by United Way of Greater Lorain County President & CEO Ryan Aroney
For Monica Snipes-Martin, children are the future. Snipes-Martin is the project director of the 231Go! Community Collaborative, which is powered by United Way of Greater Lorain County in partnership with El Centro de Servicios Sociales, Inc. This critical work– influencing our next generation of leaders–is the most rewarding job, she says. Snipes-Martin is a Lorain native and a mother of five who has experience working with children of all ages, but she finds herself drawn to a particular age group. “What I think is special about the collaborative is it focuses directly on middle school students,” she shares. “In middle school, students are still trying to figure out who they are. All five of my kids were completely different. And they’re highly misunderstood at that point in their lives.” Working with middle school students can be challenging, but for Snipes-Martin, the challenge is worth the payoff when students find who they are in life.
Monica Snipes-Martin filling Little Free Library at El Centro de Servicios Sociales, Inc. (photos courtesy of United Way of Greater Lorain County)
“If you can find out what is in a child’s heart, that will lead their head to go to a positive space. It’s that transition that is special, to see a child really grow into who they are and discover who they want to be.”
The 231Go! Community Collaborative borrows its name from the census tract encompassing South Lorain. It is also a play on the time that school lets out–2:30 p.m.–after which students immediately “go” out into the neighborhood, and safe, positive activities are needed. The official mission of the collaborative is to motivate middle school students living in Lorain's 231 census tract to be engaged in learning and avoid risky behaviors through useful roles in the community–leading to success in work, college, and life. Local community advisory councils suggested that United Way focus on this age group because research shows that the middle school years are critical developmentally, and there is a correlation between positive engagement in these formative years and life success.
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Specifically, South Lorain was chosen as a neighborhood of focus because only six percent of the adult population has a college degree or technical/skill certificate, while 42.9 percent of households are living in poverty. In addition, a disproportionately large number of middle school students are living in this census tract as compared to the rest of the city, and there is a high concentration of residents for whom English is their second language, which can act as a barrier to receiving needed services. 231GO! Student shows off work Lorain Local Magazine | page 10
