|
CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> for a while, and we've reinvested in that, and have a good group of volunteers, about twenty-five
<br /> (25)board members,helping the fundraising and advocacy for the Parks Department.
<br /> He went on, We had two (2) fundraising events to kickstart what I call the final round of
<br /> fundraising for Howard Park. Yes, it's under construction and it's scheduled to open late this year,
<br /> but we need to buy our Zamboni and our ice skates, and all of the furniture, fixtures, and
<br /> equipment, those little touches, landscaping and otherwise, holiday decor. So, we're on track to
<br /> raise about$900,000 before the end of the year for all those things.You can buy your brick pavers,
<br /> your benches and whatnot. We've got a website set up for that. We launched a new website. We
<br /> continue to work with volunteer initiatives. Best. Week. Ever. was a huge success. I know I saw
<br /> many of you out and around. 50,000 people this year. We really focused on having events in
<br /> various neighborhoods, and I think that recipe will be one(1)that we'll repeat in the future. Many
<br /> people know we unveiled Boomer. Jonathan Jones and his team continue to work with that. It's
<br /> scheduled for twelve (12) full appearances. Those are when we work with our partners like the
<br /> Music Village or the Police Department, or otherwise, arts organizations. Those are the full
<br /> programmatic,what I would call curriculum-type appearances or events. Then we have,when you
<br /> add in the appearances, like we did our Popsicle Tour this past Friday, and just kind of one(1)-off
<br /> things,it'll be out over thirty(30)times before the end of the year. It's been a neat tool to re-engage
<br /> some of these parks that haven't seen activity in recent history.
<br /> He continued, We developed a new teen leadership program at the Martin Luther King Center.
<br /> This is a really neat partnership that developed out of the My Brother's Keeper Initiative. Beacon
<br /> Health is investing in this program where we have college students working at MLK. Typically,
<br /> we've hired some throughout the summer, but they've just been summer jobs. With the extra
<br /> funding, we've been able to provide training for them to really invest and mentor the teens that
<br /> they're working with. So,it's kind of neat that the curriculum that's involved in that every Tuesday,
<br /> Wednesday, and Thursday at the Martin Luther King Center. It kind of goes in line with something
<br /> like our Youth Mowing Program. I know I shared the video. Thanks for the feedback I had on it.
<br /> This is an idea that we're not only providing jobs,but we can also change lives through those kinds
<br /> of things. So, we want to continue to do more of that in the future. The final thing on this slide
<br /> (referencing the presentation)is the NAI Conference that we hosted earlier this year. It was a heavy
<br /> lift by Gary and Hannah to host the one hundred and eighty(180) or so folks that we had,regional
<br /> experts. There were really talented folks here and they were impressed with what's going on in
<br /> South Bend.
<br /> He went on, Then to conclude, what we're going to be doing for the rest of the year. We're going
<br /> to host our first self-promotion fund concert at Morris.The Council approved one dollar($1) from
<br /> every ticket going into a fund, whereby we can recruit artists and acts that might not normally
<br /> come to a market of our size. So, we're working on booking that. I can't tell you what it is, but
<br /> you'll be one of the first to know as soon as we have that booked. We'll have the biggest show and
<br /> the longest run ever come to Morris next spring. I see Councilmember Williams-Preston looking,
<br /> I know you're the most excited about it. It's a three (3) week run of Lion King. We'll have a big
<br /> celebration in September when individual tickets go on sale and otherwise, but that'll be quite a
<br /> production,particularly for a City of our size to have that Broadway show here. I mentioned we'll
<br /> approach to break even for golf this year, and we'll hit that next year. I mentioned the Century
<br /> Center already. Welcome Back Howard Park, put the date in for Black Friday, the day after
<br /> Thanksgiving. November 29th is when we'll be ice skating. So, we look forward to that major
<br /> celebration on that Friday. We're going to compete with the mall, and we're going to win.
<br /> EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld!South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221;(574.235.9173 110574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov
<br /> 8
<br />
|