Gilliam Place: March Update

By: Donna Budway

Gilliam on the Go

We are thrilled to share that our first building is really beginning to feel like home. We are meeting lots of our neighbors and enjoying the energy of having so many families in the building. One of our goals at Our Stomping Ground is to demonstrate not only that our members in the DD community benefit from inclusive and affordable housing, but that we are able to positively impact the entire building by our presence.

We are very proud to have been an integral part of launching two learning pods during the pandemic. Working closely with our friends at Arlington Presbyterian Church (APC), Edu-futuro and our partners at Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) we have been able to successfully support our students to meet Tuesdays through Fridays for virtual learning. OSG’s Virtual Tutoring Program provides volunteer tutors who are recruited from the Office of Volunteer Services for Arlington Public Schools. We also have a robust group of student tutors that have successfully been matched with younger students to provide additional support during these challenging times.

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Students in the Learning PodStudents in the learning pod at Gilliam Place
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In addition, OSG has created a new Environmental Club for the students in the building to learn and discuss the environmental challenges facing the world today. We meet monthly and it has been encouraging to see the students engaging in the lessons and exploring how they might impact their families and communities with their new understanding and habits.

Our Reading Together program has successfully matched elderly neighbors with our school age youth for reading supports. Started as a pilot over the winter break, our volunteer readers and the students in the building were eager to continue the partnerships over spring break. It has been fun to see the reading skills of our students improve and we are anticipating continuing the project over the summer.

We are always looking for new volunteers and tutors to support the students in our building. If you have any interest in volunteering or learning more, please contact our Community Outreach Director, Donna Budway at donnab@ourstompingground.org

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Benny collecting glass for recycling from the neighbors.Benny collecting glass for recycling from the neighbors.
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