Peaslee Neighborhood Center Inc

Causes: Arts & Culture, Arts, Culture & Humanities, Children & Youth, Community & Neighborhood Development, Economic Development, Youth Development - Citizenship

Mission: Peaslee neighborhood center is a peaceful place in over-the-rhine where residents create and engage in participatory education to foster creative expression, self-determination, and social change.

Programs: Community education program: this program is anchored in the belief that education is the foundation of activism. The community education program seeks to develop those community voices that are too often left out of mainstream media and public decision-making. Our programs for local youth engage participants in the work of self-expression and critical thinking, encouraging them to find and exercise voice, and to explore their own agency. Neighborhood residents and community members share stories and perspectives that form the backbone of the community curriculum we extend outwards. In 2017, this program served and impacted approximately 2158 youth and adults in our community. Our agents of change program involves youth ages 11 15 in creative projects, team-building experiences, and community engagement. Our oral history recordings, speaking engagements, and creative writing opportunities for local residents provide a platform from which rich community knowledge can be shared. Visiting groups of all ages engage meaningfully in our range of service-learning and educational offerings. Within these experiences, we share our community's collective welcome, moral wisdom, structural analysis, and personal challenge with those who wish to walk with us. Through this work, the fight for inclusion, dignity, and equity ripples far beyond peaslee's walls. Our community journey walking tours of over-the-rhine invite visitors to engage with neighborhood spaces through a social justice lens, against the backdrop of a rich, lesser-known community history. Our urban plunge program offers a day-of-service model for large groups that incorporates a neighborhood orientation, volunteer work, and group reflection. Our deep partnerships with miami university's urban cohort and over-the-rhine residency program offer students the opportunity to build community knowledge and social justice concerns into their academic studies through mentorship, public engagement, and work experience. Lastly, we are constantly engaged in the work of building and maintaining a more just and equitable cincinnati. In our more than 32 years of history in over-the-rhine, we have been a part of the struggle for equitable development, robust public resources, and community-centered investment. This workof civic engagement through education, organizing, advocacy, and leadership developmentis the ever-challenging work of movement-building. Our keep our courts/do development differently coalition unites neighborhood families and youth, community-based organizations and activists, and local stakeholders and justice-minded advocates in the effort to protect public spaces and prioritize community benefits within local development plans. Our public education events seek to deepen understanding of systemic inequalities and potential solutions, and to make connections across residents in our community and beyond. Our coalition work with other social justice-oriented organizations aims to strengthen partnerships and deepen resources improving upon the public policies and practices of our city and others like it.

community building, solidarity & tenant partnerships: peaslee believes in community and building relationships. As a community anchor, we are a hub for community building trainings, events and work for positive social change. Peaslee is also an "incubator" for other small, grassroots non profit organizations and we support one another as a community within peaslee neighborhood center. All of the peaslee tenant/ non-profit partners, eight groups in 2017, engage in community work focused on education, advocacy and organizing for social change. Our groups are committed to peace and justice and share a common vision.

summer camps: peaslee offers summer camps for children and youth from low-income families that provide education, arts and music enrichment and recreational activities for children ages 6-15 years of age. In 2017, these programs served 47 children and youth and their families. Our peaslee kids summer program provides a safe, supportive space for learning, fun and positive youth development for 27 children ages 6 - 10 years of age. Activities include reading, hands on experiments and art, music, recreation and small group discussions. Our agents of change summer program offers fun, educational and creative opportunities for 20 youth ages 11-15 years of age to find their voices, work together and create positive change in the lives and the world around them.

arts & music enrichment programming: piano program which provides private piano instruction for low income families in inner city neighborhoods throughout the school year. In 2017, 34 students, 11 new students, (age 5-65) received instruction from six paid instructors. 10 students earned certificates of musical achievement this year. Students also participated in recitals and performances throughout the year in the community that were attended by more than 200 people. African drumming classes were offered as enrichment curriculum for our summer camps students ages 6-15 to help build cultural awareness, math skills, teamwork, mentoring and music appreciation for approximately 47 children. Writing programs were offered throughout the year for approximately 139 participants, ages 9 to adult. Additionally, participants in our girls' writing program showcased their work for approximately 235 people including their families and the general public. The over-the-rhine writing collaborative initiated the creation of a book of community writing for publication.