, one that empowered not only our students with the confidence
that they can learn, but empowered their families to know they have a voice and deserve to be heard. One of the strongholds of the community that has developed over generations and time, is what we have is ok, this is what we deserve but we want people to dream and know that they deserve better. Our motto for the year is "We deserve better." We want our community to start to dream again, and education is the gateway to achieving those dreams.
By the time the holidays rolled around our students had made great strides and we put together a Christmas program to present to our families. With over 90% of our families in attendance we were blown away with the unity and togetherness displayed by not just our neighbors near but our neighbors far as well.
This year we also joined with our friends and neighbors throughout the West End to put together over 2500 food boxes to be distributed throughout the neighborhoods on the west side. This news letter will be the only place that you hear about this community effort, and while more good news is surely needed in the world today, it is purposeful that you only hear about this here. Neighbors Loving Neighbors is the motto of Love City, and the focus is just that, on our neighbors, not on us as an organization. There were over
200 neighbors that came together that day to pack boxes, load trucks, and distribute boxes throughout the neighborhoods. It was a natural thing to do, that didn't require any fanfare, or accolades, just neighbors loving neighbors.
SIX YEARS AGO...
In January 2016 we had just closed the books on our first quarter of existence and were celebrating the fact that we still had $12 in the bank. We were surviving month to month on the fish fry. The Fish Fry was covering our bills but also was steadily building community by bringing together both neighbors near and far over some excellent fried fish. We were planning our first
large scale official neighborhood event for that May, the Spring Carnival and welcoming volunteers to help clean and repair the Mackin building.
It's six years later and now in January 2022, the fish fry has grown into Porkland BBQ restaurant, employing local neighbors and still welcoming neighbors near and far. Open gym and our after school programs have transformed into Mighty Oak Academy, giving families in our neighborhood a choice for their child's education. We have deepened our events to focus on our school as a pillar of the community.
Over the last six years we've had thousands of people come a volunteer, we've had thousands of neighbors come to our events, and we've loved our neighbors the best way we can.
The four pillars we decided to focus on back in 2016 are still our focus today. While the spokes on the wheel may change over time as the community grows the pillars never change.
2022...
As we start to focus on 2022, we are committed to building up our education pillar. Education not only benefits students but it creates opportunities and jobs for people to be empowered in their own communities. One of our main focuses for 2022 will be the completion of the Mighty Oak Academy Pre-School Campus.
A couple of years ago Shawn woke up one morning from a dream about the kids in our neighborhood. He and I were in a big forest that was on fire. We ran around with 5 gallon buckets of water trying to put out trees. As soon as we would extinguish flames on one tree and start on another, we would turn around and find the first tree on fire again.
At the edge of the forest however was a large road acting as a fire break, and on the other side of the road was a field of saplings. We knew then that a pre-school and day care where our kids and families could get a great early start in education was going to be vital to giving this community the opportunity to dream and reach their goals.
We have recently acquired more properties on 26th street adjacent to the old St John's church that will become the preschool building. Our plan is to turn these other properties into outdoor play space and parking with a turn around driveway for a safe place for drop off and pick up. To build the campus will take additional capital resources and we're asking people to join in to make these dream of education access a reality.
Neighbors loving neighbors is not limited to geography. We are all neighbors across this city trying to work together to make a change. It takes all of us. In the early days of Love City, we used to get visitors to come see what we were doing. We would take them around the Mackin building at the time and share with them all the dreams we had. Incredulous they would often ask, how in the world is all this change you talk about going to occur? Our answer was, you have to love your neighbor, and if that doesn't work, you love your neighbor more, and if that doesn't work, you love your neighbor more and so on. As we have seen over the last 6 years, and since the beginning of time, Love always Wins.
Porkland is back! We had a good break over the holidays, and we're now back with fresh hot food. Come. by and see us!
2519 St Cecilia St
Monday - Thursday 11am - 2pm
Friday 11am - 7pm
www.porklandbbq.com
PARTNER WITH US
At Love City we believe in time, talent and treasure.
Mighty Oak Academy Amazon Wish List
We're coming up to the end of the semester and also the end of the year. Mighty Oak can still use some supplies, especially snacks! If you would like to partner with the school, you can visit our Amazon wish list and purchase items to ship directly to the school. Visit this link to view the list: https://a.co/77dqBIT
If you are interested in volunteering or to find out more information about supplies needed please email: info@lovecityinc.org or call (502) 272-078.
Please consider partnering financially with Love City. We are looking for sponsors for students at Mighty Oak Academy as well as partners to help fund construction of our new preschool. Click the button below to donate today.