By Krissica L. Harper

As an advocate, college admissions recruiter, and educator in the areas of youth and student development, I have noticed that a large percentage of inner-city high school students are not aware of the things needed to start their collegiate, educational, and career pursuits. Like them,  I was a kid in the inner-city. Low-income and “at-risk” were a few words that the school system used to label me. Having a single parent household and incarcerated parent is/was tough. I am forever grateful to my mother and “the village” around me that introduced my sibling and me to a variety of different summer programs and more. Some of those included athletic camps, educational tours, and views from the 6. (kidding on that last one, ha ha) But, the KEY to those experiences was just that- I EXPERIENCED them. I heard once that there wasn’t so much an “educational gap” as there was an “access and skills (experience)” gap. Those experiences changed the trajectory of my life.

Finances play a huge role in accessing educational/informational opportunities for inner-city youth. Growing up, my mother worked multiple jobs so that we could afford to participate in extracurricular activities. There were also some activities that we could not do because of the costs associated with them. I know how it feels to want to do something that other kids did, but with money being the deciding factor, not be able to do it. I also recall going back to school in the fall and the teacher asking for everyone to stand and tell the class what they did over the summer. It is not exciting when you’re the kid that does not have much to tell everyone. On many occasions, reluctantly, I made up worthy-enough stories that would match up with my classroom peers. Not a good feeling.

Below I have listed a few tips on how inner-city youth can search and access some EXPERIENCES that can help them achieve results in and out of the classroom. I want to help take our youth and their interests, gifts, and talents to new heights this summer! I also want them to be the kids with exciting stories to tell the class or write about next school year!

Enjoy..

1. HIT THAT HASHTAG

NOW to my young, hip, Snap Chattin’ young’uns — there will be some free programs around your city. If you are on social media, go ahead and hit that hashtag. What are you interested in? Maybe there are some events that coincide with that exact thing. See if there are a few hashtags that you can hit on Twitter and Instagram. Sites like Eventbrite,  Meetup  and Act Locally Waco list local and statewide events and happenings that you can attend this summer. Get up, get out, and Remember: EXPERIENCES CAN SHAPE YOUR REALITY.

Like my guys from Outkast once said,

Young Outkast

“you need to git up, git out and git somethin
Don’t let the days of your life pass by
You need to git up, git out and git somethin
Don’t spend all your time tryin to get high
You need git up, git out and git somethin
How will you make it if you never even try
You need to git up, git out and git somethin
Cuz you and I got to do for you and I”

2. R-E-A-D

Yes, R-E-A-D in the summer. READ! The summer is an amazing time to reflect on things that happened during the school year. Often times we want to get away from anything pertaining to school during the summer. However, why not enjoy the sun, enjoy the swimming pools, and GET AHEAD? Take the time to expand your knowledge. Being in the inner-city there are some negative distractions that could impact your life in a major way. What if you decided that you won’t let those distractions hinder you from growing? Les Brown, Eric Thomas, and Gary Vaynerchuck are a few folks that I want you to get acquainted with this summer.

I never forget the words of 2PAC that speak to inner-city youth like you and myself-

Young Tupac Shakur

“You try to plant somethin in the conrete, y’knowhatImean?
If it GROW, and the and the rose petal got all kind of
scratches and marks, you not gon’ say, “[DANG], look at
all the scratches and marks on the rose that grew from concrete”
You gon’ be like, “[DANG]! A rose grew from the concrete?!”
Same thing with me, y’knahmean? I grew out of all of this
Instead of sayin, “[DANG], he did this, he did this,”
just be like, “[DANG]! He grew out of that? He came out of that?”

3. Drake was right…

…At the end of this summer, you want to be able to say, “Getting things done around here.”  #SummerSixteen 😉

#GetPAPER –  “Passionate About Purpose Expecting Results”

Krissica Harper is a youth and student development advocate, college recruiter, and educator. She conducts and curates workshops, events, and more.  Here goal is to inspire others to live with purpose and pursue their passions.  This post first appeared on her own blog which you can follow at medium.com/@krissicaharper.  Connect with Krissica on social media @KrissicaHarper.  Any questions? Contact her directly: [email protected].

The Act Locally Waco blog publishes posts with a connection to these aspirations for Waco. If you are interested in writing for the Act Locally Waco Blog, please email [email protected] for more information.

by Allison Allen

Living in my north Waco neighborhood has its challenges especially if you’ve read the headlines of house fires and a recent homicide. As a neighbor it is heartbreaking to know that loss and destruction are literally outside my front door. I struggle to reconcile these realities with my personal experience of living here which is overwhelmingly positive, one of life and hope and connections with neighbors.

It reminds me (a little) of the Nobel Prize winning novel, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. The story is set in occupied France during World War II in the midst of loss and destruction. The novel centers on a blind, French girl and a German boy whose paths eventually, miraculously cross. Their meeting toward the end of the book is the “light” that cannot be seen in the fog of war. And their brief friendship leads to life, hope and connections.

A bright light going on right now in north Waco is the possibility of a REAL grocery store at the corner of 15th and Colcord, Jubilee Food Market. A store with actual live fruits and vegetables at actual grocery store prices! This may sound mundane and commonplace, but when the closest grocery store is over two miles away and you don’t have a car, it’s big news. And, it’s what the neighbors in north Waco are asking for, and all of Waco can help make it happen.  (Click here for details:  http://missionwaco.org/jubilee-market/.)

And, there are other everyday lights that I see all around my little corner of our city. Neighborhood kids of all colors playing together outside all summer long, people walking everywhere and stopping to say hello to neighbors, teenagers going door to door selling candy to raise money for their schools, my son getting his best haircut from our neighbor, neighbors mowing each others’ yards, tenants becoming homeowners on every street, and on and on the lights shine…

Sirens come then go
A fine balance to be sure
This life in Waco

Allison Allen has lived in north Waco with her family for 14 years. She’s a mother to 2 above average children, a wife to a pretty good husband and a property manager of some very clean and affordable apartments in the downtown area.

The Act Locally Waco blog publishes posts with a connection to these aspirations for Waco. If you are interested in writing for the Act Locally Waco Blog, please email [email protected] for more information.

By Scott Bland

For more than 30 years, our educational system has done a disservice to our kids by teaching them that the primary path to a successful future is completing a four-year degree program after high school graduation. There are many unintended consequences of this educational track. The primary consequence is that kids who have no desire to attend a college or university feel as though they are inferior or somehow not as valuable as their peers who move on to advanced degrees. These children are not taught or shown other paths that are just as valuable and lead to rewarding careers as those requiring college degrees.

The construction industry is made up of careers that pay salaries that are in line with or higher than many careers requiring a college degree.  As the construction industry has become more and more technical, these jobs in the plumbing, electrical, and heating and air conditioning industries require the completion of advanced certification programs. Achieving these certifications requires just as much dedication, commitment, and maturity as completing a typical four-year degree program. In our Central Texas Area, the starting salaries for licensed plumbers, electricians, and heating and air conditioning technicians fall into a similar range as starting salaries for college graduates.  After completing their certification program, students in these fields can expect to start out earning between $35,000 and $45,000 per year.

Because there is such a shortage of qualified workers in the construction industry, most companies are hiring students who are still in the certification process and putting them to work gaining valuable experience in apprentice positions.  Students who come out of high school ready to begin a career can use this option as a means to help pay their way through their studies and not incur the crippling debt that so many four-year degree students are saddled with upon graduation. For children from low-income families, this is a viable path to breaking the cycle of poverty that has become generational for many of our students.

A secondary consequence of the “four-year degree or bust” model is the creation of a massive shortage of the skilled workers necessary to create housing, commercial projects, and public infrastructure – and those are just a few of the industries that are dealing with this terrible shortfall in labor. While it is a wonderful thing to have lots of English professors and accountants, we aren’t going to be able to rely on our tax guy to fix our plumbing when the pipes in our house start to leak.

And that brings me to an unintended consequence that is impossible to quantify. I firmly believe that there are a great number of people working in careers they hate.  They wish they had spent their time and money in other pursuits, but they were taught from Kindergarten on that to be a successful person in our society you had to have that four-year degree. There was a stigma placed on careers that didn’t require that college degree. When you look at how many or our greatest entrepreneurs either never went to college or started and dropped out to pursue their passion, it is obvious that there are many paths to being a success. Our children need to be exposed to those paths, so they can make the best choices for them.  That way maybe the next Steve Jobs doesn’t have to drop out of college and work out of a garage to achieve his or her dreams. And, yes, Jobs was a college dropout along with Mark Zuckerberg, Russell Simmons, Brad Pitt, Ted Turner, Bill Gates, and even Oprah to name just a few.

Scott Bland was born and raised in Waco.  He is an alumnus of Baylor University. He worked for Highland Homes in the Dallas area from 1998 to 2001, then joined the United States Secret Service as a Special Agent after the 9/11 attacks.  He retired his commission in late 2006 to return to Waco and take over the family business, Jim Bland Construction, where he has served as Owner and President of the company for the last 10 years. He is currently the President of the Heart of Texas Builder’s Association as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce.

The Act Locally Waco blog publishes posts with a connection to these aspirations for Waco. If you are interested in writing for the Act Locally Waco Blog, please email [email protected] for more information.

By Meilana Charles

In April, Prairie View A&M University-Cooperative Extension Program’s “Dine on 3,” healthy living social media initiative focused on cooking with kids.

In my previous career as an early childhood professional I enjoyed preparing and cooking in the classroom with students. Taste tests, pumpkin carvings at the sensory table, creating salads from fruits and vegetables picked from the garden, and introducing different types of foods from different cultures were just a few of the activities implemented in my classrooms. And, as a young professional, I didn’t even know the long-term benefits associated with cooking with kids!

As an extension agent in McLennan County, I have found that few parents know the benefits of preparing a meal with their children.  For example, in one of my classes I noticed a preschool-aged girl attentively focused, watching her mother prepare a fruit smoothie. When I inquired about her daughter’s fascination, the mother replied that she’d never made a smoothie and her daughter wasn’t allowed to be in the kitchen when the adults were cooking.

Children only get in the way, this is my “alone time,” it’s not safe… many parents seem adamant that children don’t belong in the kitchen. To counter this resistance, I make sure to include information regarding the importance of cooking with children in my health and nutrition programs. I make sure to explain that parents need to introduce their children as early as age 2, to age appropriate activities when preparing meals. Additionally, I explain that aside from the cooking skills, there are nutritional, developmental and academic benefits associated with letting children assist in the kitchen.

In the end I hope that some of the information provided convinces parents to allow their children to take some role in preparing meals for with their children. The long-term benefits far outweigh the reasons to avoid having them help.

This Act Locally Waco blog post was written by Meilana Charles. Meilana is a Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent at Cooperative Extension Program at Prairie View A&M University. Meilana’s priority areas for providing educational resources to McLennan County are general nutrition, money management and parenting. She has a M.S. in Child Development from Texas Woman’s University and is a certified Human Development and Family Studies professional through American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.

The Act Locally Waco blog publishes posts with a connection to these aspirations for Waco. If you are interested in writing for the Act Locally Waco Blog, please email [email protected] for more information.

By Curtis Cannon

There were so many people, many more than I had anticipated, all gathered in the Church sanctuary that first Wednesday.  I’m not a member of this particular faith community, but I was thrilled about the topic they would be considering and discussing during the month’s Wednesday gatherings.  The program series was about the Church and their relating to and including LGBTQ people.  Momentous and exciting stuff.  I was again filled with hope.

My journey in the Christian Church began in my infancy – many, many moons ago.  Some of my earliest memories are of playing in the nursery, doughnuts, Tang, felt board Bible stories, “Jesus loves me this I know”…We were a very involved Church family with regular participation in the myriad assortment of groups, classes, committees, choir….all of it.  I loved it and drew a great deal of identity from my belonging there.

Later, as a teen in high school, I began to realize and grapple with the fact that I was gay.  It wasn’t a phase or an affliction, it was simply who I was.  I’m able to say that today with a clarity of age I wish I could have known then.  I was very distressed then about what was happening with me.  After a few cursory “testings of the waters” with trusted leaders in the Church, I was left with a palpable sense that I was in err, that something was wrong with me.  Did I grieve God?  Was I an abomination?  I no longer felt I could be honestly myself in Church.  This all coincided with my heading off to college, so I used the opportunity to bow out from Church.

For ten years I bobbed and tossed through a rather tumultuous early adulthood.  I think of that time as my years wandering in the desert.  I had some great friends and dear confidants, but wouldn’t a home base of faith and solidity have been great?

In 1993 I moved from San Francisco, where I attended school, to Waco.  Yes, that’s right, SF to Waco.  A radical transition to be sure, but Waco is my mother’s hometown and I had the familiarity of visits in my youth to see grandparents and relatives.  I moved out here with the goal of helping my parents organize and sort through my grandparent’s estate.  Little did I know it would still be  my home 23 years later or that it would mark the next chapter in my spiritual odyssey to wholeness.

I remember sitting in my car outside of the Metropolitan Community Church for a good while before finally mustering up the courage to venture in.  I had heard this was an open and affirming Church and actually came into existence so that LGBTQ people could have a welcoming place to worship.  It all seemed almost too good to be true.  I was home.

In the years since that wonderful homecoming I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of a number of organizations and fundraising groups in Waco that that have worked for the equality and betterment of life for LGBTQ people.  I’ve also witnessed landmark legislation and court rulings that have made it possible for me and my husband, Dave to be legally married here in our home state (after we’ve lived together as a married couple for 16 years). I’m also grateful to new friends in other circles of belief and faith that have been so welcoming.

Today, I know of a few more congregations that have adopted the practice of true inclusivity (a definite improvement from a few decades ago).  My hope is that more and more faith communities will be open to growing in this direction of embracing all people.  It’s challenging work to grow beyond what you think you already know, but it’s possible, and I’m truly heartened by those congregations that are committed to this healing and transformative work.

Curtis Cannon studied Theatre at San Francisco State University. He has been a zoo keeper, pre-school teacher, and house flipper.  He’s a member of CrossTies Ecumenical Church (who welcome and affirm all people) and is a mission group member and volunteer with the Gospel Café.  He and his husband Dave are big fans of all things theater.

The Act Locally Waco blog publishes posts with a connection to these aspirations for Waco. If you are interested in writing for the Act Locally Waco Blog, please email [email protected] for more information.

By Daniela Lopez and Ashley Renee Whitlock

According to the Project Link website, “Project Link is a new local program that started in Fall 2015 to help Waco-area high school students, currently at La Vega High School and University High School, and their families in charting a more assured and successful post-secondary journey through intense one-on-one college, career, and financial advising… At the high schools, the Project Link team works to create a college-going culture by developing an environment that recognizes the value of higher education, by building awareness of post-secondary resources, and by nurturing student’s individual college and career aspirations.”  If you have questions about Project Link, feel free to contact Natalie James at [email protected] or at 254-299-8517. In today’s Act Locally Waco blog post two Project Link participants share the positive impact this new program is having on their college aspirations.

My name is Daniela Lopez and I am a senior at University High School. I plan to attend McLennan Community College in the Fall and major in Education. I consider myself one of the many lucky students who were chosen to be in this amazing program called Project Link. I met my wonderful Project Link Liaisons back in August and they’ve helped me so much. Project link has impacted my life big time! Before I was in Project Link I felt lost and confused on what to do when the time came around to start planning for college, all I knew was that I needed to go. I didn’t know who to go to for anything that had to do with college and coming from Hispanic parents who didn’t finish school and worked most of their lives, I was pretty much on my own figuring out what to do and when to do it. Being in this program has changed my life. They guide me and help me get all these things accomplished. If I hadn’t been selected I don’t know where I would be right now.  They inspire me to go chase my dreams and work hard for what I want. They inspire me to be a better me.

Being a first generation student, having no one in your family with experience attending college or finishing high school, is very hard. I am the youngest of five children and will be the first kid in my family to graduate and go to college. I thank God I have the opportunity to be in Project Link. My amazing Project Link Liaisons have all the information we need for college.  For example, they are helping me complete scholarship applications, write essays and complete Financial Aid paperwork. They have also helped me figure out what I want to major in and what to do in order to get there. They aren’t just my liaisons or my teachers; we have created this amazing bond in Project Link that has made us like a family. We all care about each other, and we all want to see each other succeed. We all love helping each other out and I’m thankful this program has helped me and my classmates have a closer bond with each other.

I am the President of our Project Lead Team and what we do is help our liaisons brainstorm on how we can make Project Link more successful. Being in Project Link has given me a lot of leadership opportunities. I never thought I would get the opportunity to be the President of this amazing team and help a program be even more successful than it already is. I found out I love helping people, especially kids. I want to make a difference in a student’s life one day and make sure they know of all the opportunities they have to have an amazing future. One day I hope to be a great teacher who can inspire and help kids just like Mrs. Davis and Ms. Botello have helped and inspired me.

My name is Ashley Renee Whitlock and I am a senior at La Vega High School where I have been given the opportunity to participate in a new program called Project Link. Ms. Watson, the Project Link Liaison at La Vega High School, has helped me tremendously during my senior year at La Vega High School. She has helped me with all kinds of tasks I needed to do to pursue my degree. She helped me prepare for multiple testing opportunities; she helped me find scholarships and she is pushing me to give my all in everything I do.

Ms. Watson always goes above and beyond when helping not only me but every other La Vega student who is in need of her assistance, skills and input. She is always striving to help every student get to they want to be, not only for college, but for the future beyond college as well. Her office is always open, and she is always ready to answer any questions that come her way.

My experience with her and with the Project Link Program has always been positive and uplifting. There has yet to be a day when I have failed to accomplish a certain goal with her help. She has hunted down tons of scholarship opportunities and mountains of college information.  She has even hunted down students to find time to work on FASFA, college requirements, etc. She has helped me by reminding me of important deadlines and keeping me updated on all the scholarships that apply to me and my career.  She has helped me apply to multiple colleges and even helped filling out my FASFA in order to pay for college in the Fall of 2016. Project Link as a whole has helped me to have a better understanding of what is expected of me in college and the future in general.  It has also helped me to gain the knowledge that is needed when applying myself in all the many different ways listed above. Ms. Watson has truly made a huge difference in my life and future career path and has always strived to give me the most useful information available.

The fact that Project Link is actually offered to me beyond high school is very comforting, and I truly look forward to experiencing the program through college. I really do feel that the program is extremely beneficial towards not only me but many other students who are in need of the motivation and assistance it takes in order to gain that acceptance letter from not only colleges but scholarships as well.

Daniela Lopez is a senior at University High school.  She is active in the Ready Set Teach Academy of Education and serves in the Educators Credit Union as a teller. Daniela plans to attend McLennan Community College to major in Education. Ashley Renee Whitlock was born and raised in Waco, Texas and is a senior at La Vega High School.  She serves as commanding officer of La Vega High School and is active in NJROTC, CERT, Skills U.S.A., Student Council, Project Link, Orienteering, Academic Team, Yearbook Editor, Photography and Color Guard.  After completing high school this May she will be attending MCC in Fall 2016.

The Act Locally Waco blog publishes posts with a connection to these aspirations for Waco. If you are interested in writing for the Act Locally Waco Blog, please email [email protected] for more information.

by Craig Nash

The author Donald Miller, (before I turned on him for becoming a shade too respectable,) opens his memoir Blue Like Jazz with this:

I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

After that I liked jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.

I have to confess that before I began my work with the Texas Hunger Initiative, when it came caring about issues of food insecurity I was a little like Miller before his Bagdad Theater experience. It wasn’t that I was openly antagonistic toward efforts to alleviate instances of hunger in our area, or even indifferent to the effects of poverty, of which hunger is one of the most prominent. Rather, when given information and data about hunger, or really any pressing social issue, my eyes would glaze over at the immensity of the challenge and I would move on, thankful that someone else is putting their brains and brawn to work on the challenge.

But I loved Waco enough to want all its citizens to thrive and reach their fullest potential, so I started with the expectation that slowly, by watching others who have been entrenched in this work for many years, my heart would eventually begin to light up with enthusiasm about alleviating food insecurity among our most vulnerable.

As I have watched and listened, a couple of things have captured my attention. For one, I was surprised at the sheer number of people and organizations who are working to address the issue of hunger. Having been in local ministry, I was aware some of the “big players,” the food pantries, large and small; churches and organizations like Packs of Hope who fill backpacks with nutritious food for children to eat over the weekends; Gospel Café; Salvation Army; World Hunger Relief; etc. But I didn’t know that there is a small religious publishing house in town, Seeds of Hope, printing newsletters and worship resources for churches interested in learning more about hunger around the world. I wasn’t aware of how tuned in organizations like the Waco Restaurant Association and even child nutrition departments at schools are to the barriers in the way of every child in our community receiving three healthy meals every day of the week.

In a very real way, there is an army of compassion in our city dedicated to alleviating hunger.

But I’ve learned something else: Like the jazz music that Donald Miller learned to love, there are a lot of dissonant notes being played by everyone working toward ending food insecurity in Waco. Not everyone approaches the issue in the same way. Some groups are on the ground, handing out food as quick as they can get it, while others are being selective and cautious. Some are working within systems to reform processes by which people receive adequate nutrition, while others are working outside the systems, believing them to be irreparably broken. Many people approach the issue from stances of faith, but there are those who do some out of an agnostic viewpoint about God and religion.

This dissonance might unnerve some, but it shouldn’t. The beauty of jazz, and what makes it a uniquely American art form (perhaps the preeminent one,) is that its refusal to resolve and land on a completely “whole” chord means that there is never a time when it feels “complete.” This allows space for infinite movement and requires collaboration among different voices and instruments. This sense of collaboration is one of the defining marks of the hunger fighting army of Waco.

As for those whose hearts flame up with compassion and care for those battling hunger, I’m still watching. And the embers are spreading.

Craig Nash has lived in Waco since 2000. Since then he has worked at Baylor, been a seminary student, managed a hotel restaurant, been the “Barnes and Noble guy,” pastored a church and once again works for Baylor through the Texas Hunger Initiative. He lives with his dog Jane, religiously re-watches the same 4 series on Netflix over and over again, and considers himself an amateur country music historian.

The Act Locally Waco blog publishes posts with a connection to these aspirations for Waco. If you are interested in writing for the Act Locally Waco Blog, please email [email protected] for more information.