Western Reserve (OH) Chapter Links, Incorporated, 30th Anniversary Program 2017

informational workshops and partnering with a health coach. 33. Mound STEM School Urban Learning Garden. During the 2014-2015 academic year, Western Reserve (OH) Chapter established a sustainable signature urban learning garden as an after-school program at Mound STEM School (Mound) and provided garden-based educational programming to 15 enrolled students. Mound is a Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) K-8 school located in Cleveland’s Broadway/Slavic Village commu- nity. We forged a strong partnership with the Cleveland Botanical Garden (CBG) to develop the garden under its Cleveland School Garden Partnerships Initiative and lead curriculum delivery through Green Corps. Our garden consisted of above-ground beds growing a range of edible seasonal crops (e.g., carrots, radishes, mesclun, kale, spinach, lettuce) and some decorative flowers. The curriculum also contained lessons and activities, which con- nected with STEM principles and included a significant nutrition, health and wellness lifestyle component. Before and after several sessions, the students were tested to determine whether they had experienced an increase in knowledge and awareness of nutrition and healthy eating. In general, knowledge of fruits and vegetables increased by 50%. According to student feedback, they decreased their intake of junk food. More importantly, the garden at Mound STEM School is sustainable; Mound will maintain it with help from CBG’s Green Corps. 34. A new transformational program – Growing Leaders -- sprung from the seeds that were planted in the 2014-2015 Mound STEM School Urban Learning Garden program. Leveraging our strong partnership with the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Western Reserve (OH) Chapter committed to a two-year pilot with the Green Corps program for the Growing Leaders transformational program, which began October 2015. Each month, the two-hour session highlights “soft skills” to help the

participant matriculate from adolescence to adulthood. Also, each student received a Fitbit device to reinforce healthy lifestyle behaviors. The first cohort (2015-2016 academic year) included eight young women aged 15-18 – five of whom graduated from high school; the second cohort (2016-2017 academic year) includes three returning students plus five new students. Due to the generous support from our sponsors and members, we have invested $40,000 in this two-year program. UMBRELLA PROGRAMS Umbrella programming integrates program elements from all five facets, with one facet serving as the lead. The costs for both umbrella programs were funded entirely with contributions and dona- tions from our corporate and community sponsors. The Western Reserve (OH) Chapter created a multi-faceted music and cultural arts program called Bridging the Gap and Making a Differ- ence…through Music and Cultural Arts to benefit youth in the Greater Cleveland area. Services to Youth premiered the launch of the umbrella program with a concert, An Evening with the SPHINX Alumni String Quartet, the Greater Cleveland area premiere concert of nationally renowned award winning musicians from the prestigious Sphinx Competition for Black and Latino String Players, presented in collaboration with Olivet Institutional Baptist Church. National Trends and Services presented an intensive one week in-school literacy residency program to 5,000 high school students, called “Literature to Life © ,” a one-woman stage production of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. International Trends and Ser- vices introduced “Living Rhythms,” to elementary children ages 6-14, an interactive curriculum based music program that traced the journey of African rhythms to Cuba, Brazil and the United States. The Arts, the lead facet, sponsored the Sutphen School of Music Summer Music Experience, a five-week program targeting 75 children in underserved urban areas aged 8 to 14 to introduce them to the variety of forms in which music is expressed in the

13