So far, my favorite place in the West Ward is the Easton Area Community Center, or as the kids call it, “Saint’s.”  Hoola hooping, playing board games, basketball, eating, and more – there always seems to be something to do there.  The KIC Goes Global team has visited just to hang out with the kids and they are eager to welcome us in and invite us to join in a game.  In many ways, visiting the community center felt like entering the home of a loving family, I can’t wait to go back! 🙂

Visiting every third door in the West Ward will be a demanding effort.  It will certainly take plenty of substantial sustenance to provide me with the energy needed!  Luckily, I know I’ll be able to count on Faouzi’s Talk of the Town.  Located on the 1000 block of Northampton Street, this storefront serves an overwhelming array of ice cream treats along with “drive-in” type fare and some Lebanese specialties.  The ice cream, though, really steals the show.  Faouzi’s must offer at least 40 flavors of soft serve, ranging from the traditional vanilla and chocolate to more curious concoctions such as bubble gum and root beer.  Serving sizes are huge, with even a small being extremely generous.  The owner, Faouzi, is extremely friendly, takes great pride in his business, and loves to see his customers enjoying their ice cream.  It’s currently pretty tricky for me to walk up the 1000 block now without a stop at Faouzi’s Talk of the Town, and I know that it’ll become impossible once it actually warms up and starts feeling like summer!

Heyoo-

My name is Courtney Morin and I’m going into my senior year at Lafayette. I am interning with LA and Mike this summer in the West Ward Neighborhood Partnership office. We are collaborating with numerous organizations and non-profits and will eventually be conducting a Community Perception Survey, where with the assistance of West Ward volunteers, going door-to-door and interacting with the residents to get a better idea of how they perceive their surroundings and some improvements that they’d like to see made a reality.

I became interested in community development and social activism this year, mainly because although I am very involved on campus, I realized that I lacked a strong bond with the city of Easton. I want to leave here feeling confident that not only the College, but the city as a whole had become my home during my four years. My courses, professors and advisers all gave me the extra motivation I needed to apply for this internship, and so far I have been very pleased with our progress. The other interns are equally as excited and passionate about our work, so I am looking forward to a productive and worth-while summer.

Of all of the places we’ve visited and hidden treasures we’ve found, my favorite “hidden treasure” in Easton is the area on the other side of the  Lehigh River across from Larry Holmes’ Diner “Ringside”.  This area is gorgeous.  It is a secret garden and picnic/seating area that over looks the Lehigh River.   I love this hidden treasue because I am an outdoors kind of girl and this is the perfect place to just sit a reflect.  Bonnie introduced us to this area after stumbling upon it one day.

As we have been wandering in the West Ward, we have discovered many new places and hidden treasures. Each of us will describe one of our favorites.

Welcome wanderers,

I am a rising junior at Lafayette majoring in Government & Law.  Along with LA and Courtney, I will be conducting surveys with the West Ward Neighborhood Partnership as a part of the Wachovia Urban Ecology Grant.  We will be examining the visual attractiveness of particular commercial and residential blocks, as well as taking a survey to determine residents’ satisfaction with their neighborhood.   These surveys will be used as “before and after” measures; the Wachovia Urban Ecology Grant represents a five-year effort.  By the end of the grant period, we hope to have made improvements to streetscapes and facades and used the results of the residential survey to align West Ward Neighborhood Partnership efforts most closely with neighborhood needs.  This should be an exciting and very meaningful summer!

I am a rising Junior at Lafayette College, majoring in Social Justice and Quantitative Literacy. Through the Lafayette College America Reads program as well as the Landis Community Outreach center, I have spent time tutoring and mentoring youth in Easton.  The friendships I have formed with the youth is what first incited my commitment to the community.  Interaction with these young people not only drew my attention to the broader social issues Easton faces, but made them personal and instilled a passion in me to both understand and address these issues. This summer, I hope (and have already begun) to learn about the community dynamics of the West Ward. As part of the K.I.C. goes Global initiative, I hope promote collaboration among organizations that that provide services to youth and to better understand both the assets and need of the community.

Hi,

My name is Pooja Shah and I am a rising junior next fall. I am a double major in Economics and Art. This summer I am a ‘community fellow’ and will be working with Alyssa and Leroy on building collaboration between different organizations that work with youth in the west ward. We are searching for common ground among these organizations so they may better  serve the community at large. We are trying to find programs for the youth and young teens to empower them, especially during this summer. Apart from that, we will be working with the Summer Nights program that will begin on June 22. We will help organize activities for the Easton community in the park.