Local Fort Wayne News Updates
FWCS Approves Placing Safety Improvements on November Ballot
The Fort Wayne Community Schools Board of Trustees voted Monday, June 12, in support of a plan to make the schools safer through a safety and well-being referendum. If approved by voters, funds from the 8-year referendum would pay for a variety of safety initiatives, including additional staff members to support students and address mental health needs along with security enhancements.
The staff increase would include adding three members to the security team, nine additional school resource officers, 56 student advocates, 17 mental health therapists and expanding the Alive Peacemaker program. The student advocates and therapists are key components of the safety plan. The student advocates primary responsibility would be to support students and help maintain a productive and safe learning environment. The student advocate will be another trusted adult in the building that students can turn to if they have a concern or just need someone to talk to other than a teacher or school administrator. The mental health therapists would focus on early intervention and treatment services for students in cooperation with families and community resources. They will provide support for students’ social emotional well-being as they work through trauma, stress, anxiety, grief, depression and self-regulation.
The security enhancements that would be purchased and installed through this referendum include portable weapons detection systems for secondary schools. The devices can be used at school entrances as well as co-curricular events, adding another layer of safety. The referendum would also pay for enhanced exterior door lockout systems, intrusion alarms, new cameras, handheld radios and additional classroom door locks.
Based on the average homestead property value in the FWCS district, this safer school initiative would cost homeowners a maximum of $6 per month. The referendum will appear on the Nov. 7, 2023, ballot.
YWCA Hosts Coffee & Conversations Event: The Power of Positive Gossip on June 28
YWCA Northeast Indiana invites women to a free, quarterly event series called Coffee & Conversations. Coffee & Conversations is an opportunity for women in the community to discuss pertinent topics about how to be successful in the business sphere, public square, or in personal growth and development.
The second event in the series is called The Power of Positive Gossip. Evidence shows that
helping others can have a positive effect on our own mental health and wellbeing. Gossip can be a good thing, depending on what we are saying. Let’s change the negative things we say about others to positive, empowering messages about others. Guest speakers include Cristina Jiménez, a Therapist at Courageous Healing, and Tishamarie Strasser, CEO of "Bring It, Push It, Own It".
Start your morning learning about the power of positive gossip with YWCA at Coffee & Conversations. The event will be from 8:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday, June 28 at Brotherhood Mutual’s Event Center (6400 Brotherhood Way, Fort Wayne, IN 46825). Free coffee will be provided and specialty drinks will be available for purchase. Register for free on YWCA’s website at http://ywcanein.org/coffee-conversations/.
Other events in the 2023 series include:
Be a Forrest Gump: Refusing to Let Your Fears Stop You! - September 27
Be a Flamingo in a World of Chameleons: Branding the Uniqueness of You - December 13
ACPL Rolland Center for Lincoln Research Celebrates Juneteenth with New Exhibit
In celebration of Juneteenth, the ACPL Rolland Center for Lincoln Research is inviting the community to experience a new exhibit featuring Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. Douglass and Washington are considered instrumental leaders in efforts to reform the treatment of Black Americans in the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The exhibit features Douglass artifacts including photographs and autographs. Another feature is a speech in memory of John Brown, a well-known abolitionist. Some items in this exhibit have not been part of an exhibit and presented for display in decades.
Washington’s items include his photograph, letters from his time as President of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for the Training of Colored Young Men and Women (now Tuskegee University), and speeches discussing Abraham Lincoln’s legacy.
The exhibit coincides with Juneteenth, also called Emancipation Day, which commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers marched into Texas and freed the remaining enslaved people in Confederate states. It is a day to honor President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 and the work of Black leaders like Douglass and Washington in the fight for justice.
The exhibit is open to the public and available to view the entire month of June. The library will be conducting additional programming in celebration of Juneteenth including opportunities to win prizes like Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln buttons. If you have any questions please email Lincoln@acpl.info.