Outreach
As a community based community development corporation, Beans and Rice's philosophy has been one of actively working with the community. This philosophy is easier to state than fulfill. We have found that the groups we work with are more accustomed to defining their concerns as individual problems rather than community concerns and tend to seek individual solutions through direct service providers.

Our outreach has taken several distinct steps:

• Door-to-door canvassing
• Social activities (Summer Enrichment Program, Women's Circle)
• Mealtime
• Neighborhood Network

In 1998 Beans and Rice received an Opportunity Grant from the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation to do outreach with parents in the low-income housing units. The goal of this outreach was to develop a parent led council that oversaw the pre-school and after school programs. This outreach project had short-term success. The project involved volunteer staff going door-to-door discussing the programs and inviting parents to participate in cookouts and weekly tournaments/pizza parties in the Summer Program. We found that parents came out for these events as long as we continued to do daily door-to-door canvassing.

Mealtime has become very successful. This program had uneven success in its first years. However, when teamed with ongoing day-long programming and a staff person being fully present, the dynamic has changed. This reflects our "being with" philosophy and has proven to be our strongest asset.

The Neighborhood Network Computer Learning Center at Willow Woods is the next step in our outreach efforts. We see this as more than an opportunity to provide specific computer skills. We see it as an expansion of the safe space we provide and expansion of resident involvement in that space. This is one more step in capacity building and raising up community leaders.