City Gate is an urban ministry in Washington, DC, seeking to open doors of opportunity, empowerment, and friendship. Our primary focus is on children and youth in the city and on internationals. We welcome the participation and support of all who want to serve and share in building a community of inclusion and hope.
We wanted to let all of you know the exciting things that are continuing to go on at City Gate! The biggest news deals with 3 new after school time programs. The first site is at Avalon in Southeast. The other two sites are in Prince George’s county at Overland Gardens and Alafia Baptist Church. All three programs will be up and running by the end of the month! City gate continues to expand and grow, thank you for your support!
Our mission is one of opening doors of opportunity and building bridges of understanding. Whether providing free out-of-school time programs for kids in public housing, or running a language immersion preschool in Northwest DC, or working with Urban Hands groups from across the country – we are committed to education, empowerment, and building community.
City Gate is best known for excellent out-of-school time programs for underserved children and youth in the District of Columbia. Free after school and summer day camps are provided at public schools, a community center, and community rooms in public housing. Daily meals are provided at several sites, along with parenting and adult education programs. Detailed information is available on this website, or by contacting us directly.
City Gate also operates the Caterpillar Preschool, a Spanish and French language immersion program located at Tenley Circle. There are still openings for Fall 2011.
Summer – The Caterpillar Preschool and our Tenley Circle camps (ages 6-11) offer a variety of fun, educational, and affordable summer programs, with enrollment- beginning in March. As always, City Gate will be providing free summer day camps at several locations in Wards 7 and 8.
If you are one of the hundreds of Urban Hands volunteers who have worked with us during the past ten years, please go to our Urban Hands page to share a comment or picture with us, and to check out current opportunities. Your pictures and memories are a great way to celebrate the difference that 500 groups from 35 different states have made in our city and lives of hundreds of kids during our first decade!
To learn more about Urban Hands click here.
It began with a pastor and the mission chair from a suburban church meeting our Executive Director at our Tenley Circle site where a multicultural, international group of 30 children were attending a summer camp that included French and Spanish immersion classes. Here is Lynn’s summary of the “tour.”
We got in my minivan and headed east. In 10 minutes we had crossed Rock Creek Park and swung past Marie Reed Elementary School in Adams Morgan, the most diverse neighborhood in DC where City Gate has run programs for several years. In 2008 we were vetted by DC Public Schools to conduct out-of-school time programs onsite in the schools- including an after-school science club here at Marie Reed. Many of our students are Latino and/or foreign born.
My tour guests were full of questions as we continued east, crossing the Anacostia River into neighborhoods seldom seen by tourists. We took Burroughs to Division to Dix, where I turned into Richardson Dwellings, an impoverished public housing community scarred by violence. What was amazing when we opened the car doors was that we had stepped into an oasis of hope and joy . . .
40 kids were spilling out of what had been a vacant Community Room until City Gate started programs here in 2008. Equally energized and excited were nearly 30 youth and adults from a church in Austin, Texas, who had been leading VBS and a variety of activities and field trips throughout the week.
My companions confirmed that seeing is believing. There is no way to “report” what happens at these sites. It is a multi-dimensional experience, an intersection of the pain of poverty with an explosion of hope that clearly has its source in the inexhaustible love of God flowing through the hearts and hands of both our kids and staff and mission teams. At the center of the Richardson Dwellings whirlwind is “Ms. Vicks” – who tends this oasis with a presence that has to be experienced!
Back into the van . . . driving south through neighborhoods of Ward 7 for less than 15 minutes to Randle Highlands Elementary School on Pennsylvania Avenue in Southeast DC. This almost new DCPS facility had around 300 enrolled for summer programs, with about 75 participating in an afternoon, science-themed City Gate camp. We were greeted by unsolicited compliments from the school administrators for our mostly college and graduate student City Gate staff. We stayed just long enough to peek into the classrooms to see for ourselves an engaging, activity-based program of academic enrichment.
Then it was on to far Southeast DC (about another 15 minutes) to the Ward 8 neighborhood where 10 years ago City Gate’s program began at the Johenning Community Center. After several years, City Gate moved into the Community Rooms of several nearby large subsidized housing complexes. My touring guests stopped with me in the Atlantic Gardens community rooms where some kids worked on projects around tables, with others working on a bank of computers spread along the length of the room.
We finished our tour three blocks away at the Merrick Center, a wonderful new facility supported by a variety of community stakeholders along with the Archdiocese of Washington. Another crowd of kids were coming out of the Center and clustering around a snow cone machine – courtesy of another Urban Hands mission team of 15 youth and adults from Indiana.
These “tours” I do from time to time with folks who are planning mission trips or looking for ministry partnerships are totally unscripted. I show up with my guests unannounced. What we experience is simply real life glimpses of what happens daily at our program sites.
I suppose any “preacher” enjoys having a captive tour audience for three hours – but what moves me beyond words is the response of folks who suddenly are immersed in the needs and hopes, the problems and possibilities of the city. There’s an immediate connection and open communication and sense of trust with the children and City Gate staff – maybe finished off by sitting down and eating supper with the kids at one of our sites.
Did you know . . . that City Gate had five separate programs – involving 250 children and youth – at four different locations this summer?
. . . That Urban Hands groups from ten different states (from Maine to Florida) participated in our programs and projects?
. . . That these mission teams range from ten to 150 participants (a large group from Tennessee which provided a block party and concert for our Clay Terrace Day at Richardson Dwellings)?
. . . That 33 children at our Merrick Center program made the honor roll, and every student advanced to the next grade?
I have been a part of many exciting programs while working at City Gate, one of which has been the development of an expanded English as a Second Language (ESL) program.
We started an evening ESL program late last year to complement the morning classes. We were not sure what to expect, but the additional classes have allowed nearly thirty new learners to participate.
Learning a language is difficult, but it’s very important for new Americans to have English skills to have opportunities. Most of the learners work in service jobs where they don’t speak English, and often they are not prepared to take advantage of career changes because of their limited English skills.
For me, the most rewarding part of teaching and coordinating the ESL program is watching the learners advance in the language. While the students come from all skill levels, I have been working most closely with the beginner-level classes. Volunteer teachers teach intermediate and advanced level learners. The intermediate class works on grammar exercises and the advanced class concentrates on short stories and news articles to enhance conversation.
Since evening classes have started, I have watched the dedication our learners have for improving their English. They come to class excited to learn. We laugh a lot, spending time going over words that sound similar, creating tongue twisters to learn.
One evening with the beginner level learners last spring, we spent over half an hour going over the difference between the words “kitchen” and “chicken.” The two words are very different in meaning, obviously, but the learners often confused the words because they sounded similar to them.
It was so fun practicing, “I cook chicken in the kitchen.” Everyone was correcting the classmates who were saying this sentence, yelling out “No!” or “Yes!” while trying not to laugh in order to let each individual speak.
On the first day of class last December, one of our most dedicated learners started the beginner level with her sister, niece and two friends. She could not communicate in English, so we began in Spanish. From the start she struggled with reading and writing in her own language and had difficulty understanding instructions on the activities that we were doing.
As the spring semester continued, this woman and her sister attended class every Monday and Wednesday, eager to learn. They came twice a week in the summer and continue studying with us now. As this learner’s English abilities improve, I have noticed her gain confidence. She is now taking classes on Saturdays and is asking a lot of questions about expressions that she hears on the playground or in the supermarket, words that the toddler she nannies for says. She even wants to know how to tell the young girl to “stand in the corner” or to say “good job.”
Another beginner level learner comes to class every week with papers of completed grammar exercises for me to correct. She is very motivated and hopes to become good enough at English so that she may someday return to her native country of Mexico to teach English in the schools.
As we are nearing our one year anniversary of an expanded ESL program, the same group of beginner-level learners that has been with us from the start understand the difference between chicken and kitchen, and are now learning the difference between more complex irregular verb conjugations, such as “bring” in the present and “brought” in the simple past. We do still giggle at words that sound similar; last night it was “duck” and “book” that cracked up the class.
The following was written by one of our youths who worked in the SE Summer Day Camp. Each year City Gate employs teenagers in DC’s Summer Youth Employment Program as junior counselors, giving them opportunities to gain job and life skills.
Working with City Gate’s 5-6 year olds was a great but challenging experience. At times the children, [youth] workers, and even parents can test your patience. But those times are when we find out who is actually here for the children and who is wiling to pull together and make things work as they are. The children of City Gate Summer Camp are active, energetic, creative, and interactive. With all these components working together in one child, it keeps our summer camp very “live” and never boring.
I have grown to love the children of City Gate, not just the 5 and 6 year olds, all of them. I enjoy coming to work everyday because every time I walk into the room I’m greeted with tons of smiles and hugs. These kids grow as attached to their teachers as we do with them. This year we were blessed with a great group of kids who I hope to see again one day.
Alexis
Summer Youth Worker
City Gate SE Summer Day Camp