|
In June of 1969, Tipp City began a new dimension in school
use and community cooperation – the Tipp City Community
School Program. It was the beginning of a unique program
of cooperation among the school board, the city council,
and the township trustees. Following a year of preliminary
study and planning, the efforts of innumerable individuals
and organizations became a reality. Efforts were spearheaded
by Dr. John Lorms.
It was the dawning of a new era in which school buildings
and other public facilities were to be used for educational,
recreational, and social gatherings for all ages, from any
area of the community, for daytime and evening use. The varied
programs, facilities, and educational resources gave all
community members, regardless of economic status, religion
or age, an opportunity to plan, work, learn, and have fun
together within these public facilities.
Seed monies from the Mott Foundation, together with local
financial support and widespread community acceptance, provided
the base for this “people’s” program. The
first director, John Oda, implemented the first year’s
activities, which totaled twenty-four classes and recreational
programs. Today the agency offers over 500 classes in the
areas of education, recreation, and special events.
Tipp City’s Community School program became a model
for others in the state. The second director, Gerald Huntsberger,
began management of the program in September of 1971. In
addition to the educational and recreational activities,
the program expanded into cultural areas with the creation
of the Tipp City Players.
During the spring of 1975, Ken Frisch, Jeannie Parsons,
and Claudia Pankake met with the Community School director
and decided to bring Community Theater to Tipp City in the
form of “Music Man”. Through the support and
assistance of the Community Schools, in less then 10 weeks
hundreds of people enjoyed the experience of live musical
theater. The Tipp City Players was incorporated in 1976.
The Community School program soon found itself in the fortunate
but disturbing position of increased curricular offerings
and growing enrollments. Classrooms and gymnasium use had
little or no reprieve. Serious problems began to develop.
The program was about to die, or at least undergo radical
changes, when some local private leadership exerted some
positive effort.
Organizational structure changes resulted in the formation
of Tipp-Monroe Community Services in 1976. The goals included
broad-based community involvement and community problem solving.
The long-range goals of community education remained intact
and the program revitalized. In October of 1976 a new director,
Mary Lou Wilson, was employed.
The green umbrella was adopted as the Community School logo
and is still used today. The color green symbolizes the color
of hope, and the umbrella represents the pooling of all community
needs and resources into one central agency.
Once again the program saw extensive expansion with the
addition of a myriad of services not provided earlier.
Human service agencies were provided an information and
communication network for the delivery of services as well
as an opportunity to become decentralized through a local
service center.
A meals program was developed in 1977 for people who were
confined to their homes. The funds for this program were
generated from local sources. The service provided the delivery
of a hot meal each day at noon, Monday through Friday, to
the elderly and ill people of the community.
In November of 1977 the people of Tipp City and Monroe Township
passed a half-mil township recreational levy to provide administrative
funding for Tipp-Monroe Community Services for five years.
For the first time since the inception of the program in
1969, there was a solid foundation upon which to continue
this unique program.
Under the direction of Jean Rogers, from 1983 to 1987, Community
Services underwent more changes as the Youth Center was remodeled,
summer programs were made more efficient, and flyer distribution
was changed from the “block system” of personally
delivering the flyers to inserting them in the local newspaper.
These changes reflected the growth of Tipp City and Community
Services’ efforts to keep up.
Mary Klopf moved to the area to become Tipp-Monroe Community
Services’ director in the Fall of 1988. The agency
had been without a director for over a year and was literally
staffed by one person – Kathy Taylor – for a
good part of that time. Immediate concern was to update most
of the programming and to revitalize the Youth Center. The
number of classes increased by 25 percent and included new
topics such as: infant massage, computer classes, dog obedience,
Aikido, and hunter safety. A new Youth Center Director was
hired and new life was added to a sagging program. Attendance
jumped from five kids a night to fifteen, and weekends found
thirty kids using the pool tables, Foosball, and Ping-Pong
games. In 1990 the youth center was moved from one location
to another. Attendance was falling and it was finally decided
that since a permanent home for the center could not be obtained,
it would close.
For six months during 1991, William Myer was the Director
of Tipp-Monroe Community Services.
From 1992-1999, Jacqueline L. Wahl was the Director of Tipp-Monroe
Community Services. During her tenure a number of positive
changes occurred in the agency; the first being the restructuring
of the agency’s by-laws and policies. The second change
was to get back in touch with the community needs by doing
a community-wide survey. Again a change was made in flyer
distribution. A full-page advertisement was placed into nine
area newspapers. Besides being more cost efficient, we reached
not only the citizens of Tipp City and Monroe Township, but
also the surrounding areas. This helped to increase programs
and participants. As we continued to strive to meet the community
needs a number of new activities were developed: 3rd-4th-5th-6th
Grade Boys’ and Girls’ Youth
Basketball League,
Men’s Industrial Softball League, Men’s
35 and over Basketball League, and the Community-Wide
Garage Sale. Administrative assistance was provided to the
Lion’s
Club Eye Glass Program, the Dayton Metro Basketball Program,
and Mum
Festival. Other services that are now provided include
registration for Tipp
City Junior Baseball, SAY
Soccer, and
Safety City.
Sofia Evans worked as director from 1999-2002. During that
time the program’s ad was redesigned and renamed the
Community Connection. To insure that all citizens of Tipp
City and Monroe Township received the brochure, the Community
Connection began to be mailed to each home.
The needs of the Community are constantly being assessed,
and new programs, workshops, and events are carefully planned
on an “as needed” basis. An example of this is
the Community Relief Fund, which coordinates the efforts
of the Fellowship of Churches to help people who find themselves
in a temporary financial bind. Another program that was implemented
is the Gift Giving Program. This program assists people in
providing a nice Christmas for their families.The current
director, Kathryn
L. Taylor, has worked for Community Services
for over 25 years and is very excited about the future of
the agency.
The motto for Community Services has always been “We
can't do it without you!” This
has held true throughout the evolution of one terrific idea
to create a
program so unique that it has gained statewide recognition
for Tipp City.
|
