Needs Assessment Committee Progress

The five committees working to develop project specifics, Education, Transportation, Housing, Life Style and Job Training, reported on the information they have gathered and early ideas for projects that are being considered. 

 

The committee defined its goal as supporting young children and adults who desire to improve themselves. This makes most educational pursuits within committee purview. They also have decided the best way to have early positive results is to assist existing programs that have proven themselves. Therefore their initial recommendation is to support two programs offered by Maternal Child and Health Consortium (MCHC).

 

The first of these is a 2 week camp offered to children about to start kindergarten that have not attended a pre-kindergarten program. These students are completely overwhelmed for the first month or so of school since there are so many new experiences, all happening without the immediate support of their usual caregiver. The camp is operated at the Mary D Lang School with the help of the Kennett Consolidated School system. By allowing the children to ride school buses, be separated from likely the only caregiver they have experienced, be in a large group of kids their own age, and otherwise experience typical school patterns, the children are able to adjust to the new patterns before school starts. The impact on their behavior that first month or so of school, letting them participate with the other students in all activities, was immense last year when the pilot program was run. 

 

The camp has a total cost of $10,000, which we may be able to help fund. It also needs volunteers to work with the kids in their "early school days experience" between noon and 4:30 in the afternoon from July 8 through 16. We hope you can help out.

 

The first thing the committee did was determine what actions were already being taken and work to reduce this enormous sized issue down to manageable chunks. Existing research on transportation patterns, shows that about 58% of those with lower incomes drive cars that are often unreliable. When they breakdown their owners are ripe for "plucking" by less scrupulous service stations with high charges, and unneeded additional work sold  to them. While their car is in the shop they may unable to get to work or shop for food. This pattern suggests there is a need for a rating system of service providers so those with less service orientation can be identified. A loaner car service would prevent the accompanying loss of income that often puts everything at risk for the family while repairs are made to their car. There may also be a place for a fixed price preventive maintenance program that would minimize surprise large bills, the biggest enemy of people living paycheck to paycheck. 

 

Since there is a private-government effort already underway to improve the SCOOT bus service, this area is not being considered. 

 

This is another huge issue that is being broken down into bite sized chunks by the committee. Several opportunities have been identified, each targeting a separate area of concern within housing. 

 

KACS is exploring the concept of creating a master long term lease of housing that would substitute their corporate credit for the individual's, ensuring more reliable payment to landlords for a long period for reduced rent. This is a program we may be able to assist financially.

 

A group is exploring acquiring current rental space and redesigning it to provide smaller living spaces at more achievable rents for those collecting disability benefits. With a focused clientele such as this additional support services can be offered that these renters may uniquely need. 

 

Habitat for Humanity works to enlarge the stock of lower cost housing. Their Oxford project has a unique challenge Habitat hasn't faced before. They will be building 5 unit blocks of housing, increasing the initial capital needed for construction. Here a new approach to funding such as construction lending might be a solution. These loans require interest only payments, so the initial capital need is to cover the interest on such a loan. 

 

The final possibility under consideration is to expand our involvement with Good Neighbors home repair efforts. This would be a hands-on construction effort for us to support. 

 

Evaluation of these efforts is ongoing. 

 

Here the initial focus is on improvements to Anson Nixon Park. Moving an existing pavilion from its current location along the entrance drive to near the playground would increase its use and rental income for the park. This would likely require a combination of hands-on effort and funding. The current budget estimate is at $5,750 for materials and site preparation. The other immediate need within the park is to "clean up" the playground equipment. It has had 5 years of continuous service and some pieces are showing the resulting wear. 

 

The goal for this committee is to help lower income people prepare themselves for jobs that pay a higher wage. The initial concept being explored is a mentoring program.