“Above all do something,” said President FDR - an apt phrase as citizens across the country head into summer with challenging situations, no precedents, no roadmap, and growing urgency. 

South Orange-Maplewood is building on student and educator-led initiatives by creating summer learning projects involving a range of community organizations. 

We need to harness all the talent, energy, skills in our midst!  We’re glad to share our process, even in this preliminary phase,  and would love to hear what other communities are doing along these lines.     

Three Zoom meetings in recent weeks involved exploration and “idea-sharing”;  yesterday’s meeting focused on communication and implementation.  

Conversations have involved students, parents, educators, librarians, environmental commissioners, civic organizers, artists, nonprofit leaders, scouting and faith-based organizations, and South Orange Village trustees, including these entities:

Columbia High School Environmental Club and Students for Social Justice

Maplewood Memorial Library and South Orange Public Library

Partnership for Urban Economic Development

South Orange Environmental Commission

South Orange Maplewood Community Coalition on Race

South Orange Maplewood Board of Education - English Language Arts

CivicStory

This letter was shared yesterday (6/24) with dozens of community groups, and next week, the ‘match-making’ between students, mentors, facilitators will begin.  

We will keep you posted on our progress to involve all ages in community-building, problem-solving, and responding to multiple crises that demand our all as caring and beloved communities in the summer of 2020.