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East End Community Services

RTA Partners to Provide Access to Early Voting

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The Greater Dayton RTA is helping local residents get out to vote this election season by partnering with the Dayton Unit NAACP, League of Women Voters of the Greater Dayton Area (LWVGDA), and East End Community Services to provide a free day pass to individuals that may experience transportation barriers during the early voting period from October 6 to November 2.

The RTA understands the necessity for reliable transportation in order to vote, and that’s why the agency’s board of trustees decided in 2018 to provide free rides for all customers, both on fixed-route and paratransit bus services, on all certified election days. Given the added pressures of the international COVID-19 pandemic, extending this service to accommodate early voting was the right thing to do, said RTA CEO Mark Donaghy.

 

“We are pleased to partner with these great community-based organizations to ensure that every citizen is able to exercise their right to vote by removing the barrier of access through our network of services,” Donaghy said.

 

Early Vote day passes can be received at the following locations, and those with questions about the program should contact these agencies:

 

  • East End Community Services: 624 Xenia Ave., Dayton—Mon.-Fri., 8 am- 5 pm, or call 937 258-1898
  • League of Women Voters: 127 N. Ludlow St., Dayton—Mon.-Fri., 9 am- 2 pm, or call 937-228-4042
  • Dayton Unit NAACP: 1528 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Dayton—call 937-222-2172

Program partners said they are grateful of RTA’s assistance with providing access to those wishing to vote early.

 

“It is commendable that RTA has made an executive decision to participate in our democracy from a voter mobilization standpoint,” said Dr. Derrick L. Foward, President of the Dayton Unit NAACP.

“We are thankful to partner with RTA to eliminate transportation as a barrier for people to vote,” said Susan Hesselgesser, Executive Director of LWVGDA.

 

“By working with RTA, we are assuring that voters in Montgomery County can vote early in person or drop off their mail-in ballots at the Board of Elections, without any transportation cost,” said Jan Lepore-Jentleson, Executive Director of East End Community Services.

 

Registered voters can vote in-person or drop-off their absentee ballot at the Montgomery County Board of Elections. The drop box will be available 24/7. In addition to the Early Vote day pass, RTA will be providing free rides system-wide on Election Day, November 3, 2020.

Call For Artists

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Call for proposal for the East End Community Mural Project is now OPEN! This project will create five neighborhood murals to welcome visitors to the Twin Towers Neighborhood. The public art is meant to change negative perceptions of the area and re-imagine it as ‘Green, Creative and Diverse’, with images depicting urban farms, artistic assets, and rich cultural diversity.

Download the Request For Proposals Here:  EEC Mural RFP

Informative Meeting/ Q& A with Danielle Weickert and Colleen Kelsey:
When: Saturday, January 13, 2 PM
Where: Dayton Society of Artists, 48 High St. Dayton, OH 45419

 

PROJECT CALENDAR:

 Saturday, January 13, 2 PM
Q & A Meeting with  Danielle Weickert and Colleen Kelsey
with the public at the Dayton Society of Artists:

 Sunday, February 4, 2018
Deadline for Submission: Sunday, February 4, 2018

Monday, February 26, 2018
Notification of selected artists

Friday, March 2, 2018
Notification to public

Friday, March 9, 2018
Finalists present community engagement and mural proposals

Artist and Teams are asked to engage in a spirit of collaboration with the community by reflecting on community responses during this meeting.

 March 1 – May 31
Production Phase

May 31
Deadline for Mural Completion:

TBD
Dedication of public murals:

ELIGIBILITY
This call is open to established and emerging artists, or artists team, living in the Miami Valley area and who are 18 years or older. Priority is given to artists who have demonstrated experience in managing similar projects.

After-School Program to Perform Willy Wonka Kids the Musical

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Willy WonkaEast End Community Services’ Miracle Makers After-School program will perform Willy Wonka KIDS the musical on Thursday, May 1st and Friday, May 2nd at 5:30pm at Ruskin PK-8 School, located at 407 Ambrose Ct. Dayton, OH 45410.

Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka is the timeless story of the world-famous candy man and his quest to find an heir. This story comes to life in this special 30-minute stage adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which
features songs from the classic family film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. There is no admission charge for the performance or the reception following each performance, but reservations are required. To
reserve your FREE tickets, please call 937-542-5678.

Willy Wonka KIDS is produced by the 147 kindergarten through fifth grade students participating in East End’s Miracle Makers Program, alongside the Miracle Makers staff. The production is a culminating event for
this past quarter’s SPARK workshops in which children get the opportunity for deep learning through hands on projects. “The making of Willy Wonka has been a magical experience for all those involved. New skills,
talents, and passions have blossomed and students have literally found their voices. In the words of Willy Wonka, ‘We are the makers of music and the dreamers of dreams’” said Ellen Mays, Director of Miracle
Makers. This experience has meant a lot to the students that have been a part of it. Mason Frazier, the fifth grade student playing the role of Charlie said, “It feels good to be a part of this! The thing I like best about it is
that I love signing ‘I’ve got the golden ticket’ because I sing most of it by myself. I feel proud and nervous at the same time!”

Miracle Makers is a cornerstone program of East End Community Services that has served the children of East Dayton for 16 years. This program seeks to support student academic achievement by extending the school
day with individualized tutoring, and project-based learning opportunities called SPARKs. Teachers and parents of Miracle Maker students say that SPARK workshops are making a difference in the positive development of their children. “It is important that the community provides complementary learning opportunities beyond the school day,” said Jan Lepore-Jentleson, Executive Director of East End Community Services. To reserve your free tickets to the show and reception, please contact Ellen Mays at (937) 542-5678 or emays@east-end.org.

REVIEW: Shamrock Athletic Club Host Benefit for East End Community Services

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Safe, engaged neighborhoods, stable, employed families and successful youth. Those are the goals and objectives of East End Community Services, a nonprofit organization formed in 1998 to help meet the needs of people living in East Dayton. They provide programs as part of a neighborhood transformation effort to help children, teenagers, adults, and the elderly succeed in becoming successful citizens, giving back to the community. Over 20 different agencies, donors, funders and neighbors along with AmeriCorps members and other volunteers have helped achieve these goals.

On Saturday January 24th, the Shamrock Athletic Club hosted an evening of art and entertainment featuring the music of Dayton scene icons Evil Eye Gypsy and rapidly rising hometown favorites Curse of Cassandra played sets to raise community awareness for East End Services. Local artists William Green and Katherine McClelland also showcased their work which can be seen at future shows and conventions.

Curse of Cassandra (photo by Mike Ritchie)

Curse of Cassandra (photo by Mike Ritchie)

COC opened with their renowned sound of goth, industrial, punk meets new-wave, trying out a few different versions of songs off their debut EP and a new tune, Not Your Crush. As the curse of cold bad weather, ice and snow blanketed the outside we start off hot getting slice and diced pricks by Pins and Needles. Alexas Machine starts out cuing her Lennox charm over the crowd making seductive, strong eye contact with several focused male eyes and blushing smiles. Drums and keys gave an electric stinging embrace. Cassandra’s not satisfied till we’d been Satiated as Miss Electra complexed us all with a piano played masquerade of sound-lust and fetish.

COC’s Binding for control with its Eurythemic charm and strapping satisfaction. Next is a piano played Stardance rhymed in astral alignment with a somber ending. Every Time I Feel Alone is visceral in industrial mood swings. I’m not your fairytale, not your fling, not your on-call booty and definitely Not Your Crush.  The One I need and I Miss You finished the set.

Evil Eye Gypsy (photo by Mike Ritchie)

Evil Eye Gypsy (photo by Mike Ritchie)

Evil Eye Gypsy started their show with a slow seven minute drive through the Mojave. The sun and temperature play tricks with the senses. It was biting cold outside but it’s always blazing in the desert. The guitar’s playing towards that stimulus, giving hallucinations of sifting through the sands with weather beaten hands with harsh thirst swept up in the mysteries of the gypsy’s allure on the wind.  If the desert doesn’t kill you, the Purple Haze awaits, all around, whatever the lady of the sands did, put a spell on me. Next we rocked n rolled, drank and partied all night having a Good ole Time with the friendly Miss Neighborhood service girl.

We get some down and dirty gritty rock with All I Had to Say then despite all the world’s problems and who’s hanging out with who, there’s always a Silver Lining.

The show was a bit of an experience for the band. Their original drummer was out of commission, and their replacement had a last minute issue so Curse of Cassandra’s Wolfgang stepped in and did double duty for a few tunes. The Names of those lost are written on the wall of life as well as in our minds and memories. We get a funny little song about Love then close the show with the iconic War Pigs with Wolfgang shredding on the skins.

East End provides programs helping over 300 children and teens in afterschool activities including the Miracle Workers program, as well as support for parents and caregivers through monthly Community Family nights. East End also provides crucial support to children and adults through housing development, community building, afterschool and summer programming, educational initiatives, teen services, services for parents, single adults and seniors reaching more than 3,000 people a year. In addition, they help expecting parents with child development education and what babies, toddlers and young children need to know about kindergarten, with programs supporting them through to college.

Job assistance, readiness, interview skills, resume building and online job searching, securing housing, health care or other crucial services, are provided by bilingual and trilingual staff. 1,400 households living in Twin Towers benefit from activities that improve the quality of housing and life in our neighborhoods.  They are working on a project to improve 25% of the housing stock. 40 new green, energy-efficient homes have been built in 2010 and 40 more were built in 2013. Neighbors receive training on financial literacy and a range of other topics.  Cultural events and festivals reach hundreds of persons at each event.

East End is also part of the Welcome Dayton initiative and provides services to assist in the resettlement process of immigrants who’ve chosen Dayton as their home including a bilingual, English-Spanish speaking and trilingual, English, Spanish and Arabic staff-assisting those with finding the right job for their skills.  East End has served an array of nationalities, including Latinos and refugees from several countries including Russia and Iraq. East End also provides critical services to the elderly to help them live in their own homes, independently as long as possible including case management, chore support and better home accessibility.

To learn more about these services, call 937-259-1898.  Their work’s been recognized by: the Better Business Bureau in 2005, the Access to Justice Award from Legal Aid in 2006, the Governor’s Award from the Ohio CDC Association in 2010, the Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations Excellence Award in 2012 and received a national ARAMARK and the Together for Tomorrow Award from the US Department of Education and Corporation for National and Community Service in 2012.

Volunteers for Dayton! Opportunities: September 4-11

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Greetings MostMetro-land!

Welcome to our new weekly round-up of urban Dayton volunteer opportunities!

Mural by David Kenworthy at Garden Station

As someone who’s been involved in a lot of community improvement projects at both grassroots & government levels, I’ve sensed a need to better coordinate all the amazing energy that people have for our center city these days. I’ll be pulling these from our Facebook group and items that you e-mail me. So if you’re looking for ways to get involved in Dayton’s revival, check back here every week. Be sure to report back what you’ve accomplished!

Get Your Hands Dirty – Help Wanted!

    • Install a mosaic mural:  East End Community Services and K12 Gallery need your help at 504 Xenia Avenue in the Twin Towers neighborhood. Tues. & Wed., Sep. 4-5; drop in any time from 8:30am until 2pm. Bring work gloves if you have them and dress to get messy! For more info call Amanda at 259-1898 or e-mail her.
    • “First Friday Park” Planting & Volunteer Social:  Downtown volunteer Brian Ressler took it upon himself to get a grant to beautify the highly-visible triangle between St. Clair & Patterson at Fifth. Now he needs some extra hands to help plant flowers! Gather for drinks, pizza, and First Friday after. Friday, Sep. 7, 6pm; more info & RSVP here.
    • Downtown Dayton Revival Music Fest: Talk about slacktivism! All you need to do to show your support for downtown is buy a ticket and show up to hear great music. Saturday & Sunday, Sep. 8-9.
Downtown Mural Volunteers

Downtown Mural Project volunteers cleaning. Photo: Carli Dixon

  • Volunteer at Urban Nights: Downtown’s favorite street party needs your help! Visit the Downtown Dayton Partnership and sign up to be a trolley or walking guide, serve beer, or survey guests at this Friday, Sep. 14th event.
  • The Dayton Skatepark Project: Join other skateboarding enthusiasts in their quest to start a downtown skatepark by following their page.
  • Dayton Unleashed is a grassroots group improving a fenced area at Deeds Point for use as a dog park. Learn more at their page and stay tuned for volunteer clean-up dates.
  • Donate Dayton items for the RNNC basket: Each year neighborhood activists represent Dayton at the Regional Neighborhood Network Conference and contribute a Dayton-themed basket (including gift certificates, mugs, T-shirts, etc.) to be raffled off. Contact Sandy Melke to contribute.

Crowdfunding

We know that money is often tight these days, but remember that there is power in numbers – even the smallest donations can add up for grassroots projects!

Future Fifth Street Co-op Brewpub

  • Build a park in St. Anne’s Hill: This historic neighborhood just east of downtown hopes to raise $1500 as a match to their City of Dayton mini-grant. Learn more and contribute on Razoo.
  • Own a brewpub: Speaking of St. Anne’s, their cooperatively-owned Fifth Street Brewpub is still seeking inaugural members, so for $100 you could be an owner too!
  • Cityfolk Post-Festival Appeal: The weather was truly unkind this year, shutting down the downtown festival twice and resulting in a 60% loss compared to other years. To keep the festival, the concert season, and the Culture Builds Community educational program going, Cityfolk hopes to raise $100,000 by the end of the year. Please give at the Cityfolk website.
  • Give a Dam!: Over $3.8 million has already been raised for the River Run project, but now it’s your turn to give a dam.
  • Success! Congrats to Sew Dayton and the Downtown Mural Project for meeting their recent crowdfunding goals (although I’m sure they’ll continue to take your money).

 

You can also join our group to participate in discussions on Dayton activism–this week’s hot topics include food trucks, bike share programs, and the Priority Board system–send me volunteer opportunities, or just check back here next Tuesday!