East Central Spokesmen Brief Council On Diversity

The East Central neighborhood revels in its diversity, its leaders say.

“Culture invites us to participate in living,” Una McDowell, manager of the neighborhood’s Head Start program, told the Spokane City Council on Monday. “East Central’s many different ethnicities create another culture all its own.”

Spokane Mayor Jack Geraghty sees an opportunity in East Central’s diversity as well.

“Perhaps the total community can learn how to live with each other through the East Central community, learn how people of different ethnicities can get together and live a beautiful life,” he said.

City Council members took their show on the road Monday, traveling to the East Central Community Center to learn about the area’s activities. They quickly discovered the neighborhood’s diversity extends past ethnicity to the variety of social service programs at the center.

From Head Start to Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs, parenting classes to child-abuse prevention, these programs offer food, housing, education and protection to thousands of children and parents.

McDowell said East Central’s Head Start program works with 34 low-income children between the ages of 6 weeks and 5 years, as well as their families. The program teaches preschoolers in a classroom setting and links parents to the medical and mental health services their children might need.

Quoting a neighborhood resident, McDowell told the council, “In Head Start, the family is a package deal.”

Sue Hille, coordinator of the Spokane Child Abuse and Neglect prevention center in East Central, said SCAN works with more than 200 families a month.

“We help parents be better parents,” she said. “We try to get to them very early, before a problem develops.”

Donna Anderson, coordinator of Women, Infants and Children (WIC), said her East Central office is one of eight in Spokane. Through the program, low-income mothers receive checks redeemable at grocery stores for staples such as cereal and beans.

In January, East Central’s WIC office served 1,000 families and gave out $29,000 worth of checks.

Council members also learned about the need for volunteers at COPS Haven, the community-oriented policing substation, and on the neighborhood’s steering committee and new council.

“We are at a standstill,” said Tom Bernard, president of COPS Haven. “We need volunteers real badly.

“Our main goal is to reduce crime and crime prevention, but we have no set substation hours.”

“In order to have something work, you have to have people working at it,” said Carl Boston, steering committee president.

, DataTimes