By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Community residents will have greater resources available to them.
Thanks to an entitlement grant the city received and after taking a survey of residents in the Ferry Street School neighborhood, the Ferry Street School Resource Center, 620 Ferry St., in Niles, is able to open its doors.
Lisa Busby, 43, a Niles native, is the director of the advocacy and enrichment center which will officially open its doors in October and offer programming which will benefit low -to-moderate-income residents in the neighborhood.
The programs Busby hopes to implement at the center are a "teeny bop" program for four and five year olds who aren't in school to help them develop a love of reading, a rite-of-passage program to help children 10 and older build integrity, character and respect and a computer training program. She also hopes to have a volunteer nurse visit for two hours a week who will give the residents general health screenings and finally a literacy and GED preparation program.
Busby believes that if the gap between the younger and older generations can be bridged great things could be done. She is ideally looking for volunteers over the age of 50 to help with this.
The resource center is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the city of Niles and the Greater Niles Community Development Corp.
When the grant monies were found to be available it was found through a survey that a resource center was at the top of the list as something that was needed by Niles residents, according to Batton.
Busby worked for the the Youth Service Bureau in South Bend and assistant director of South Bend's Charles Martin Youth Center.