SERVICE-LEARNING PARTNER INFORMATION SHEET

Centro Mater Child Care Center/Catholic Charities

418 SW 4th Ave
Contact: Ana Avalos-Atkinson, Daycare Head Teacher/ Phone: (305)545-6049

Centro Mater is a non-profit organization founded in 1968 by Sister Miranda in order to

accommodate the educational development needs of many of the Cuban children and families who were
constantly arriving in Miami. Today Centro Mater, at its three sites, serves a community that includes U.S.
citizens as well as immigrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia,
Puerto Rico, Peru, Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador. The pre-school and after school programs
currently serve 742 children daily whose ages range from six weeks to twelve years. Seventy-eight percent
of these children come from families who rank under the poverty level, mostly because of recent arrivals
who lack language and labor skills. The curriculum is designed to give children, at each stage of
development, a foundation of success in school and to promote a love for learning. Centro Mater creates a
safe, nurturing environment that allows children to become problem solvers, independent explorers and
creative thinkers.

Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8 am -- 6:00 pm; call ahead

Directions Distance

Start out going NORTH on UNITY BLVD/FL-9 N/SW 27TH AVE toward SW
1. 0.3 miles
6TH ST.

2. Turn RIGHT onto W FLAGLER ST/FL-968. Continue to follow FL-968 E. 2.2 miles

3. Turn RIGHT onto SW 5TH AVE. <0.1 miles

4. Turn LEFT onto SW 2ND ST. <0.1 miles

5. Turn RIGHT onto SW 4TH AVE. 0.1 miles

6. End at 418 Sw 4th Ave, Miami, FL 33130-1416 US

1ROOTS IN THE CITY: A Community Garden

3rd Ave. & NW 14th St. (Plots are next to Overtown Youth Center)
Contacts (Co-Directors): Douglas Dunn: (786)547--9754 and Marvin Dunn: dunnfiu@aol.com

Dr. Marvin Dunn, an associate professor of psychology at Florida International University, grew
up in Miami and has seen Overtown in all of its stages - swelling with pride and, later, trampled in defeat.
After decades of tumultuous events, including the bisection of the community by Interstate 95 in the 1950s,
riots, looting and fires, and a steady decline in business activity, Dr. Dunn had a vision for Overtown. He
created Roots in the City in 1998 to help transform the depressed urban landscape into a community of
gardens, blooming flowers and shady trees. He chose a site at N.W. 14th Street and Third Avenue next to
the I-395 Expressway which dissects the community from east to west. It was known as a haven for the
homeless and drug users. Dr. Dunn and his volunteer students worked the site almost every weekend for
three years and the community garden was fully installed by the spring of 2001. In December 2000, Dr,
Dunn committed FIU funds to hire three full-time employees from Overtown as permanent staff for the
community garden. He has started a horticultural training program for the employees with the support of
the Knight Foundation and the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust. Since then he has employed a number of
residents from Overtown and neighboring communities.
Volunteer work is an integral part of the Roots in the City project. Aside from FIU student
volunteer work, Hands On Miami has been working with Roots in the City since 1999. Since then, more
than a thousand volunteers and members of the community have planted flowers and trees, pulled weeds,
mulched, and raked to help make Overtown and Miami a better place to live. Numerous nurseries and
businesses have donated plants, trees, shrubs, supplies and equipment to support the project. "I have
watched so many people take on large-scale projects in our garden and the most dramatic thing is that they
are doing it together," Dr. Dunn states.

Schedule: Saturday, morning till afternoon; ask instructor about sessions scheduled for semester

Directions
1: Start out going NORTH on UNITY BLVD / FL-9 N / SW 27TH AVE toward SW 6TH ST.

2: Merge onto FL-836 E / DOLPHIN EXPY (Portions toll).

3: Take the I-95 S exit toward DOWNTOWN.

4: Take the NW 8TH ST exit toward PORT OF MIAMI.

5: Turn LEFT onto NW 8TH ST.

6: Turn LEFT onto NW 3RD AVE / DA DORSEY BLVD.

7: Turn LEFT onto NW 14TH ST.

8: End at 450 Nw 14th St

Miami, FL 33136-2636, US

Total Est. Time: 8 minutes; Total Est. Distance: 4.59 miles

“I Have a Dream” Program/Phyllis Wheatley Elementary

1801 NW 1st Place
Contact: Eric Lewis/(305)573-2638

The "I Have a Dream"® Program helps children from low-income areas reach their education and
career goals by providing a long-term program of mentoring, tutoring, and enrichment with an assured
opportunity for higher education. Local "I Have a Dream"® Projects adopt an entire same-grade from an
elementary school or an entire age group from a public housing development. They work with this group of
children (the "Dreamers") and their families year-round from their elementary school years through college.
With over 180 Projects in 64 cities across 27 states (75 of which are currently active), "I Have a Dream"®
has now served over 13,500 students during its more than two decades of operation. Many Dreamers who
go to college are the first members of their families to do so.

Schedule: Mon.-Friday, school and after-school hours; ask instructor about group sessions with other
MDC students scheduled every Wed. afternoon, including a gardening club once a month.
The Young People’s Project (also at Phillis Wheatley Elem.)
Contact: Gilberto Simpson/(734)709-4921
 YPP trains youth as math literacy mentors, teaching them not only math, but why math and education
constitute a “civil right.” YPP is an offshoot of The Algebra Project, an organization founded by Civil
Rights Legend and mathematician Dr. Bob Moses. YPP makes math accessible by basing it on “physical
events” that students translate into conversational “people talk” and finally mathematical expressions. One
of the major activities in the training is Flagway, a game in which students set up and run through a course
based on numerical calculations.

Schedule: Mon.-Fri., 4-6 pm.

Distance: 4.92 miles

Total Estimated Time: 9 minutes

Directions Distance
Start out going NORTH on UNITY BLVD/FL-9 N/SW 27TH AVE toward SW
1. 1.1 miles
6TH ST.
2. Merge onto FL-836 E/DOLPHIN EXPY (Portions toll). 2.1 miles

3. Take the I-95 S exit toward DOWNTOWN. 0.2 miles

4. Take the NW 8TH ST exit toward PORT OF MIAMI. 0.3 miles

5. Turn LEFT onto NW 8TH ST. <0.1 miles

6. Turn LEFT onto NW 3RD AVE/DA DORSEY BLVD. 0.4 miles

7. Turn RIGHT onto NW 14TH ST. <0.1 miles

8. Turn LEFT onto NW 1ST PL. 0.3 miles

9. End at 1801 Nw 1st Pl, Miami, FL 33136-1710 US