$5 or $50, It All Makes A Difference!

EADG,Inc. is a new Atlanta nonprofit that has set forth to tackle the goals of mentorship, public art, park beautifications, and promoting literacy and health through programs that partner staff at after-school centers, schools, libraries, and churches.

There are more than a hundred reasons why you should support our efforts with at-risk youth.  First, are the following findings: 

• In Fulton , Cobb, and Gwinnett Counties budget cuts forced districts to slash summer schools, as well as after-school programs.  Kids who start to loose their footing will not have much of a chance of recovering. 
• The research shows that art integrated learning goes well beyond the basics and test scores. Students become better thinkers, develop higher order skills, and deepen their inclination to learn.  
• Arts educators have long reported that the student benefits from learning in the arts seem to multiply into positive social development, habits of mind, and thinking inclinations.

  We have witnessed first-hand the transformation that can easily happen when troubled youth are given hands-on activities that involve service learning.  When you witness youngsters with pants sagging to their knees asking how their quilts turned out and first-graders in Title I schools anxious to go out to plant vegetables in the garden, you begin to realize the impact of art integrated lessons in any educational setting.  

  If that’s not enough, these are some of the true stories that we have come across in our past year working with individual youth. The names have been changed, of course.

  Antonio: I am in the fourth grade. I live with my grandmother. I see my father once a week because he works in Alabama . I haven’t seen my Mom in six months. I like school, but I get into trouble because the other boys like to hit me. When I’m not in school I go to my friend’s house; his brothers go to jail a lot. I like to draw cars and write rhymes. I want to make a comic book about a superhero who fights the bad guys with a microphone.  

  Jasmine: I’m 11 yrs old and I live in an apartment with my Mom and my 2 brothers.  My mother is 31 years old and works at Pizza Hut. My dad is 29 and jobless.  I like going to school because I feel like the teachers help me.  When I’m not in school my mother sometimes leaves me with other people, and alone with my brothers for a long time.  Sometimes she’s at work, and sometimes I don’t know where she is. I like dancing with my friends and doing art.  I want to make a skirt with my craft teacher and do a dance in it.  

  Diamond: I’m 16 years old and I read on a first grade level. I live with my mom, my step-father, and my four step-sisters.  I’ve never seen my father. I run away sometimes because my step-dad abuses me when my Mom is at work.  She thinks that I am making it up. I skip school a lot because they say I have a learning disability, but I want to go to college and become a Veterinarian. I like going to the library and the hospital and helping to make greeting cards for sick children with my mentor.

   Our Upcoming Programs include a Summer Mural with the City of Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs, a Summer Gardening and Nutrition Class with the Boys and Girls Club, a Fall Session at The Study Hall, a Quilt dedication to the Aids Hospital on Ponce, and  park beautification (with Hands On Atlanta Volunteers) in October.

     *Remember: Well-maintained parks reduce crime, and simply spending time in a park improves public health by lowering blood pressure, reducing stress and decreasing cholesterol levels. Parks clean the air, filter polluted water, reduce flooding, provide habitat for wildlife and lower the temperature on hot days. 

  Tight Budget? No Problem. If you are unable to give a donation at this time, but can volunteer to help with community projects please e-mail: info@enjoyartdesign.org to sign-up for an art or park beautification project. 

• Educators, Artists, Parents, and Program Directors are encouraged to send photo’s of their youth’s accomplishments and post events that are helping to create a better world for today’s youth: admin@enjoyartdesign.org  

   

In the wake of the idealist.org initiative to get all who believe in a planet that can work on earth as it is in heaven together to dialog answers to world problems. We are working to structure the web-site to serve as an online community point that functions as a resource for events, meetings, and information on hugely positive activities that are going on in your neighborhoods and link the people, businesses, and organizations that are working it all out together. 

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