Dear Readers,
Well, this past Saturday at The Slips was a good example of extreme heat. Nevertheless, community members turned out to eat softshell crab, enjoy a tarot reading, and meet a variety of local vendors and non-profits. Among those were the John Dos Passos Institute, United Ministries of Westmoreland County (helping attendees understand the acute challenges that local families and individuals face in housing and health, as well as how to support them through these challenges), and Tidewater Oyster Gardeners Association (helping attendees understand how oysters filter our water, and how to start raising them).
Visitors to the JDPI tent brought a passion for John Dos Passos books, Virginia native plants, revitalization of the Chesapeake, quail habitat, driftwood collecting, and seaglass. What a fantastic group of humans!
We rounded out the event by delivering cold water to all the vendors, courtesy of our donor extraordinaire, Victor McCoy, who has added the Deer Unlimited clubhouse to the list of free spaces that JDPI can use in the coming months, while we prepare our own site for occupancy. To date, our potential meeting spaces include:
The hall at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Hague
Yeocomico Church parish house
Carmel Church parish house
The meeting room at the Rappahannock Regional Public Library in Hague
newly added: Deer Unlimited clubhouse on Coles Point Road
Thanks to the generosity of our faith-based, private, and public institutions, this means we can provide: college and career advising, FAFSA and VASA assistance, ESOL classes, adult literacy classes, and partnership meetings by appointment all summer long! These services will be free to community members; anyone interested should reach out to contact@johndospassos.institute. If a reply does not come within 24 hours, try texting 520-661-8029.
In addition, with the arrival of fall and the start of the school year, we will embark on a registration drive to enroll students in a regular schedule of weekly classes, mirroring the Richmond City Public Schools academic calendar. All scheduled classes will be offered on a sliding scale (pay what you can); our goal is to be accessible to the widest possible spectrum of community members.
Data collection on our program impacts will begin immediately, which will allow us to begin applications to granting organizations, such as the Foundation for Rural Service, the Wish You Well Foundation (adult literacy), the Chesapeake Bay Trust (environmental education), and more.
Thanks to all who braved the heat, and our new JDPI newsletter subscribers!
Sincerely,
Lara dos Passos Coggin
