One World Education Encourages Youth to Share Cultural Experiences
by Mark F. Johnson

The world is probably still an awfully big place to most young people, but less and less so in the age of You Tube, Face book and other global internet sites.  This is true at least, in places around the world where there is general access to such sites.

But, in north Columbia Heights a youth-oriented educational program is attempting to make other cultures much less foreign to local middle and high school students by promoting global awareness and by encouraging young people to become world citizens and to share their cultural experiences and discoveries with their peers.

One World Education recently honored three area high school students who shared their thoughts through essays, on the culture that they come from or that which they encounter everyday.  One student, Shanika Spade, from School Without Walls, wrote about crime and violence that permeates her community in DC. Melissa Linsao of Wheaton High School wrote about the lack of “creature comforts” we take for granted in the U.S. that discovered were practically unattainable when visiting her family in Asia. Nick Eckenwiler of Woodrow Wilson High wrote about DC’s diversity and our city’s internationalism.  Each student won a $500 award for their essay, to be published on the organization’s website and which will also become part of the curriculum that other students study in some area schools.  The theory behind One World is that students learn better from their peers than from teachers.  The event was held at the Josephine Butler Center across from Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park on 15th Street, NW.

“There are so many better things to do with your life than to hurt or kill someone else over something that really is inconsequential compared to the value of the life you take,” said Spade, who lives in southeast Washington.  “The little things we take for granted in the United States are of such great value to some people around the world because they just cannot afford to have them,” wrote Linsao, a Montgomery County, Maryland resident.  “When I get on the Metro or walk on a downtown street I can hear so many languages spoken and see so many different types of people that I have pretty much the whole world reflected before me right here in Washington, DC,” Eckenwiler wrote.  He lives in Upper Northwest around Tenleytown.

The organization was started about two years ago by two former DC Public School teachers to get youth to share their cultural and ethnic experiences, interests and global awareness gained through travel, internships, volunteer work and other research.  According to group co-founder Eric Goldstein, “through writing about these experiences, students can help teach other students and thereby form a global awareness curriculum where none existed before”. 

Students Learn Better from Peers
One World Education trains teachers to design social studies and sociology curriculum around what students themselves have learned about world culture and global issues through their own research, volunteer work, travel and immersion.  Through this program, local teachers “freely utilize the One World Education curriculum to engage and teach students from the youth perspective,” Goldstein stated. “Thereby, they increase peer-to-peer learning in DC schools,” he added.

Before starting One World, Goldstein, who is also Executive Director, taught world geography and sociology at the SEED Public Charter School in Ward 7, just recently visited by President Barack Obama .  He said that while at Seed he found the amount of exposure that most kids had to world cultures was appallingly slim.  “How does, say the issue of genocide in Darfur affect the kids in that region and other kids around the world, for example,” Goldstein asked.  There really was no resource in schools to gain that kind of information he concluded.  “Kids had more powerful resources outside of school” and they learned more through those resources than they could learn in the classroom.”.  “Teachers teach for information and kids want relationships” according to Goldstein, noting the popularity of internet sites that promote people contact. 

One World has been attempting to introduce its program to schools throughout the District and even in Maryland and Virginia, but, according to Goldstein, has found it to be slow going with DCPS.  Nevertheless, he said, they have trained some DCPS teachers to build a world culture curriculum around the research that students have done and also the writings that they have created. These writings are called Reflections and over a hundred students submitted writings on various topics from which the three finalists were chosen recently. 

DDOT At Work on New Streetscape for Columbia Heights and Adams-Morgan
by Mark F. Johnson

In the urban jumble that is Columbia Heights, what could be a more quiet retreat from the shopping, traffic and rush of street life around 14th Street and Park Road than an oasis with trees and a babbling brook? Well, if not a babbling brook exactly, at least a peaceful fountain!

According to the streetscape redesign plan recently implemented by the DC Department of Transportation (DDOT), the road to Zen, one could say, runs along 14th Street, NW across from DC USA mall. That is where a new Civic Plaza will soon rise. The new plaza, along with the fountain, will have a landscaped area with park benches so that people can enjoy the serenity.

While other DDOT streetscape redesign projects are on the table for Columbia Heights, including Sherman Avenue and also one for 18th Street in Adams-Morgan, the one that will make the biggest splash is the new civic “mini” park, scheduled to open perhaps as early as mid-summer according to DDOT director, Gabe Klein. The park will be located along 14th Street between Park and Kenyon Streets, one block away from the Columbia Heights Metro station.

City May Modify Plan Due to Costs
The project will cost the city about $1.6 million and will involve the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. They have identified an artist to create mosaic medallions for the Plaza, which capture Columbia Heights history and culture, according to Klein. The medallions will be placed in the park plaza and also on the grounds of the Columbia Heights Metro station at Irving Street. Artist Jann Rosen-Queralt designed them, said Rachel Dickerson of the Commission. An upcoming phase of the project includes mosaic medallions designed by community artists to be inlaid into the sidewalk in Civic Plaza.  Additionally, the redesign plan could continue 14th Street’s “beautification” to the northern and southern borders of Columbia Heights, with new streetlights, improved sidewalks and gateways marking the neighborhood. That phase, however, may not come to fruition because of costs.

The new DDOT director, in place officially for only a few weeks, after DC Council approval, said that he has heard from Columbia Heights residents who want the District government to consider more street modifications that support an active lifestyle. The actual idea for the streetscape came from the Columbia Heights Public Realm Steering Committee. Other concerns raised, according to Klein included more protection for bikers and pedestrians. The DDOT director is a resident of Columbia Heights.

Others in the community seem to be buying into the uptown shopping district streetscape project and they are also pushing for further development along 14th Street north of the Tivoli Theater. “Most of my constituents are looking forward to Civic Plaza,” said ANC 1A05 Commissioner William Jordan, whose single member district encompasses a part of the project. “We see this as a way to unify a very diverse community by offering a common space for everyone to come together.”  And members of the community don’t plan to be selfish about the park either. They know that a great percentage of the traffic at the USA mall, anchored by Target and Best Buy comes from all across the city and even from Maryland and Virginia shoppers. “We expected to have to share our space,” Jordan acknowledged. “We wanted a civic park area that would be attractive, welcoming and show off how far this area has come.”

Another part of the Columbia Heights Streetscape redesign plan includes a sprucing up of Sherman Avenue. According to Klein, plans call for adding a median strip to the street and enhanced street lighting and sidewalks. Residents shouldn’t expect to see enhancements along Sherman Avenue, generally considered the eastern edge of Columbia Heights, until sometime next year, though.

Work in Adams-Morgan Already Underway
Further west in Adams-Morgan, some DDOT work is currently underway.

The 18th Street Streetscape Project will be similar to Columbia Heights in that it will include a lot of community involvement, DDOT stated. The project includes new sidewalks, curb and gutter, landscaping, intersection improvements, traffic signals and streetlights.  The city’s transportation department has already held numerous meetings with the ANC, Adams Morgan Main Streets and business representatives, said Karyn Leblanc of DDOT’s staff. Leblanc promised that DDOT would continue to meet with members of the community throughout the construction of the plan.

Shiloh’s Vacant Properties Stir Community Debate
by Amanda Abrams

The tale of Shiloh versus Shaw residents has begun a new chapter.

Shiloh Baptist Church, at the corner of 9th and P Street, owns seven vacant properties near the church that have long been the subject of complaints from neighbors, who say the houses are magnets for drug users and prostitutes. A new punitive vacant property tax enacted by the City Council in October should have been applied to Shiloh’s properties—but it wasn’t. Last month, local residents investigating the city’s online property database found that six of the properties were not slated to be taxed at the correct rate, and hadn’t been the year before, either.

Many neighborhood residents were outraged. The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs—the city agency that maintains the vacant property list—corrected the mistake and is expecting the church to pay this year’s taxes in full, but a question remains: should Shiloh be charged the back taxes from last year?

Nicholas Majett, DCRA’s deputy director, has not clarified whether the church will be charged with the bill, which comes to $150,000, plus interest and penalties. “We’ll do what we do with any property—we make a decision based on evidence submitted,” he said. But Majett isn’t certain that making Shiloh pay is the right thing to do. “I think it’s an egregious act” to charge a retroactive tax bill, he said. “Times are hard for everybody.”

And there’s a catch. Shiloh has talked of developing its properties for years, and presented an architect’s plans for a redeveloped set of properties at 1531-1533 9th Street at an ANC 2C meeting on April 1. The plans—which would create a space for community organizations—were approved a few weeks later by the Historic Preservation Review Board. But church officials say construction on the properties will be delayed if the church has to pay back taxes.

The question of whether the church should be forced to pay its tax bill in full or forgiven in the hope that redevelopment will occur sooner has divided the neighborhood.

“I’d like the properties to be developed,” said Theresa Sule, an ANC 2C commissioner. She admitted that Shiloh could do a better job maintaining its properties, but felt that it should be given a chance to finally begin construction. “The church has made it clear that if they have to pay an exorbitant price, it’d be a delay in development. It’s already been ten years.”

But Alex Padro, one of Sule’s fellow ANC 2C commissioners, doesn’t believe that Shiloh will move forward with construction anytime soon, tax bill or no. “Every few years, they come to community meetings and talk about their visions and dreams,” said Padro. “This has been the status quo for decades.”

Padro conceded that church officials have never gone as far as getting the city’s approval for their plans, but still doubted that construction would start in the near future. “People like me are not going to hold our breath.”

Whether the church can move forward with development even without a crippling tax bill is in question, given the current economic climate. At the recent ANC meeting, Gregory Prioleau, Shiloh’s representative, admitted that the church has no private funding for the project, though he said officials were talking with the city to determine their options. Church officials did not answer calls for comment.

On the Shaw neighborhood listserv, the issue garnered dozens of comments overwhelmingly urging the city to charge Shiloh with the back taxes. “Shiloh needs to be treated like any other resident or business or non-profit in the city and pay the appropriate taxes,” wrote one commenter. “The law is the law,” said another.

A Greener Watha T. Daniel Library
by Amanda Abrams

Construction is finally beginning on Shaw’s permanent library—and it looks like neighborhood residents might be getting even more than they were hoping for.

Four months after the December groundbreaking, construction fences, port-a-potties and a small trailer went up on the site of the new Watha T. Daniel library on Rhode Island Avenue in Shaw. While building has not yet commenced, a webcam has been set up so that residents can watch developments on the DC Public Library website, www.dclibrary.org

To boot, library officials are applying for funding to add a vegetative green roof to the new building. While the roof was part of initial talks between DCPL and community members, it was later deemed too expensive for the project. But federal stimulus funds have recently become available for ‘green’ projects, and DCPL submitted a grant for $282,000 to build a roof that will support plant life, keep the building cool, and reduce stormwater runoff.

The project isn’t a guaranteed slam-dunk. The District Department of the Environment is collecting proposals from District agencies; it will vet them, then recommend some to the Environmental Protection Agency for funding.

But Alan Heymann, a spokesperson for DDOE, gave cause for hope. “We really like green roofs,” he said. “We’ve funded them in the past on a pilot basis.” DDOE will be accepting public comment on the initiative until May 13.

Virginia Lee, a Shaw resident and library booster, hopes a green roof will educate neighborhood residents about climate change. “I think it’s an excellent opportunity to keep learning from top to bottom, to understand the nature of the world we live in,” she said.

Construction drawings incorporating the green roof have already been created, so the new addition shouldn’t delay construction. According to George Williams, a DCPL spokesperson, the opening date should be around March 2010.

Kelsey Gardens Redevelopment Delayed, But Still Moving Forward
by Amanda Abrams

Kelsey Gardens, a sprawling public housing complex on 7th Street in Shaw, is still going to be redeveloped as planned. But thanks to the economic downturn, the shiny new building that’s slated to rise in its place is several years off.

“We’re thinking we’ll start in February,” said Jim Wurzel, construction manager at Metropolitan Development, the Vienna, VA, company that owns the site. “We’d like to start sooner, but that’s realistic. We’ll hopefully be done by January 2012.”

There’s still a very long road ahead for the company, which already spent several years fighting to acquire the property at 7th and P Street. Now that rezoning has been approved, the company will invest in construction drawings, while simultaneously applying for building permits and trying to raise money to finance the project.

Two tenants are still living in the complex, though they should be gone in a few weeks. One of them is Debbie Williams, a Shaw native who’s lived in Kelsey Gardens since 1980. She’s hoping to move to an apartment in Maryland, but is waiting on final approvals.

Williams said it’s “nice and quiet” in Kelsey Gardens now. “I’ll miss it,” she acknowledged. “It used to be my mother’s apartment; when she died, I took it over. It’s like a home.”

Once Williams and the other tenant are gone, Metropolitan will cut off services to the complex and put up a temporary security fence. That will remain until the company is ready to raze the current buildings—probably near the end of the year. Finally, around February, building will commence.

Despite all of the delays, Wurzel is excited about the development. “I think it’ll work out well,” he said. “It’ll be a place people will want to move into.” He added that, as per the agreement the company made with former tenants, Williams and others would be welcome to move back in when the construction is done.

But Williams’ plans are still up in the air. Will she move back in later? “It depends,” she said.

Art is Everywhere
by Amanda Abrams

It turns out that cell phones can create art.

That much was apparent on the opening night of ArtSpace’s Cellular Photography exhibit. Hanging on wires around the front room were scores of photos submitted by District residents showing different perspectives on life in the Capital. A dog in front of Tryst coffeeshop, a late-night police investigation, a snowy day on a block of row houses, and of course, people riding Metro—like a photo diary, it was all there, captured on simple cell phones.

The April 24 show was the brainchild of the New Community ArtSpace coordinator, Kristian Whipple. Much of the activity that occurs in the nonprofit studio, though, is the result of dedicated volunteers. Artspace, which is on S Street between 5th and 6th and is part of the New Community Church, offers virtually free classes in photography, drawing, fiber arts, pottery, and bookmaking. All classes are taught by volunteers, who also help take care of the space. And Monday nights are Open Studio, which means that $5 gets visitors some art supplies and the freedom to try out new ideas.

Not all neighbors know about ArtSpace—the organization’s budget for publicity is meager—but those who do sing its praises. “It’s really good to have a community space that incorporates the involvement of people who live here and is [almost] free,” said Dzifa Awunyo-Akaba, who lives nearby. “It’s given me an opportunity to explore my artistic side.” She thinking of trying a knitting class next.

For more information about the New Community ArtSpace, visit www.artspacedc.org.

Ward Four: Cleaning Up Our Act
by Tanya Snyder

As the weather got warm, Ward Four neighbors sprang into action, cleaning up the dust bunnies in Mother Nature’s nooks and crannies. Upshur Park, downtown Takoma, Coolidge High School, and Grant Circle all got a sprucing up during the last, sweltering weekend of April.

April 25 was Global Youth Service Day. At Upshur Park, around 80 members of City Year, a youth community service nonprofit, gathered to paint the pool house, reline the basketball courts, plant flowers and more. The volunteers were mostly middle school and high school students that participate in City Year’s Young Heroes and City Heroes Saturday service learning program.

Kyle Schwartz, who works on the City Year staff, lives in Petworth, near the park, and says he was amazed to see such a transformation. He said his favorite project was painting the pool house.

“The Upshur swimming pool is the best place in Petworth to cool off in the summer,” Schwartz says, “but you could pass it a hundred times and not know it was a pool.” To make it more visible, the volunteers painted big blue waves across the pool house. He said the added visibility was already working before they finished. “One family pulled over to the side of the road, jumped out of their van, and asked me if it was a pool and when it opened,” he says.

Schwartz says the best part of the day was working on a project with Oscar and Devin, two third graders from the neighborhood. They told Schwartz that they come to the park every single day as a part of an after school program. But they don’t like that some people smoke marijuana and spray paint trees in the park. “They were so excited to help improve their park,” says Schwartz, in hopes that making it look nicer might discourage some of the bad behavior.

Meanwhile, Main Street Takoma gets together every year for a Spring Clean-Up Day, and this year they picked up litter, mulched tree boxes, and planted flowers. And the same day – April 25 – Hands on DC held a Work-a-thon at schools around the city and brought volunteers out to clean up Coolidge Senior High School.

Also on April 25, Blogger Prince of Petworth (aka Dan Silverman) got twenty-some people out for a Petworth neighborhood clean-up. Volunteers (including Councilmember Muriel Bowser) cleaned from the Petworth Metro station up New Hampshire Avenue to Grant Circle. One volunteer found a bullet among other litter on the street.

Silverman says he got “choked up” later than night when he walked down the street and saw it looking so good. He said neighborhood people were grateful for the effort, and he plans to do a clean-up next month in Columbia Heights.

Earlier in the month, clean-up crews gathered at six Ward Four locations to pick up litter and remove debris from the Rock Creek parkland and stream. That day, 284 volunteers collected about 10,000 pounds of bagged trash and loose debris along Rock Creek in Ward Four.

The three-hour event was part of the 21st Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup, which involved more than ten thousand volunteers at nearly 450 locations. All together, volunteers reported that they removed 250 tons of garbage, nearly 145,000 recyclable beverage containers, and 26,000 cigarette butts.

The Rock Creek cleanup was organized by Friends of Rock Creek's Environment (FORCE.) in partnership with the Alice Ferguson Foundation's Potomac River Watershed Cleanup. You can see a Rock Creek watershed map on the group’s Web site, friendsofrockcreek.org.

Getting Rid of Utility Poles
by Tanya Snyder

Merrit Drucker, Shepherd Park resident and former director of the Mayor's Office of Community Services and Relations, is on a mission: to rid the area of double utility poles. He asked PEPCO to remove double poles from the 7100 block of Alaska Avenue and the intersection of 14th and Hemlock Streets. To be thorough, he also asked the city government to move the parking sign from the old pole to the new one before tearing the old one down. (This request was actually fulfilled.)

Drucker’s interest in double poles isn’t new: he estimates he had 10 or 15 of them removed when he was Ward 4 Service Coordinator from 2000 to 2004.

“Double” poles occur, Drucker explains, “when a utility company installs a new pole, next to an older pole that is decayed, damaged, leaning, or otherwise unserviceable. The old pole is left in place, or abandoned, and not removed.”

Drucker asked Councilmember Muriel Bowser for her help in coming up with a legislative solution to abandoned pole problem, which he sees at a citywide level. He’s committed to managing the issue in his own neighborhood, though he thinks “this is a service delivery area where residents should [not] have to request the service.  The removal should be automatic and timely.” (And as the former director of Community Services, he should know.)

Bowser responded that her office “will work with the appropriate agencies” to get the utility cables moved from old poles to new poles, which she says needs to happen before the poles can be removed.

He’s not just knocking on the Councilmember’s door, though. Drucker is trying to get neighbors together to ask PEPCO to bring all the electrical lines underground. He says the electrical system in Shepherd Park “is old and fragile, and needs to be replaced.”

Other neighbors agree with Drucker that the abandoned poles constitute a safety hazard, as storms could bring them down on houses. There is also growing impatience at the fact that utility wires aren’t all underground yet, as they are in other neighborhoods. Vicki Taylor thinks it’s time. “As I ride around the city not only do I see fraying wires,” she says, “but I see poles that need replacing due to being hit by some vehicle or they are just old.”

She adds, “With the problem that I went through when we had that wind last year that blew so many trees down, it would be safer not to have above ground wires.”

Drucker says in addition to the aesthetic and safety reasons for bringing cables underground, there are environmental reasons. Underground cables would eliminate the need for poles that are treated with toxic chemicals like arsenic of chlorine-based fungicides to prevent decay.  He says those chemicals leach into the soil and ground water.

“Wood utility poles are a guarantee that we will have environmental, blight, tree damage, and reliability problems forever,” says Drucker. “They are an outdated technology that needs to go the way of leaded gasoline.” 

Money Problems at Shepherd Elementary
by Tanya Snyder

Shortfalls in the school budget forced the Shepherd Elementary School PTA to support some staff salaries this academic year. But the PTA may be reaching the end of its fundraising potential: parent Sue Perez worries that teacher aides for French and Math may have to be let go before the end of the year. Both aides assist with multiple classes.

Perez is leading a fundraising drive to keep the teacher aides, in an attempt to supplement the $50 PTA dues and the $500 Family Enrichment Fees.

She says the PTA is “working with the Principal to ensure that staff positions for the next academic year are fully reflected in the 09-10 budget.” She says relying on the PTA to fund staff positions is “too volatile” and “not sustainable.”

Speeding on south Dakota: Residents demand action
by Kelley Dupuis

There is a stretch of South Dakota Avenue in northeast D.C. where traffic is averaging 70 miles per hour, and some area residents want something done about it.

Speeding on South Dakota Avenue was a topic of extended discussion at an area Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting April 22 at the Hospital for Sick Children Pediatric Center at 1731 Bunker Hill Rd. NE. Residents expressed concern that some of the hotrodding is going on at the very spot where South Dakota Avenue passes Taft Junior High School and recreation center.

Ward Five Commissioner Timothy Thomas said that the speeding has been going on for most of the last five years. A number of traffic-calming solutions have been considered, including speed bumps, but the city’s most recent effort to slow down the speeders on South Dakota has been a series of electronic signs reminding people of how fast they’re going and, if it’s too fast, telling them to slow down.

“The street wasn’t eligible for speed bumps because of the synchronized lights,” Thomas said. “So they put up a device there that lets you know how fast you’re going.”

In the 4400 block of South Dakota there are two such devices, one on either side of the street.

“What the one on the north side does is, it will let you go past the corner of South Dakota and Michigan, but when you get to South Dakota and Taylor Street, the light will stop you,” Thomas said. “They don’t want to stop you at South Dakota and Michigan; you couldn’t stop that fast. But it will stop you at South Dakota and Taylor.”

On the opposite side of the street, when a driver is coming from Maryland into the District, if the driver passes the sign at South Dakota and Michigan, the driver will be stopped at the corner of South Dakota and Webster.

Thomas said one of the problems is that once motorists pass Taft Junior High, they don’t stop again until they reach the corner of South Dakota Ave. and Monroe Street.

The speed-monitoring devices, however, are not discouraging the leadfoot crowd, and Thomas said the Ward 5 commission is considering asking the D.C. City Council to consider installing cameras along South Dakota that will take pictures and issue tickets.

Thomas said he had an April 27 walk-through of the area scheduled with the city’s transportation department to review the speeding situation and discuss alternatives.

Some think District has a skill-drain problem
by Kelley Dupuis

Are police officers and other important service personnel getting their training in Washington, D.C. and then leaving for parts unknown?

Some think they are, including Ward 5 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Robert King.

“They can get a better deal in neighboring counties, and they go there,” King said.

King feels the problem is as big in certain other sectors as it is in law enforcement. King’s own daughter is a nursing home patient in the district, and he said the squeeze is felt in that industry as well.

“It’s just terrible in the health care area,” he said  “A lot of times we have shortages in health care because people have gone off to Maryland or Virginia.”

As regards the police specifically, there are issues of risk as well as money, King said.

“They go to places where they can have more money and less action,” he said. “You get trained here, then you go someplace where maybe you don’t have to wear a bulletproof vest so much.”

Pointing out that with all of the varied police agencies the District of Columbia has, King thinks greater cooperation between  different police authorities might be a key factor in enticing qualified officers back from other jurisdictions.

“Take imaginary lines like the Eastern Avenue boundary,” he said. “We were getting sick and tired of a guy committing a crime and then dashing across Eastern Avenue. Police would watch them with binoculars and do nothing.”

King is calling for law enforcement bodies to increase interagency cooperation in order to erase the “imaginary lines” and make law enforcement more efficient. He said he specifically would like to see the Metropolitan Police and the Metro Transit Police work more closely to stop criminals from committing crimes and then jumping on the Metro train to make their escapes.

Second golf tourney slated to benefit Luke C. Moore Academy
by Kelley Dupuis

The Luke C. Moore Academy at 1001 Monroe St. N.E. is gearing up for its second annual golf classic aimed at raising funds to benefit the school and to send some of its students on international cultural exchange travel.

Last year, according to tournament chairman Charles Hall, the tournament attracted between 40 and 50 golfers, including a couple of students, and raised $5,500 for the school. And as a result of the fundraising two students and a teacher were sent on a trip to China during the summer of 2008.

This year’s tournament, slated for Friday May 29 at the Potomac Ridge Golf Course in Waldorf, MD, aims at raising money to send a student to South Africa this summer, according to school principal Dr. Reginald Elliott.

In addition to funding the South Africa trip, the golf classic is a fundraising tool for basic school needs such as the academy’s various student incentive programs.

“We have programs to provide Metro passes for every student who’s in school on time and in uniform,” Elliott said. “We also have an Eagle Merit program where students can gain credit for being on the honor roll, having perfect attendance and participating in clubs. They can redeem those Eagle Merits for prizes like movie passes, Metro passes, school uniforms and that sort of thing.”

Elliott said the academy hopes to get as many as 70 duffers out on the links at the end of May to benefit the school.

Luke C. Moore Academy is an alternative school for young people who have attended two or three high schools previously without success. “They may have dropped out because they were bored or had to work or had a child, and then they wanted to come back to school,” Elliot said.