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Front Street Blog

Kano for Kids!!

6/14/2019

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This week, PHA partnered with 4H Cooperative Extension and Goodwill Goodtech to allow 23 youth to build their own Kano computers. Two lucky families also went home with their own laptops. 
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Follow us on instagram! @fsstudycenter

1/6/2016

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November and december in review

1/6/2016

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Hello all, and Happy New Year! We’ve been busy at Front Street in this second half of fall.

We are incredibly grateful for the donation of books we received from the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Portland. The donated supplies and books they gave to us almost doubled our store! If you have an old bookshelf lying around, or if you would be interested in buying a bookshelf for the study center, please speak to Martha or I, or email us at fsstudycenter@gmail.com.

Almost all of our time in November was spent meeting and learning about the other PHA sites and study center coordinators – Benny and Martha and the other staff shuffled around to a different site each day.

Right before Thanksgiving break, an anonymous wood crafter delivered two beautiful hand-made desks to two Front Street student residents—Divine and Atak—as a “thank you” for their work this past year in writing and receiving a grant to improve the neighborhood’s playground. Teachers and other administrators from Lyman Moore, our property manager, and most of the neighborhood’s students and children came out to witness the unveiling of the desks.

The students were also covered in the Portland Press Herald, where they were voted as two of the “Ten Mainers to be Thankful For” in 2015. The full article can be read here.

On December 11th, the study center took a group of students to spend an evening at the Portland Museum of Art. They created their own works of art—drawing their own takes on the Mona Lisa and creating individual “machines to dispel sadness”—and went on a tour of the current exhibits with Martha. Special thanks to the PMA for letting Front Street students stop by!

To celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year, all of the PHA study centers have decided to make a short movie showcasing the incredible talent and community being supported and built at the study center sites. In December we spent much of our after-school time poetry writing about our identities (“Where I am From”) and chose a few students to film reading their pieces. That movie will be open for all to view after it is unveiled at the NAACP Martin Luther King day dinner on Monday, January 18th. If you’d like to attend, or to find out more information on the event, please let us know!
           
            Other highlights of the past two months:
  • watching Zathura, Home, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and ZOOM!
  • making paper snowflakes and origami balloons
  • the beginning of a volunteer-led weekly girl’s group (“supergirls”)
  • raffling off donated winter gear from Shawna Ohm, community police coordinator (thank you!)
  • making “get well soon” cards for our neighbors at Seaside Nursing Home
  • group singing
 
If you are an adult looking to learn English, please stop by and talk to Benny. We meet with adults informally most days before 3pm and would love to work with you!
 
As always, if you are new or unfamiliar with Front Street services, please come on in during our open hours or send us an email.

Best,
​
Benny VanDerburgh
Front Street Study Center Staff
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September/October 2015 in Review

10/29/2015

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​As promised, we wanted to sum up this past month and a half at Front Street.
  • On Friday, September 25th, we kicked off our Friday movie afternoons with a screening of Disney’s Mulan! We are thinking that based on the positive review this will likely be a monthly event.
  • On October 8th, Mitch from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension (an organization that has support Front Street and the study center since we’ve reopened), helped us throw a community barbecue! We munched on hotdogs and hamburgers, played outside, and got to know some of our neighbors. A big thank you to Regina for donating her grill!
  • For the weeks of October 12th through 23rd, we learned about Fire Safety and had several students submit original posters tackling awareness regarding the need for working smoke detectors in all homes. We will be finding out soon who the cash winners are – all students living in Section 8 or Portland Housing Authority units were welcome to submit, and regardless of the material winners we witnessed the creation of many truly strong works of graphic design.
  • On October 14th, farmer Isabel of Frith Farm came in and taught us about the fall vegetable harvest in Maine – a demonstration in which we got to eat our way to understanding the differences between various nutritious foods! The crescendo came the week after, on October 20th, when a group of us drove down to the farm in Scarborough and got to tour the site. We helped harvest and wash carrots, met the pigs and chickens, and got to learn a little bit more about local agriculture in Maine. Thanks again, Isabel!
  • For all of September and October we have been taking part in a reading challenge. Any student that reads and writes (or draws) about one book from our “reading challenge” bookshelf gets an official invitation to a reader’s pizza party Friday, November 6th. A big thank you to OTTO Pizza for donating slices!
  • We have started up a “Super-star of the day” series. This title is given to students in our space that exhibit all the qualities of a super-star community member: demonstrating their best effort in work and play, being kind and actively helpful to others, and sincerely expressing themselves to staff and friends. Unless guardians have marked off that their students may not be photographed, students are invited to take a photo next to our super-star sign on the days they are nominated!
  • Students have been cranking out countless artistic creations since we’ve opened our doors this September! Activities we have worked on include but are not limited to:
    • weaving with salvaged sticks and flowers we collected, leaf rubbing, self-portrait-creations, book-making, card and poster making for sick friends, and contributing to our community space by making works we can decorate our walls with.
We also have a party planning committee in full swing with plans to celebrate Halloween later this week. We will most likely share treats, enjoy some music, and decorate the center with our spooky art.

If you would like to bring a pot-luck item to our space on Friday to share, please email fsstudycenter@gmail.com or let us know in-person!
Our student party planner is Ajok.

That’s some of the things we’ve been up to so far! Please let us know if you have programming needs or dreams that you would like to see in the Front Street space.
​
Be well,
Benny and Martha                                      
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a greeting

10/29/2015

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Picture
Hello, Front St. community members, students, parents, volunteers, and other visitors of the space!

My name is Benny VanDerburgh (on the left) and I am one of the two co-coordinators this academic year at Front Street. In this past month and a half, Martha Schnee - co-coordinator - and I have been busy meeting, working with, and learning from the Front Street community - from Pre-K students to seasoned volunteer parents from the neighborhood. To learn a little bit more about us, check out our staff bios.


First we would just like to say: thank you for welcoming us so kindly so far! In September alone (and we were open for only two weeks!), we had 47 unique visitors of the space.

We have been very busy! In the next post we will highlight some programs we have started, students we are proud of, as well as specific positive moments we have shared as a community.

If you would like to get in contact with me, Martha, or any other PHA personnel regarding the space, what we do, or who we are, please contact us at fsstudycenter@gmail.com or drop by during our hours, M-F from 3-7 pm unless otherwise noted.

Don't forget to follow us on instagram! We are live and posting @fsstudycenter.

We look forward to working with you!

Be well,
Benny
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Global Youth Service Day at Front Street

6/4/2015

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    Front Street

    The Front Street Study Center reopened in 2013 after a decade closed and was welcomed with students of all ages seeking a positive place to do homework, be artistic, and hang out. Front Street is our smallest family housing complex on outer Washington Ave just north of Back Cove.

    Front Street is demographically and culturally rich in its diversity, with students and families new to Maine from across the world, including North Africa (most notably South Sudan), Somalia, and Iraq.

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