Annette Cousins and Mary Lou Decossaux, Neighborhood Resource Center
Please introduce yourselves and your position at the Neighborhood Resource Center.
ML: My name is Mary Lou Decossaux. I helped found the NRC and serve as Co-Executive Director with Annette Cousins.
AC: Annette Cousins, Co-Executive Director, As the Co-Executive Directors at a grassroots non-profit, Mary Lou and I do a little bit of everything. In the grand scheme of things we are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the center, the administrative duties, fundraising, accounting, public relations and anything else that comes up. We have a small staff, so everyone pitches in through a lot of areas and we do the same.
What were your backgrounds before the NRC was formed?
ML: Born in 1957, I grew up in Jersey watching social movements on TV. Athletic and academic scholarships got me to Long Island University where I earned degrees in political science and philosophy. From there I went to Paris, earned a Masters in Immigration History and wrote a book about a turn of the century Pyrenees village organizer. In Richmond I coordinated a revision process for foreign language Standards of Learning, taught ESL, and took a job teaching social studies and meditation in a school for incarcerated teen boys. In 1990, I purchased a bungalow in Fulton Hill.
My days as an organizer began in the mid-90’s when crack cocaine invaded the quiet streets of Greater Fulton (Fulton, Fulton Hill & Montrose Heights). To increase and consolidate power in the community I helped start a neighborhood watch and business association and joined the ranks of the Greater Fulton Hill Civic Association. The coordinated efforts of those three associations led to a significant reduction in crime—a tentative peace until the larger issues of poverty and low-educational attainment could be addressed. I also directed Wm. Byrd Community House’s Department of Community Development for five years and coordinated the Richmond Coalition for a Living Wage for four years.
AC: I grew up in the Richmond area and graduated from Lee-Davis High School in 1998. While in high school I spent a year as a foreign exchange student in Honduras and that experience led me to pursue international studies while in college. The school I attended focused on experiential education so we primarily learned from working with local organizations in each country where we studied. I worked with a Latin American human rights organization in New York City which eventually resulted in work on other social justice campaigns as well. While in India I worked with a children’s rights organization in Calcutta that provides food, education and housing to children who live in railway stations. Both of these experiences allowed me to really get inside a non-profit organization and see how it functioned administratively, financially and operationally.
After returning to Richmond I began working for the Girl Scouts and organizing with local groups working around similar issues to those I studied in college. I volunteered with Food not Bombs for many years and helped to organize local resistance to the invasion of Iraq. I had seen firsthand the effects of international monetary policies while abroad and spent some time coordinating speaking tours and other events to provide education on how those policies affect everyday people in developing countries.
I met Mary Lou through the Richmond Living Wage campaign. We were involved in some joint organizing efforts in the early 2000’s and I followed her work on getting the NRC started but didn’t really jump into things here until 2005, after the center was open. I still remember exactly where I was when Mary Lou called and asked if I would come up to Fulton and see what was going on at the NRC. I was looking for something tangible and long-term to put my efforts into. Whenever I was working with organizations abroad, I was most impressed by people who saw a problem in their own community and used it as an opportunity to create change themselves, often by organizing with their neighbors. The NRC is a perfect example of this, right in my own backyard, so I jumped at the opportunity to become involved.
What does the NRC offer that a typical community center doesn’t?
ML: The center is home grown. It came from the community and maintains a resident majority on its board. Staff encourage participant feedback and prioritize neighborhood requests. The center’s recording studio and preschool came about as a result of community input. NRC staff and volunteers routinely to go the extra mile. A man showed up at closing time one night. Annette stayed to help him through a voter registration glitch. That man has been bringing trays of home made chicken “drumettes” to NRC events ever since.
AC: The center’s size and our focus on localized decision-making allow us to respond quickly to community input. Many of our programs take shape because of people walking in the door and dreaming about what they would like to see in the center. One of the best examples of this is our recording studio. The studio program started when a small group of teenagers came into the center looking for a place to write songs and record beats on some really basic equipment they brought from home. They used the old locker room for their sessions and eventually started talking and sketching out how the space could be used as a studio. When a grant opportunity was presented, Mary Lou jumped on the chance to help make their dream a reality. Today, youth of all ages work with a writing coach to put their ideas onto paper and record their works in a state of the art studio. The teenagers who started the program still come back and volunteer from time to time and share the skills they learned while in the program. They frequently quote the experience of seeing their dreams come to fruition as something that inspires them to set goals in their lives and work towards making them happen.
What is a typical day like at the NRC?
ML: Despite the calming effect of the décor; the center can get pretty loud during peak hours. Preschoolers bounce in around 8:30 am. Adults seeking job support services start flowing in around 10 am. People in need of referrals pop in and out throughout the day. After-school kids blast through the door around 4pm. By 5pm the center is spinning with activity: rappers in the studio, kids cooking in the kitchen, a dance class in the main room, preschoolers making art, girl scouts selling cookies in the parking lot…it’s a good kind of crazy.
AC: Busy is the first word that comes to mind! The building is opened at 8am by our preschool teachers, Salome and Ashley, who greet the children as they arrive for school and get them started on their work in the classroom. At 10am the computer lab opens for job support services. Penny, our program coordinator, helps people search for jobs, write resumes, submit online applications and prepare for interviews. We have a fax machine and extra phone line available for use as well. Throughout the morning and early afternoon people stop by to fax their timesheets, check email, use the phone, register for a program or just get information about anything and everything. During this time the preschoolers finish their morning work cycle, go outside and play, have lunch and then take their naps. In the afternoon our part-time preschool staff, Chianti and Lakeisha, arrive to take over during after-school time. Blue, our resident chef, comes in around 3pm to start getting snack out for the school-age kids, who begin to arrive at 3:30pm. A few high school volunteers usually arrive around this time as well and begin getting the main space set up for after-school homework help and tutoring. As the after-school kids filter in they eat snack and begin their homework. Parents start arriving to pick up their preschool kids and volunteer tutors come in to help with homework. Homework and snack are usually done by 5pm and the after-school kids transition into different programs each day ranging from art and dance to gardening, Tae Kwon Do and Girl Scouts. By 6:30pm the kids have headed home and the adults roll in for evening programs: GED, Tai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, Yoga and cooking classes. The building gets closed up for the night after these programs end, either around 8pm or 9:30pm, depending on the day.
What is the most inspiring aspect about the NRC?
ML: The fact that the center exists is pretty inspiring! It means people can make things happen if they work together, keep the faith, and refuse to give up. Then there’s what happens inside. The electrifying grin on kids’ faces when they learn something new; the joy and relief parents express when they land a job; the professional growth of staff and the grace volunteers bring to the center…that stuff goes deep. A check from a local business or foundation can also be very inspiring!
AC: To me the most inspiring aspect of the NRC is that the mere existence of the center proves what a community of determined people can do. So many people early on told Mary Lou and the other volunteers that they were dreaming too big, that purchasing an old post office building right off the bat wasn’t the way things were “supposed” to be done. They never let that sway their determination to get it done or their conviction that the center was and is something Greater Fulton needs. The process of bringing people into the fold, developing relationships with our neighbors and working collectively to make pro-active change is what the NRC is all about. Three quarters of our board membership is made up of neighborhood residents. That in itself is a powerful statement of who we are. The decision-making power at the highest levels rests with people who have the greatest vested interest in what happens in the NRC because this is their community.
How do you think the NRC has impacted Richmond, especially the Fulton Hill area?
ML: The NRC is adding to the reservoir of positive experiences neighborhood youth and adults can draw on when they make choices. When people find ways to improve their lives they are less likely to sink into self-destructive or anti-social behavior. Instead of hanging out on the street, Greater Fulton youth are developing balance through Tae Kwon Do and ballet. They’re doing homework, expanding their world-view on field trips and discussing their perceptions over a meal they prepared. Preschoolers are reading to their parents. Parents are getting their GED, sending out resumes and learning to unwind doing Tai Chi. These opportunities were not available in the neighborhood before the center was born. The NRC is expanding the network of relationships in the community, providing access to quality resources and helping neighbors develop skills to enhance their lives and determine the fate of their community. That’s our mission and that’s what we’re doing.
AC: I see the NRC as a model for how neighborhood change should take place. We aren’t just a community center; we are community centered. We believe in community-directed resources and put a lot of time into cultivating local leadership, whether it be local high schoolers who need community service time, parent volunteers who serve on our board of directors or neighbors who come into the center to teach a class or tutor a child. The NRC inspires people to take the initiative and see what can be done instead of seeing the potential roadblocks. Both for Richmond and Fulton I think that will be the greatest impact. When people see what is possible in Fulton, it hopefully inspires them to build community in their neighborhood as well.
What are some setbacks that the NRC often faces?
ML: The main challenge we face is space. There are more people who want to use NRC resources than we can physically, responsibly accommodate. This is especially true for our preschool. Parents may not be familiar with the Montessori method, but when they see what goes on in the classroom they want their children in there. All we can offer right now is a place on our waiting list. Setback: When a family leaves the neighborhood and can no longer get their children to the center.
AC: Because building relationships is the center’s foundation, we tend to think of setbacks and challenges as opportunities to bring more people into the fold. If a project is running behind schedule or a resource we need doesn’t come through, it’s an opportunity to think about who else could help us with this community-building project that is the NRC. Sometimes what we need comes in through our network of friends, sometimes we put something on hold and eventually an amazing opportunity presents itself and sometimes the exact person we were looking for walks through the front door and asks how they can help. The NRC is the type of place that draws people in and doesn’t let go. You can feel that something good, something different, is happening here. We do a lot with a small, committed staff, a small budget and lots of amazing volunteers.
What made you want to introduce a low income Montessori school in Fulton Hill?
ML: After the center opened parents kept coming in asking if we had something for their three and four year olds. A neighbor encouraged me to visit a Montessori preschool class in the West End. When I saw the quality of what was going on in the classroom, how children were learning to pursue their curiosity, rely on their perceptions and make choices I was hooked. My trepidation regarding the funds, staff and paper work that would be required to run a licensed preschool went out the window. A commitment from Anita Pishko (now Head Master of Central Montessori School) to help get us through the process reassured me. I approached the board seeking approval to establish a sliding-scale Montessori Preschool at the NRC. Volunteers from metro-area Montessori schools showed up in droves to make the miracle happen. They brought kid-size shelves, gently used Montessori materials, administrative and financial support. In three months the NRC’s Montessori Preschool was up and running. With support from the Robins Foundation and the City of Richmond the half-day program rapidly expanded to a full day.
What keeps you both in Richmond?
ML: For me it’s the people and a pretty compelling sense of purpose. The river, the bricks and the pace are what I love.
AC: I grew up in Richmond, so it’s hard for me to imagine living anywhere else. My family is here and it’s really nice to still be in contact with people who have known me since childhood. I think it is a common Richmond experience to meet people and find out that you are somehow already connected to them. It makes the city feel like a smaller town, while still being an urban environment. I love that Richmond is small enough to be able to see change as it takes place, to choose some area where you want to have an impact and have it be feasible to actually make it happen.
It seems cliché to say that what makes a city great is its people, but it really is and we’ve got some fantastic folks living in Richmond. Every time I turn around there’s another group of people getting together to work on a project or issue they are passionate about. I love seeing the growth of urban gardens and farmers markets in Richmond and believe that the local food movement will only continue to grow in the coming years. I think people long for the connection of personally knowing who grew their food and where it came from. The race to find the cheapest way to produce everything often means that the relationships are lost along the way. I can’t get enough of watching the kids at the NRC grow their own food, cook it up in the kitchen and sit down to a meal with NRC staff, volunteers and their parents. Food brings people together and the children get a true sense of community in sharing what they have produced. Hopefully that’s a scene that we will see replicated more and more across the city in the coming years.
Where do you see the NRC in 5 years?
ML: I see the NRC where it is, only it’s bigger. It has a second floor that covers the original building and extends over the parking lot. Preschool, after-school and adult education programs are expanded. There’s a roof top playground. Café programs roll out: coffee and muffins, brunches and catering. The side patio is landscaped to accommodate overflow…Café revenue is folded back into programs. The center’s annual 10K Run to the River (a beautiful and grueling hill run through the east end) grows into a mega fundraiser.
AC: I am so often amazed at how much activity and positive, respectful interaction can take place in a relatively small space like the NRC. I think in five years we will be bigger, hopefully physically bigger. We really need more space. There is so much that people want to do here and we are getting to the point where every space we have is filled a lot of the time. Monday nights are a perfect example. GED classes are going on in the computer lab, Tai Chi is being practiced in the main room, adults are learning to cook in the kitchen and childcare for all three programs is taking place in the preschool. There is literally no more space in the building.
In five years I envision a large second floor built over our existing space and expanding over the parking lot. We could move the preschool and after-school programs up there and fill two additional preschool classrooms and probably two toddler classrooms at a moments notice. We probably won’t even put the “now enrolling” sign up for the preschool this year because we have so many families still on our waiting list. Multiple spaces for after-school programs could go on the second floor: small rooms for tutoring and other quiet activities, a dance/yoga/tae kwon do studio, a comfy area for teens to hang out in and a dedicated library where kids can read and be read to. Moving many of our current programs upstairs would leave space for more adult activities in the space we have. We’d love to have our café open full time, but right now we’re looking at opening on a really modified schedule because of everything going on in the building already. There is nowhere to sit down and have a cup of coffee or enjoy a meal with your family in Fulton. One day that place will be the NRC, bringing back the community gathering place that the post office once was.
What are the advantages of keeping community outreach on a local level?
ML: For us, it’s a matter of mission and space. The NRC was created to serve the people of Greater Fulton because there were no neighborhood-based educational resources in the community. While our programs focus on local needs, donors who support those programs view community through a wide lens. Experience tells them “neighborhood” is another word for “humanity.”
AC: Pretty much everything we do is on a very local level. Our primary methods of outreach are a bunch of signs in the front windows and a sandwich board on the sidewalk. We want people who live in the neighborhood to see what is going on. Even if they aren’t interested in a particular program, they might tell a neighbor or a family member. So often word spreads that way. A curious couple of kids will ride their bikes up to the door and ask if they can come in. They race home to get their membership forms signed and then return with all the friends they saw on the way back to the building. Keeping everything very local is the best means of quality control we can have. When good things are happening, people show up and resources appear when we need them.
If you had one full city block and unlimited funding, what would you do?
ML: I would fill a couple of buses with neighbors, board members and staff and go to Harlem. Geoffrey Canada has set up a system of education (the Harlem Children’s Zone) that seems to be eliminating poverty as a barrier to educational success. The process starts with expecting parents and continues with their children until those children graduate from high school and choose a college. Mr. Canada has fortified 97 blocks of Harlem with top-notch schools, after school programs, parenting classes, health clinics and adult education centers. What we learn from Canada’s model could help us design a system of education (tailored to community needs) that has no “cracks.”
As an employee of the NRC I would support a vigorous process of community input and do whatever the community thinks is in its best interest. My personal fantasy starts with a Montessori school (public or charter, as long as it’s free) surrounded by a network of personal and professional development resources. A parenting college, infant care and toddler program would be established. The existing preschool would be expanded. Post-preschool grade levels would be phased in until the school is complete—from infant-hood through high school. School meals would include organic veggies grown and prepared by students. As this unfolds, after-school, GED and apprenticeship programs would be expanded. Training programs for people who want green jobs and/or careers in the building trades or fine arts would be established. A sliding-scale prevention-oriented health and dental clinic would also have a place on the block…This would need to be a very big block!
AC: It’s hard to even begin to list the possibilities. I can imagine taking a facility like the NRC and expanding it multiple times over. Starting at the very beginning with our smallest kids and moving all the way up through seniors who are at home and need a place where their skills and experiences are valued. Pre-natal yoga and classes/discussion groups for new parents, Montessori education for toddlers and pre-schoolers, a school right here in the neighborhood, probably Montessori too, because I’ve been so impressed with the way our children are learning using the Montessori method. After-school programs that promote creativity and leadership in youth. A restaurant and coffee shop where people can hang out and meet their neighbors or have a meal with their family. I’d love to have a thrift store right here in the neighborhood. Employ local teens to work there while providing access to goods you can’t purchase close by. And of course a huge garden, it would be tempting to turn the whole block into garden space, so maybe we’d need two city blocks: one for the garden and one for the buildings. The kids would grow food in the garden that could go right into their lunches and snacks at school. Seniors in the neighborhood could come in during the day and have a place to be in a social environment. Game days and nights, movie nights….so many of these things will probably be incorporated into the NRC one day. Anything is possible, it all just depends on who walks through the door with a vision and the commitment to help make it happen. Health center? Clinics?
