Bradfield Community Center Programs
My Brother’s Keeper After School Program
The Jegna Movement: Brothers Repairing A Generation (BRAG) Program is an afterschool outreach of the Jegna Corporation that resulted from the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Alliance’s call to action, which is to provide safe and supportive communities for boys and young men of color and MBK Ohio’s statewide coalition of advocates and communities dedicated to improving outcomes for boys and young men of color and creating opportunities for all of Ohio’s youth. As a result, the BRAG program is following the State and National call to action through an intentional focus on positive racial identity. The program’s foundation is Nguzo Saba or the Seven Principles of Kawanza: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). The program is operated by Jegnas (Mentors) who are hired through The Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity’s AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) program. Through partnerships with Bradfield Community Association, Lima City Schools, Allen County Probate and Juvenile Court, and the Kirwan Institute, hundreds of boys and young men of color are being served annually.
The Health and Wellness Initiative, made possible by funding from the Public Service component of the Community Development Block Grant, encompasses exercise classes, Wealth of Wellness Luncheons, and health assessments. At its inception in 2014 and for years to follow, the focus was on ensuring the well-being of the seasoned clientele or aging population through engaging in activities that coupled the four components of physical fitness (cardio, endurance, flexibility, and strength) with health assessments for pre post outcomes, and wellness luncheons to provide health informational sessions, food, fellowship, and fun. The initiative is now an intergenerational approach to wellness whereby individuals of all ages may participate in all health and wellness activities. There is an array of exercise classes for participants of all levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced for youth, young adults, and adults of all ages.
Health and Wellness Initiative
Children Defense Funds’ Freedom Schools Summer Program
Bradfield Community Association partners with Trinity United Methodist Church to bring this national program model to the Bradfield Community Center for six-weeks of engaging summer activities. The Children’s Defense Funds’ (CDF) Freedom Schools Summer Program ® is enrichment through a research-based and multicultural program model that supports K-12 scholars and their families through five essential components: high quality academic and character-building enrichment; parent and family involvement; civic engagement and social action; intergenerational servant leadership development; and nutrition, health, and mental health.
The CDF Freedom Schools program incorporates the totality of CDF’s mission by fostering environments that support children and young adults (known as “scholars” in the CDF Freedom Schools program) to excel and believe in their ability to make a difference in themselves and in their families, schools, communities, country, and world with hope, education, and action. By providing scholars with rich, culturally relevant pedagogy and high-quality books that deepen scholars’ understanding of themselves and all they have in common with others in a multiracial, multicultural democratic society, CDF Freedom Schools programs further empowers scholars to believe in their ability and responsibility to make a difference while instilling in them a love of reading to help them avoid summer learning loss.