Our New FMC Classroom

Our new First Mile Classroom formally opened in May, making it our new home for all First Mile kids and parents. We’re thankful to Equel, one of our community leaders, for lending his land to us and for helping us build this wonderful space for instruction. In addition, we want to give thanks to HP, one of our First Mile Coalition Partners, for their financial contributions to our program. 

Each day, our classroom is filled with instruction, tutoring hour, community meetings, and it’s also become the launching point of our run club, the Run Across Menelas. Instead of hanging out in the landfill, our kids are joining us at the classroom at all hours of the day to learn, to play, and to contribute. Our youngest kids love story time, and our secondary school kids are learning and practicing English in addition to their regular lessons. 

We have the best team (yes, we’re a little biased) working with our kids and parents at the landfill. Ynel, our new First Mile Coordinator, has captured our kids’ hearts and attention while making learning fun. Escane, our Education and Training Manager, continues to grow our Education Programming through the creation of our Intensive Youth Program for our First Mile kids who aren’t able to return to school. Finally, Rosette, one of our family members, has filled in the role of our resident chef, providing hearty meals for our kids during instruction so that they can focus on the lesson of the day. 

We’re filling the space up with books and educational games. If you’re interested in supporting us in this way, shoot us a note at support@dowork.org. 

Some of our kids have not been match with a 1:1 Sponsor. Contact Christina at Christina@dowork.org if you’d like to directly support one of our First Mile kids.

Want more ways to support? Materials sourced from the First Mile will be made into products by our sister company and First Mile partner Thread soon with a portion of proceeds supporting our program. Check it out at threadinternational.com!