By: Elayne Allen, BA 2017
A couple of weeks ago, the Philanthropy class had to make the difficult decision of choosing four groups within each program area (mine is Community Development) to move forward in consideration of a grant. It was difficult for my group to narrow down our decision to just four organizations. We began with ten groups and spoke with a representative from each. My teammates and I quickly learned how passionate and hardworking people were from every organization with whom we spoke.
We also learned how much need there is among the nonprofits in Waco. Almost every group with whom we spoke on the phone was prepared with very specific grant funding ideas for their group. Additionally, most of the grant ideas our groups had were for very pressing needs of the organization. After thinking strategically with my teammates, we decided to move forward with four organizations where we saw potential for the most long term benefit.
Now that the Community Development team is focusing on four organizations, we started conducting site visits this week. Yesterday, we completed our first site visit at a project called Good Neighbor House Waco. The visionary behind this project is Dr. Laine Scales, a graduate professor at Baylor. Good Neighbor House Waco is modeled after the settlement house movement in the early 20th century in which young middle to upper income people moved into low income neighborhoods to provide services in the neighborhood.
For our site visit, my teammates and I toured the Good Neighbor house. There is also a property in the backyard of the Good Neighbor house where the “settlers” live. The actual Good Neighbor house is not operational yet, but there are already settlers living in the cottage behind the Good Neighbor house. Dr. Scales explained that she bought both properties a couple of years ago, and both the Good Neighbor House and the settlers’ cottage were in ruinous shape. She was able to turn the cottage into a livable, quaint home for three settlers. She plans to do the same to the Good Neighbor house once she obtains all the finances.
During our tour of the Good Neighbor House, Dr. Scales took us to each room and explained what it would be used for. I learned from the tour that Dr. Scales had a very well thought out plan for the Good Neighbor House. Her goal for the home is to provide a space for the neighborhood to have functions at no cost or a very low cost. One use of the home she mentioned will be for homeless youth to have a place to go after school.
For the Community Development team, conducting an actual site visit gave us a deeper understanding of Dr. Scales’ project. As we walked into each room listening to its future function, we began to see how the house would benefit the neighborhood. We also learned about the benefits of having settlers living in the cottage. She told us about one settler who met a neighbor in high school and began to help him with college applications. Having settlers in the cottage behind the Good Neighbor house presents opportunity for the settlers to build community with the neighbors.
The Community Development team agreed that the site visit was successful. We got to see with our own eyes how Good Neighbor house would benefit the neighborhood and we got a clearer picture of Dr. Scales’ vision.
Elayne is a University Scholar with a focus in Political Philosophy. She moved around the United States when she was younger, living California, Florida, Virginia, Texas, Alabama, and Washington State. She aspires to work in political communications in Washington DC, perhaps for a member of Congress.