Timeline
The following outlines the timeline of events beginning with receipt of funding through the national CYFAR initiative. Events continued after the end of funding. To hop to this portion of the timeline click here

First year of funding, October 1, 1996 to September 31, 1997

Staffing:

Beverly Berna, Community Project Director  bberna@iastate.edu

Keli Larson, Connecting Link Coordinator (October, 1996 to April, 1999)

The Coordinator was hired to facilitate the building of relationships with neighborhood citizens and leaders. The Coordinator linked collaboration partnerships nurtured by the Director to activities of the neighborhoods. The Coordinator was assigned to the project full-time. The Director had other full-time responsibilities in eight counties, beyond this project.

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Key relationships developed: 

Neighborhood, children, youth and families living in the target area; North End Neighborhood Council members; Dubuque Community Schools - Superintendent, Student Services Coordinator with Audubon, Prescott and Fulton Elementary School staff; Clarke College, Loras College and the University of Dubuque as well as Northeast Iowa Community College; Department of Human Services DeCategorization Project; City of Dubuque - Neighborhood Development Specialist and Leisure Services staff; St. Mark Community Center Director; Faith United Methodist Church (located in target area) STAR Club - after school tutoring; and Dubuque County Extension staff.  Visit our partners.

Key activities:

"The Connecting Link is developing community capacity through
comprehensive, preventative, family-centered programs in neighborhoods"

Implementation of the Search Institute Asset Survey of youth in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 provided baseline data for the project activities. Completion of neighborhood asset surveys.

Family nights were held monthly in 2 elementary schools, four family events were held in the North End Neighborhood and 13 family events took place during the summer.

Citizens Advisory Committee of 5 parents met bi-monthly during the year directed by the Department of Human Services, DeCategorization Coordinator.

Linkages with City of Dubuque, Leisure Services worked to increase opportunities for supervised after- school activities. Four days a week on average 15 children attended after-school recreation programs at two elementary schools.

Elementary students were matched with mentors for two hour sessions twice a week at two elementary schools. On average 18 students received one-on-one attention of a caring adult.

Summer camps were organized providing 18 different options for children and youth. A total of 188 youth attended 11 camps sponsored by Dubuque County Extension focusing on topics such as cooking, mystery solving skills, and computer skills.

St. Mark Community Center worked with others to develop and distribute the first Downtown Resource Directory to 10,000 residents.

The Family Connections Task Force (all partners interested in developing a family resource center) met throughout the year. Plans to implement a technology center located in an elementary school in the target area which would be open and accessed by neighbors were developed.

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Staffing:

Beverly Berna, Community Project Director  bberna@iastate.edu

Keli Larson, Connecting Link Coordinator (October, 1996 to April, 1999)

Key state policy changes in the environment of the project:

Iowa Empowerment legislation was implemented to move funding decisions for programs focussing on children birth to five years to local control through a local Empowerment Area Board. Funding was to accompany the legislation to add further motivation for developing local collaborative boards. During the first round of funding, the Dubuque County Empowerment Area Board did not receive funding. The Dubuque County Empowerment Area Board was designated as a Board by the state in January 1999.

Key activities:

There were 30 family nights held in the neighborhoods. Sites included the three schools, a church after- school tutoring program and St. Mark Community Center. A total 2,717 persons attended these events. Families stated that they appreciated having the time together as a family during a fun learning evening.  The events were planned through a partnership between the schools and the North End Neighborhood Council.

Word processing and Internet camps were attended by 56 children and youth with their parents. An increase in skills was noted from pre-test to post-test.

Twelve families took part in a pilot take-home nutrition, family life and science family interaction kits/ backpack curriculum for K-2nd grade. Families reported enjoying the activities and the opportunity to work together as a family.

The Audubon School Technology Center opened during the year. A room in the elementary school was equipped with 8 computers purchased through funds from the Dubuque Community Schools Foundation and ISU Extension. School staff, the PTA and the North End Neighborhood Council also provided resources to support the project. Classes were made available through City funds (CDBG) accessed by the Neighborhood Council and a partnership with ISU Extension and the school staff. These classes were offered to residents of the neighborhood including an intergenerational Internet course with youth teaching senior citizens. The Technology Center also maintains some drop-in hours in the evening and on weekends.

Family Connections Task Force continued to meet monthly.

Through the collaborative efforts of this project a number of community access points received computers and internet connections: St. Mark Community Center, Audubon Elementary School, Prescott Elementary School, and Dubuque County Extension.

Other activities which were an outgrowth of the project:

The Transitions Program supporting youth and parents as they transition from elementary school through junior high school to high school grew out of the project as a separate collaborative effort. Family sessions attracted 150 youth and parents. The program included partnerships with ISU Extension, the Dubuque Community School District, and Boy Scout Explorers.

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Staffing:

Beverly Berna, Community Project Director  bberna@iastate.edu

Keli Larson, Connecting Link Coordinator (October, 1996 to April, 1999)

Key activities:

St. Mark Community Center offered "Peaceful Parenting" through Helping Services of Northeast Iowa with funding from the Dubuque Area Child Abuse Prevention Council. A total of 21 families completed the 18 sessions. One parent took a leadership role in creating photo albums for each family which led her to employment at the Center.

St. Mark Community Center developed the "Apples for Students" program which links donations from many avenues in the community to the purchase of school supplies.  A total of 593 students received the supplies required by their individual school.

Jefferson Junior High began to hold family nights during the year. The family night includes a meal, educational programs for parents and adolescents and child care for younger siblings. The partnership with ISU Extension, Helping Services of Northeast Iowa, Dubuque Police Department, Jefferson Junior High, Dubuque Senior High School and the Boy Scouts Explorer Program also resulted in the development of the Ambassador Program. The Ambassador Program links incoming 9th grade students with older students to assist with the transition to high school. Students also complete service projects in the community (tutor elementary students, serve dinners at the Mission). Truancy officers note that these students have had no truancy issues.

St. Mark Community Center held a summer reading program with $676 in funds received from the National 4-H Council.  A total of 42, 1st to 4th grade students met during the summer with local high school students to complete literacy projects. A career costume party was held in July with local professionals sharing about their careers. These many activities were made possible through donations from many local businesses totaling nearly $4,000.

St. Mark Community Center led the effort to update and reprint the Downtown Resource Guide listing neighborhood community resources and programs. Data collection efforts were completed through a partnership with ISU Dubuque County Extension, Department of Human Services DeCategorization, Information and Referral Services, City of Dubuque Graphic Arts staff and the Center. Funding from the City of Dubuque allowed 10,000 copies to be printed and distributed.

An evaluation of Parent/Child Interaction Kits was completed.

The CYFAR Advisory Council continued to meet quarterly to support The Connecting Link activities and planning for future funding. The group discussed providing before-/after-school activities and in-school supports in all schools and began looking for a funding source to support the expansion of activities currently provided by the City of Dubuque Leisure Services.

Other activities as an outgrowth of the project:

St. Mark Community Center (located in a small old church and parsonage) determined that the Center had become an integral part of the community service system for children, youth and families and began to expand their capacity. During the year a VISTA Volunteer assigned to ISU Extension was placed at the Center to assist with Center programming and operations. The Center also has a director and 2 part-time assistants (maintenance). A full-scale remodeling project was launched with an estimated cost of $400,000.

Parents As Teachers nationally recognized home visit curriculum was adopted as a local model for parent education (ages prenatal to 3 years old). A partnership of DeCategorization and Dubuque County Empowerment Board funding streams provided the support to hire an administration agency (Four Oaks, Inc), agencies (Hillcrest Family Services, Visiting Nurse Association, Helping Services of Northeast Iowa, ISU Extension, and Alternative Services) and many independent contractors to provide services.

Audubon Elementary School Technology Center continued to expand its role offering many opportunities to access computers and attend classes.

The North End Neighborhood Council accessed $8,000 in City (CDBG) funds to support a wide range of neighborhood activities including monthly family nights at their elementary schools and community centers, a resource fair at the school gym, an ice cream social in the park, computer instruction, and a Citizen Advisory Committee to the Department of Human Services.

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Staffing:

Beverly Berna, Community Project Director  bberna@iastate.edu

                       click on the light bulb to find out what we learned

Key relationships developed:

Our partnerships continued even though project funding had ended.  In fact as we developed a plan for providing increased before-, during- and after-school activities, our partnerships expanded resulting in the  award (and implementation) of the AmeriCorps "Partners in Learning" project by October, 2000.

Environmental factors affecting the community and project:

In June, 2000, a major employer of persons living in the North End Neighborhood, Farmland Foods closed.  This facility has had many ups and downs in the past 20 years including being sold twice. The closing resulted in the loss of 1,000 meat packing jobs. 

Key activities:

The renovation of St. Mark Community Center was completed with a grand opening celebration held on April, 29, 2000. The Dubuque County Extension has continued and broadened the partnership with the Center.  Now 40 different activities and programs are offered annually at the Center.  Many of the new offerings have come about as a result of input from neighbors or needs expressed by families and schools.  Extension staff were involved in 19 of these offerings. About 350 volunteers provided 15,000 hours of support to make these programs and activities possible, which reached 18,000 children, youth and families (duplicated count).

In January, 2000 Emily Babinat joined the Extension staff as an AmeriCorps VISTA Member to build capacity of community programs that support literacy. At the St. Mark Center she coordinated the After-School Mentoring programs which engaged 35 volunteer mentors to meet with elementary school aged neighborhood youth to support their learning (and complete homework). The VISTA Member  partnered with the library to develop monthly themes for the America Reads literacy project.  The annual school supply initiative of the St. Mark Center, Apples for Students, received a boost with 13 new business sponsors (recruited by the VISTA Member) joining the 18 church partners to provide 712 students with the supplies required for school. 

In September, 2 full-time AmeriCorps Members were assigned to the St. Mark Center. They became responsible for supporting and expanding many of the Center youth activities:  Art programs entitled Purple Hippo (3-4 year olds), Red Pony (5-7 year olds), and Green Giraffe (8-10 year olds), Teen Nights with college mentors, Families with Twins monthly meetings, and Parents as Teachers group activities.

St. Mark Center hosted the first annual celebration of the Parents as Teachers Program with 250 attending.  Also during the summer the Center co-sponsored Summer Enrichment Programs for 40 youth in Kindergarten to 4th grade. 

The North End Neighborhood Council again received $8,000 in funds from the City of Dubuque Neighborhood Grant Program.  Extension continued its role as the manager of this funding stream negotiating on behalf of the neighborhood with the City to access the funds for the activities and events as they were completed. This included the annual Resource Fair, Ice Cream Social and monthly family nights at Fulton and Audubon Schools.   Also this year Extension provided three 10-week sessions and two week long summer sessions of Kindermusik in partnership with the North End. Kindermusik is a parent and child musical interaction curriculum for toddlers 18 months to 4 years. 

Intergenerational Internet continued with the assistance of the North End and in September, Jefferson Junior High began to offer after school computer lab hours to seniors/grandparents. Computer support to the neighborhood continued through the Audubon Elementary School Technology Center. 

Due to the support of the North End, Faith United Methodist Church STAR Club after-school mentoring was able to offer snacks and a monthly family meal during the year.  

The Volunteer Quest web site has grown to include 41 organizations which post their volunteer opportunities on the site.  Visit www.dubuquevolunteers.com. Each organization maintains their portion of the site creating a sense of personal ownership.  The site received 1,600 hits within the first four months.

During the September 28, 2000 kick-off to the Iowa State University Extension, Year of the Family, Interim University President, Richard Seagrave presented the 41 charter Volunteer Quest organizations with appreciative certificates.  Also in this ceremony, the 31 initial AmeriCorps Members were sworn in by State Representative Patrick Murphy.

The "Family Connections" Committee that created and supported the original CYFAR The Connecting Link project expanded and became the "Committee of Partners" which created and supported the AmeriCorps project, "Partners in Learning".  Membership included 14 very active partners for the provision of before-. during- and after-school activities in nearly all schools (public and private) in Dubuque County.  Extension became the fiscal agent and administrator of the $234,000 grant, allowing Extension to hire an AmeriCorps Project Coordinator to support the 20 full-time equivalent (representing 54 positions) AmeriCorps Members. This project is sustaining the community capacity building efforts begun during the CYFAR funded project as well as expanding the initiatives county-wide.

Dubuque County Extension continues as the fiscal agent for the Dubuque County Empowerment Area funneling $330,000 to programs supporting families and children from age 0 to 5. One of these programs is the Parents as Teachers program. 

And finally, during the year this web site portfolio was developed to describe the activities and outcomes from the CYFAR project that was funded from October, 1995 to September, 1999. 

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Send comments to Diana Broshar, 101 MacKay Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-1120
phone 515.294.8204  fax 515.294.1040 dmbro@iastate.edu
Last updated 12/17/01