Sincerely, Markese

In 2006 God called me to work for City Gate and minister/advocate for “the least of these.” For the last year and a half, I have been afflicted with chronic and severe pain, debilitating tremors, and other mysterious symptoms that have stymied diagnosis by even the most determined doctors. Almost daily, I struggled with insurance companies and their special brand of red tape (receiving a $13,000 bill at one point, after a procedure that I was told was covered). Another time I was forced to come off painkillers so quickly, I experienced withdrawal symptoms similar to someone going off heroin “cold turkey”.

Having hours upon hours of reflection time gives you a highly unique perspective. While I lay in my bed, trying to hang on to sanity through the effects of narcotic painkillers and strong anti-seizure medications, I wondered what God was up to. What good could possibly come of all this senseless suffering?

My thoughts and prayers were often of City Gate and the children and families we serve. As a community worker, I often tried to put myself in their shoes in order to empathize with their situation. But what if the reverse were true; what if they were in mine?

I am a reasonably well educated person. I have a loving and generous support system of family and friends. I have access to health care through what is considered “good” insurance. For all of this, I am truly grateful. But what of those who have little or none of the above?

Now I really understand how difficult it is for the impoverished and/or illiterate to access any kind of health care. Also, I know how completely impossible it is to expect those suffering from addiction to simply “just say no”. And I see how even those with health coverage become lost and abused in a system that is more about quarterly profits than quality care. (In my experience, claims are equally likely to be rejected and forwarded to collections agencies as they are to be paid by insurance companies.)

In a nation whose poverty rate has increased for a third year in a row (to 15.1%, U.S. Census Bureau) and with over 50 million people not covered by health insurance (Kaiser Foundation), we can ill afford to take a “not my problem” attitude about either. Changes to the current system are necessary. I have to agree with President Obama when he said, “Anything is better than [the system] we have now.” Changes that would bring justice to the current system would be even better.

No one deserves to suffer preventable diseases, go bankrupt to afford health care, or be denied treatment for physical or mental afflictions in the richest country in the world. Remember, being ill is crazy bad. Let’s not make it harder than it has to be.

Kistin Wiener, Associate Director

9/10 Serve, Salute, Celebrate Event
City Gate. is bringing together volunteers from all over the DC area for a unified day of service and fellowship on Saturday, September 10. In commemoration of both the 9/11 attacks, and the renewed spirit of national community those attacks fostered, volunteers will serve from 9am to 1pm at either Mary Virginia Merrick Center in SE DC, or Clay Terrace of NE DC. Once there, volunteers will have the opportunity to work alongside members of those communities to distribute clothing, food, books, and other donated goods. City Gate will also coordinate beautification projects of nearby neighborhoods and parks as a complement to the food and clothing drive. Following the service project, volunteers are invited to a brief salute to those affected by the attacks, and a cook-out to celebrate the strength of spirit and unity of purpose of our national community.

Those interested can register online. CLICK HERE!

For further information and directions, please view the attachments below and/ or email serve.salute.celebrate@gmail.com

General Volunteer Flyer

Metro Donation Flyer

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.

Dear Site Visitor,

I wish I could give you a tour of our City Gate programs and ministries, but the next best thing is to invite you to the Merrick Center in Southeast DC for a special celebration on October 10.

This anniversary event will provide not only a fast-paced tour of our programs throughout the city, but also highlights of our first decade. That journey began just a few blocks from the Merrick Center, with an after-school program at the Johenning Community Center. Those few blocks plus ten years of growth demonstrate a couple of our core convictions. First, “staying put” is important in building trust and serving a community (when we start work in a neighborhood, we stay!). But second, you can’t stand still. The needs of the city constantly have challenged us to grow our programs and expand to new sites.

That’s the story of the past 10 years that we want to celebrate with you. We’ve had folks from all over the country who have walked at least part of this journey with us through Urban Hands. But many of you are local – and we hope to see you at the Merrick Center on Sunday evening, October 10, for a delicious dinner and a fun, fast-paced ministry celebration!

Blessings,

Lynn Bergfalk, President and Executive Director

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.

East of the River

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!

On to Southeast DC

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.

Some things have to be experienced

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?

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.

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

“No, not a lot of parties,” I said.

“That’s what they do on T.V.,” she countered.

It is hard to communicate the college experience to a child if you are the only college student they’ve ever met, or their prior knowledge comes from the mass media. So, you can probably imagine the excitement I felt when Kristin told me that we were doing a Pen Pals and Partners Program for our City Gate kids in conjunction with American University.

Pen Pals and Partners was not only a great way for our after-school kids to meet college students, but it was also a great way from them to interact with cultures different from their own. I remember the first time the AU students met with the City Gate Kids. On the way, I don’t know how many times I kept telling the students to keep their voices down or told them to save their excitement for when we get to the church. Once we got there, they did a complete 180; they virtually didn’t speak and rarely interacted with the AU students. The AU students, who were predominantly White Americans and outnumbered them 2:1, more likely intimidated the SE kids. It wasn’t until the AU students introduced themselves (and their favorite ice cream flavor) and played games (“Move your Butt” and “Indian Chief”) did they not only open up, but reverted back to their in van excitement. It was great to witness how two groups of completely different people from completely different environments can find commonality with each other.

Pen Pals and Partners has been an innovative way to introduce college life. They loved American University’s library, went crazy at AU’s basketball game, walked within their dorm rooms and hung out in their lounge while eating pizza. And also, our after-school kids rarely ask me about my college life anymore. It’s probably because they’re experiencing it themselves.

Tiauna Miller
AmeriCorps Volunteer & City Gate Program Associate

Our after-school children first started showing up with Obama caps and buttons in December. Teaching them the importance of government and their role in democracy has always been difficult (they simply didn’t relate), and the way social studies is taught in DC public schools is usually drudgery, but suddenly our children knew facts and figures, political players, and even statistics. (Student: “Yes, and did you know he was president of the Harvard Law Review…” After-school instructor: <shocked silence>)

Second, we have been collaborating with another non-profit which wants to do some sports-based mentoring in SE. The guys who run this organization are well-educated, street-savvy, and truly passionate for at-risk youth. As we sat in the basement community room one night to work out a grant proposal, the upcoming inauguration came up. One of them said, “It’s cool to be smart now.” All I could think of was, “thank you, God.” It’s tough to compete with rappers and sports stars for influence over our children and youth. Maybe now we have a bigger piece of the pie.

Lastly, I’ll share a personal experience that illustrates how the flavor of race relations in our country has started to change. As I walked to my car that same night, an African-American colleague asked me if I was ever afraid of working in SE. I gave him my first and honest answer, which was no, even at night I’ve found folks there to be friendly and helpful. “Usually though,” I added, “being a white woman in SE, it’s because they think I’m lost.” My colleague laughed. Having working in one capacity or another in that same neighborhood for the past 8 years, I’m almost never lost. However, in that moment, as we both chuckled, I realized that this moment may just be a tiny droplet in a tidal wave of such conversations. Here’s to hoping.

Truly this was a victory for African-Americans. But more than that, this is a victory for all people who have felt — for a variety of reasons — that they were on the outside of a great society looking in. They are the very kind of people we work to help at the “city gate”. This is not about holding up a certain race or demographic — it’s about justice. This is not about inclusion or multi-culturalism — it’s about valuing people as individuals, uniquely created in His image.

Whatever you think about the economy, the war in Iraq, and our new president, I hope you share at least a little of that victory. For myself, I can’t wait to see what it’s “cool to be” next.

Kristin Wiener