Updated 3partners

SERVICE-LEARNING PARTNER INFORMATION SHEET Centro Mater Child Care Center/Catholic Charities 418 SW 4th Ave Contact: Ana Avalos-Atkinson, Daycare Head Teacher/ Phone: (305)545-6049 Centro Mater is a non-profit organization founded in 1968 by Sister Miranda in order to accommodate the educational development needs of many of the Cuban children and families who were constantly arriving in Miami. Today Centro Mater, at its three sites, serves a community that includes U.S. citizens as well as immigrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Peru, Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador. The pre-school and after school programs currently serve 742 children daily whose ages range from six weeks to twelve years. Seventy-eight percent of these children come from families who rank under the poverty level, mostly because of recent arrivals who lack language and labor skills. The curriculum is designed to give children, at each stage of development, a foundation of success in school and to promote a love for learning. Centro Mater creates a safe, nurturing environment that allows children to become problem solvers, independent explorers and creative thinkers. Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8 am -- 6:00 pm; call ahead Directions

Distance 1.

Start out going NORTH on UNITY BLVD/FL-9 N/SW 27TH AVE toward SW 0.3 miles 6TH ST.

2. Turn RIGHT onto W FLAGLER ST/FL-968. Continue to follow FL-968 E.

2.2 miles

3. Turn RIGHT onto SW 5TH AVE.

<0.1 miles

4. Turn LEFT onto SW 2ND ST.

<0.1 miles

5. Turn RIGHT onto SW 4TH AVE.

0.1 miles

6. End at 418 Sw 4th Ave, Miami, FL 33130-1416 US 1ROOTS IN THE CITY: A Community Garden 3rd Ave. & NW 14th St. (Plots are next to Overtown Youth Center) Contacts (Co-Directors): Douglas Dunn: (786)547--9754 and Marvin Dunn: [email protected] Dr. Marvin Dunn, an associate professor of psychology at Florida International University, grew up in Miami and has seen Overtown in all of its stages - swelling with pride and, later, trampled in defeat. After decades of tumultuous events, including the bisection of the community by Interstate 95 in the 1950s, riots, looting and fires, and a steady decline in business activity, Dr. Dunn had a vision for Overtown. He created Roots in the City in 1998 to help transform the depressed urban landscape into a community of gardens, blooming flowers and shady trees. He chose a site at N.W. 14th Street and Third Avenue next to the I-395 Expressway which dissects the community from east to west. It was known as a haven for the homeless and drug users. Dr. Dunn and his volunteer students worked the site almost every weekend for three years and the community garden was fully installed by the spring of 2001. In December 2000, Dr, Dunn committed FIU funds to hire three full-time employees from Overtown as permanent staff for the community garden. He has started a horticultural training program for the employees with the support of the Knight Foundation and the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust. Since then he has employed a number of

residents from Overtown and neighboring communities. Volunteer work is an integral part of the Roots in the City project. Aside from FIU student volunteer work, Hands On Miami has been working with Roots in the City since 1999. Since then, more than a thousand volunteers and members of the community have planted flowers and trees, pulled weeds, mulched, and raked to help make Overtown and Miami a better place to live. Numerous nurseries and businesses have donated plants, trees, shrubs, supplies and equipment to support the project. "I have watched so many people take on large-scale projects in our garden and the most dramatic thing is that they are doing it together," Dr. Dunn states. Schedule: Saturday, morning till afternoon; ask instructor about sessions scheduled for semester Directions 1: Start out going NORTH on UNITY BLVD / FL-9 N / SW 27TH AVE toward SW 6TH ST. 2: Merge onto FL-836 E / DOLPHIN EXPY (Portions toll). 3: Take the I-95 S exit toward DOWNTOWN. 4: Take the NW 8TH ST exit toward PORT OF MIAMI. 5: Turn LEFT onto NW 8TH ST. 6: Turn LEFT onto NW 3RD AVE / DA DORSEY BLVD. 7: Turn LEFT onto NW 14TH ST. 8: End at 450 Nw 14th St Miami, FL 33136-2636, US Total Est. Time: 8 minutes; Total Est. Distance: 4.59 miles “I Have a Dream” Program/Phyllis Wheatley Elementary 1801 NW 1st Place Contact: Eric Lewis/(305)573-2638 The "I Have a Dream"® Program helps children from low-income areas reach their education and career goals by providing a long-term program of mentoring, tutoring, and enrichment with an assured opportunity for higher education. Local "I Have a Dream"® Projects adopt an entire same-grade from an elementary school or an entire age group from a public housing development. They work with this group of children (the "Dreamers") and their families year-round from their elementary school years through college. With over 180 Projects in 64 cities across 27 states (75 of which are currently active), "I Have a Dream"® has now served over 13,500 students during its more than two decades of operation. Many Dreamers who go to college are the first members of their families to do so. Schedule: Mon.-Friday, school and after-school hours; ask instructor about group sessions with other MDC students scheduled every Wed. afternoon, including a gardening club once a month. The Young People’s Project (also at Phillis Wheatley Elem.) Contact: Gilberto Simpson/(734)709-4921

YPP trains youth as math literacy mentors, teaching them not only math, but why math and education constitute a “civil right.” YPP is an offshoot of The Algebra Project, an organization founded by Civil Rights Legend and mathematician Dr. Bob Moses. YPP makes math accessible by basing it on “physical events” that students translate into conversational “people talk” and finally mathematical expressions. One of the major activities in the training is Flagway, a game in which students set up and run through a course based on numerical calculations. Schedule: Mon.-Fri., 4-6 pm. Distance: 4.92 miles Total Estimated Time: 9 minutes Directions

Distance Start out going NORTH on UNITY BLVD/FL-9 N/SW 27TH AVE toward SW 1. 6TH ST.

1.1 miles

2. Merge onto FL-836 E/DOLPHIN EXPY (Portions toll).

2.1 miles

3. Take the I-95 S exit toward DOWNTOWN.

0.2 miles

4. Take the NW 8TH ST exit toward PORT OF MIAMI.

0.3 miles

5. Turn LEFT onto NW 8TH ST.

<0.1 miles

6. Turn LEFT onto NW 3RD AVE/DA DORSEY BLVD.

0.4 miles

7. Turn RIGHT onto NW 14TH ST.

<0.1 miles

8. Turn LEFT onto NW 1ST PL.

0.3 miles

9. End at 1801 Nw 1st Pl, Miami, FL 33136-1710 US