Marian Park on Roosevelt Road in Wheaton is home to a mix of apartment dwellers facing a variety of challenges: senior citizens on fixed incomes, single-parent families, recent immigrants who are struggling to assimilate into a new culture and to learn a new language.
For years the complex has offered a variety of programs, including tutoring and recreation, but recently it took a step forward by joining the DuPage Prevention Partnership and setting aside space for a resource center.
Sister Lynn Schaefer is a member of the Wheaton Franciscans, an order of Catholic nuns who own the complex. She is also the coordinator for the new center.
“This will enable us to take advantage of more resources in the community,” she said.
DuPage Prevention Partnership is a not-for-profit agency that receives funding from the county. It works with communities to identify needs and implement programs to address those needs, according to Stan Anderson, community liaison for the Partnership.
The idea of a resource center is not new. Similar centers exist in Villa Park, West Chicago, Naperville, Addison, Carol Stream and Woodridge, Anderson said.
“We conducted a needs assessment at Marian Park, and we haven’t completed review of all the data, but some areas of need stand out,” he said. Those areas, he said, include parenting classes, gang intervention programs, after-school activities and English as a Second Language classes.
Schaefer is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the center, which will offer after-school activities for children and classes for adults; Anderson is responsible for linking the center with community resources.
“We have already been running programs here,” Schaefer said. “The Kiwanis come in and do a reading program for 1- to 5-year-olds; we have a tutoring program; there are recreation opportunities,” she said. “What we haven’t had is the connection with resources such as the police department, businesses and other resources.”
The Wheaton Police Department, which already is actively involved at the complex through its community policing program, is considering more involvement. “We will have an officer there whenever there is a special event,” to promote community relations, said Police Chief Mark Field, “and we’re thinking about getting involved in their tutoring.”
Anderson said there will be other benefits for Marian Park: “The resource center will be able to network with other resource centers,” allowing ideas as well as programs to be shared among the centers. “We are considering having basketball or baseball games between the centers,” he said.
The centers have been successful, said Angela Zoloto, project director for DuPage Prevention Partnership. “In Addison, we opened a center in the middle school, and 400 parents signed their children up to attend,” she said. “We couldn’t accommodate everyone, so each day we have to open it up to the first 50 children who sign up at lunch.”
In Woodridge, the area around the center experienced a drop in the crime rate. Zoloto believes she knows the reason for such success.
“Anything we do, we first go out and survey the people and ask them what they need. We don’t come in and `do’ to them,” she said. “This gives them a sense of personal ownership.”
The children already feel the center, located in a basement apartment in the complex, is a home. “I like coming here, because we can play games, watch movies, and talk with all our friends,” said Taniatia Loggins, 12.
The center offers billiards, a computer, a video game system and an area with sofas that looks like anyone’s living room.
Near the entrance is a bulletin board where job and social service information are posted for parents.
After-school activities are so important, Zoloto said, because national statistics show that kids who commit crimes are most likely to do so between 3 and 6 p.m. Children who would rather do homework than play can do so at the center.
Marian Park may benefit in some financial ways as well. Zoloto said that the coalition of resource centers is applying for state grant money for recreational programs.
An area Schaefer and Zoloto are excited about is mentoring. “We will have high school kids mentoring the younger children,” Zoloto said. “The younger kids really look up to the high school kids.”
And, Zoloto said, the center will be a focal point for help with a variety of needs for the entire Marian Park community.
“In DuPage County, transportation is difficult; it is difficult to access the services because they are so spread out,” she said. “Residents are able to (turn to) the centers for information.”
The centers and the relationships they foster also provide an opportunity for people to seek help before problems get out of hand.
“One of the worst times to try to find help is during a crisis,” said Zoloto.
With the center now available at Marian Park, people can use it as it is meant to be used: as a community resource.
