Scenes such as this are possible through the generosity of individuals, businesses and organizations as well as those who support our annual Christmas Drive.

Christmas becomes a special day for them filled with magic and wonder and creating memories for them that will last long after childhood has ended. It helps to fill them with hope and to let them know that they are not forgotten.

Support from so many wonderful people does all of this and ensures that the programs that care for them throughout the year continue to help them develop to their full potential in a caring and supportive environment where they are loved, respected, safe and free from abuse.

If you would like to help make this day even more special for these children, please contact Steve Landman at 724-654-5507

Employees and friends of Cray Youth and Family Services took part in the 2012 Light Up Night Parade on November 15th.

We marched with members of New Visions for Lawrence County under the “Stand Up For New Castle” banner, promoting positive and progressive change in our community.

 

 

Cray Foster Care is looking for families who are willing to open their homes and their hearts to children who have been removed from their own families due to abuse and/or neglect.

As you might expect, despite the chaos and pain of their home situations, removal from their families is often jarring for these children.  Being able to stay with foster families in the familiar surroundings of their home community makes this difficult time a little less hard.  For many of these children, being able to attend their same schools, see their friends, and even go to stores they know makes a huge difference.

If you are interested in learning more about foster care, please contact Cathy Mckissick at 724-654-5507.

Despite the rain and the chill, close to 100 volunteers showed up to help clean-up the park, playground, and I Care House Saturday. 

Comcast generously donated breakfast, materials, and labor and together we generated a refreshed face for this neighborhood community center.

The former I Care House was originally the initiative of a Professor at Slippery Rock University who had a vision for creating sustainable and substantial changes within the community by developing small, neighborhood-based community centers.  After budget struggles and cutting ties with SRU, the House has been sitting empty on the lower eastside for over a year now.

In March 2012, Cray Youth and Family Services, Inc. assumed ownership of the House and is seeking to resurrect and revitalize similar efforts for change in this community.  On April 21^st, 2012, Cray, in partnership with Comcast, hosted a kick-off clean-up of the park, playground, and house.  Throughout the summer of 2012, Cray, in partnership with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, will be offering fun activities and free lunches to children, ages 18 and under, on a daily basis.  This fall, Cray has intentions to again open the doors of the House on a full-time basis and offer residents of the community social connections, educational opportunities, and coordination of development and revitalization projects.  The specific House activities will be led by resident interests and aim to assist in neighborhood stabilization and sustainability.

 

Take a second and think about your perception of New Castle and the Lawrence County area:  is this a community that you would refer friends or family to, to retire or raise a family?  If you said ‘yes’, did you hesitate?

 

New Castle currently leaves a lot of room for hesitation.  New Castle is one of 150 cities in the United States that have been coined a ‘Forgotten City’- a small city that has failed to successfully jump from the boom of the industrial era into the technological wave of the future.  On the surface it seems to be suffering from wide-spread disinvestment; talented young people who are seeking jobs and a better quality of life elsewhere, businesses who are not pursuing prime downtown real estate, a job market that is more conducive for drug trafficking and crime, and an overarching negative perception of the area.  (Among a list of other inequities that many currently perceive.)

 

Many seek to alleviate these inequities; Lawrence County has a plethora of programs and service agencies dedicated to community members who don’t have access to the ‘top of the barrel’.  Yet often times this ‘Band-Aid’ approach does not attack or aim to eliminate the roots of this community’s issues.  These services will always be needed and greatly appreciated, but with budget cuts and an increasing quantity and variety of problems, the need to creatively find solutions that eliminate this sense of disinvestment are greater than ever.

 

As the season changes, Cray also is seeking change, aiming to be a catalyst that significantly improves the current perception and actual quality of life in Lawrence County.  In March, Cray welcomed Angie Mohr as our Director of Community Building, who will be dedicating her time and energy to building community, with an intentional and strategic effort for change.

 

Any community (ours included) strives for clean and safe streets, access to decent job and educational opportunities, for a range of high-quality housing, attractive recreational spaces, and availability of diverse goods and services.  Cray’s new commitment is to assist local policy makers and citizens to bring those aspects of our community to the forefront, to identify the gifts and assets that already exist and connect them to produce the greatest good.  There is a great foundation in Lawrence County to expand upon and the future is bright.

 

Cray’s effort will seek to develop leadership with a vision and capacity for change, to coordinate social networks that promote a cooperative effort for building community, and to encourage social inclusion and engage community member involvement in order to increase the quality of life and ultimately alter the general image and perception of New Castle and the Lawrence County area from a ‘forgotten city’ to a thriving and wonderful place to live.

 

In her role, Angie will be striving to establish a loose alliance of residents, businesses, officials, organizations, and institutions that can collaboratively and strategically institute new patterns of communication and cooperation and reset the expectations for our community, sparking deeper changes in stories that our community tells and hears about ourselves.

 

As Cray undertakes a new season of change and a host of daunting challenges, it ultimately will be promoting New Castle and Lawrence County as a place of remarkable character and resiliency and a fantastic location to retire or raise a family.   No hesitation.