Spring has come early to New England! And it's a good thing since we have a packed schedule for the warmer months. Below, read about what's been going on in the neighborhood and what's coming up. We hope you'll join us for our fun annual community events--please save these dates!

• DSNI Annual Meeting - Wednesday, June 27
• Multicultural Festival - Saturday, August 11
• Walk for Dudley - Saturday, September 22

See you soon,

Glenn Knowles, Board President        John Barros, Executive Director  

On Feb 28, 2012, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved the Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School (DSNCS) as an in-district or Horace Mann Charter School! Developed by the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR) program in collaboration with DSNI, the school seeks to provide world-class education in the Dudley area by getting all students on the path to becoming responsible community members and college graduates. The school will also serve as an outstanding learning site for BTR teacher preparation. Located at 6 Shirley Street, Roxbury, DSNCS will open in Sept 2012 with 132 students in K1, K2 and 1st grades.

Getting Together at  

Our Annual Open House 

We opened our doors on the evening of January 27 to more than 200 people! Our Annual Open House was a great success, bringing residents, partners, and supporters together to learn about our neighborhood schools, tour the greenhouses, write or draw their ideas for the Dudley Village Campus on our Visioning Wall, buy DSNI gear, catch up with one another, and eat!

Guests watched the trailer for Gaining Ground, the soon-to-be-released film by Holding Ground Productions, which follows DSNI's recent progress. We also screened youth films, including Live it Up or Give it Up, which won the 2011 Roxbury Film Festival award for Best Youth Film!  Congratulations to the DSNI Community Organizing Interns and thanks to Kelly Thomson of Vital Pictures who worked with them.  Look for links to the youth films on our website soon.

This winter we lost two members of our DSNI community.  The gathering paused for a moment to remember the lives and service of Julio Henriquez and Kyle McKinney.  We are saddened, but we know that the best way to honor them is to keep building the community we all love. Getting together in the relaxed atmosphere of our Open House always breathes new life into our efforts.  Onward!    

Youth Rally for Jobs!   

DSNI Youth Organizing Interns and other youth from our neighborhood joined with others from all over the city in the Rally for Youth Jobs on Thursday, February 23, organized annually by the Youth Jobs Coalition. Twelve hundred youth participated in the rally and in visits to their state legislators calling for $17 million for summer and school year youth jobs. The message of the youth is more critical this year than it has ever been. Severe federal and state budget cuts will mean far fewer youth jobs this summer and next school year. The state's teen summer employment rate fell from an average of 62% in 2000 to 39% in 2011!

Youth jobs are crucial to the health of the Dudley Street neighborhood.  When youth are employed, they are busy with positive work and less likely to get involved in negative activities; they are earning extra income to contribute to their families in tough times; and they are learning valuable job skills that prepare them for future success in school and work.

DSNI and its GOTCHA youth jobs collaborative partners have applied for 151 youth job slots through Boston Youth Fund. Youth still looking for summer jobs should contact Denise Gonsalves at 617.442.9670 x 210 or dgonsalves@dsni.org.

When they attend a typical College Fair, high school students travel to a college or convention center to meet representatives from various colleges. DSNI's Reverse College Fair brought 20 recent high school graduates

from the colleges they attend now to talk to high school students, who are preparing for college, and to answer their many questions.   The visitors provided tremendous insight into their college experiences and concrete guidance to a group of 15 high school students.

The event, which took place over the holiday break from school, was followed by a "Poetry Cypher"-a sort of open mike night for poets. Eleven writers, young and a little older, shared their talents including DSNI youth interns, Kayla and Javon, DSNI Board member Josephine Tavares, and our very own Ros Everdell!

College trips are in the works for the fall. Contact Alicia Mooltrey at 617.442.9670 x200 or amooltrey@dsni.org to be join the list for notifications.

Word Build :  

We build their world when we build their words

Kids who get lots of experience with spoken and written language before age 5 are better prepared to thrive in school. So Dudley Children Thrive is gearing up to launch Word Build, an early literacy campaign to help families build young children's vocabularies by having lots of conversation and giving them fun, language-rich experiences. With a special focus on those who are isolated and hard-to-reach, we'll work to connect families with existing children's literacy resources in the neighborhood such as the Boston Public Schools' Countdown to Kindergarten and ReadBoston.

We'll offer events and encourage families to engage in a wide variety of activities with their children, talking and reading with them through it all! By using stories and histories that celebrate our neighborhood's cultures, we will instill a sense of pride, unity, and belonging as well as knowledge of words that will serve kids throughout their lives.

To help your children thrive:

• Talk, read, play with them!
• Visit: www.talkreadplay.org 
• Attend the Word Build Launch Party on Saturday, April 28, 2012, 11am - 1pm, at the Kroc Center, 650 Dudley St. 
• Sign up for Dudley Children Thrive!

To sign up or for more information, call Ayesha Rodriguez at 617.442.9670 x240 or reach her via email: arodriguez@dsni.org.

Family Fun Fair! 

Families with children ages 0-5 are invited to the Family Fun Fair on Sat, May 19 from 12 - 2:30 at the Vine Street Community Center, 339 Dudley Street. Free!

Cape Verdean Speakers-- Listen!

DSNI's Wish List

• Members
• Volunteers
• Ideas
• Gift certificates and coupons from local businesses
• Daytime Reading Buddies for the Haynes EEC
• Tutors for the Dearborn and Burke Saturday School