GSE Profs. Will Lead Boston Center For Mentoring Children

BOSTON--A new community center that opened in Boston on Saturday will be the site of an elementary school mentoring program led by professors at the Graduate School of Education.

Two floors and 6,000 square feet, the boxy red brick building fits in well among the well-manicured low-income homes of the High Point Village housing development in Rosindale.

In a few weeks, the center will host Project "Inventing the Future" (Project IF), run by Michael J. Nakkula, a lecturer on education, and Karen C. Foster '74, project manager, both at the Graduate School of Education (GSE).

Project IF matches schoolchildren with Harvard students as mentors or tutors.

In his speech at the opening ceremony for the community center, Nakkula said Project IF emphasizes the potential of young students.

"Last week The Boston Globe printed a negative article on school achievements of both teachers and students....At High Point and the Graduate School of Education...we want to write good news about children," he said.

This is the second community for Project IF, according to Foster. The program is already established in Brandywyne, where Harvard students have worked with nearly 80 local schoolchildren.

The program also places tutors in Clarence Edwards Middle School and Charlestown High School.

High Point Village is a 540-unit affordable housing development built in 1965 and run by First Realty Management.

William Kargman, president of First Realty, conducted the opening ceremonies as neighborhood children ran around playing games, and a teenage candidate for Miss Massachusetts passed out a publicity brochure.

State Senator Marian Walsh (D-West Roxbury) and GSE Dean of External Relations Sandra Sedacca were also in attendance.

The community center was constructed using funds from the owners of the apartment community, represented by Kargman, a general partner.

"The new community center contains a computer learning center, as well as child care, preschool programs and basically a total recreational and social experience for the neighborhood," said Douglas Bollen, senior resident services coordinator for First Realty.

Project IF is one of two outside programs that will have space in the community center.

The other is the Family Nurturing Center (FNC), a group that helps residents with childcare, food, family advocacy and collaboration with the greater Rosindale area.

Maxine Hall, FNC's coordinator, said she hopes the informal partnership between the two programs expands to other sites.

A computer lab started by FNC two years ago at High Point will expand to the community center, growing from two to 16 computers.

"These computers are vital for the young people so they can go out and get good jobs, but also are important for the middle aged and the seniors because computers are vital for simply being in society," said Boston city councilor Maura Hennigan.

This center opening will be followed today with the official opening of another new community center in the Brandywyne development in East Boston, which is also run by First Realty.