Looking for activities the whole family can do and enjoy together?
If you have a new 2019 calendar, pencil in Passport to the Parks. It's a new program that features a series of free events at Hutchinson's parks and other public places. It aims to promote family wellness and ensure the next generation is poised for success.
The kickoff event is "Dig into Learning at the Ridge!" from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, at Ridgewater College, 2 Century Ave., Hutchinson.
Families with children age 4 to 10 are welcome to participate in a smorgasbord of 40-plus activities ranging from a teddy bear clinic and photo booth to hands-on science and creative activities led by Ridgewater faculty and staff. Learn about careers from the staff of CareerForce Hutchinson with games such as spinning for careers, careers relay challenge and color your future.
The best part? It's free. Light refreshments will be served, too.
"It is going to be a fun event," said Alan Stage, dean of instruction, liberal arts and sciences at Ridgewater. "People can learn about all the opportunities available to them in our community — from the education side and the career side."
This special evening and others (see sidebar for upcoming activities) are organized by "a determined group committed to improving the connections between resources and families," said JoEllen Kimball, a retired Hutchinson school teacher who serves on the District 423 School Board.
The Passport to the Parks effort is supported by a $5,000 community grant from the Southwest Initiative Foundation. Additional support is coming from Hutchinson Health and more than a dozen civic and community organizations.
HOW IT STARTED
Passport to the Parks is the result of local and regional discussions that have focused on the future of families and economic growth.
In December 2016, hundreds attended a daylong conference in Marshall that launched the Southwest Minnesota Initiative Foundation's Grow Our Own initiative featuring Dr. Robert Putnam, author of "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis." The conference's goal was to keep the regional economy strong and narrow the growing economic "opportunity gap" facing families.
In a taped interview with SWIF President and CEO Diana Anderson, Putnam said the heart of the American Dream is that hard work and competence is the key to success in life. He contended this principle is less true today, and significantly less true than only 40 to 50 years ago.
Growing class segregation makes it more challenging for children from families living in poverty to succeed, Putnam said. The trend has damaging consequences for families, schools, businesses and other organizations, and all of American society, he said.
How's the problem in Minnesota? According to Putnam, there's trouble in Lake Wobegon.
A major problem is that Minnesota has among the worst racial economic disparities in the nation.
Putnam's advice: Don't leave it to schools to solve the problem. Families, social services agencies, churches and businesses must work together to alleviate poverty and give more kids an opportunity to succeed.
While it might seem like a good idea to ignore the problem and hope it will go away, the cost of doing so is staggering: a $5 trillion drain on the nation's economy over these kids' lifetimes.
If you think poverty only strikes those living in big cities, think again. In southwestern Minnesota, 1 in 6 kids in the 18-county region, or 11,000 children, lived in poverty in 2017, according to figures supplied by SWIF. That's an increase of 1,000 from two years earlier.
In the Hutchinson school district, 813 students qualified for the free and reduced lunch program in 2016-17. An estimated 60 percent of the students at New Century Academy qualify for the free and reduced lunch program.
These are scary numbers and they will continue to increase unless change happens. That's where SWIF's 10-year initiative "Grow Your Own" comes in. It aims to reverse this disturbing trend, which is widening not just across the 18 counties of southwestern Minnesota but the entire nation.
TAKING ACTION
Early in 2018, SWIF hosted two discussions in Hutchinson that were attended by more than 80 people. It also sponsored a meeting on poverty in Granite Falls, which was attended by hundreds of residents from throughout the 18-county region.
Passport to the Parks is based on ideas that came out of these discussions. The No. 1 goal suggested was a community center serving all ages with various activities. Other less costly goals centered around the distribution of information about resources, and assistance to help families learn what's a available.
The committee tackled the resource guide first, collecting information from a variety of sources and combining it into a handy, easy-to-use, colorful brochure titled the McLeod County Family Resource Guide. It was published in December. It provides a one-stop source of information for families. The free guide will be available at Passport to the Parks events.
Following the Ridgewater College kickoff event on Jan. 10, the next Passport to the Parks activity is "Warm Hands, Warm Hearts" from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, at Kiwanis Park Rocket Hill, 22 Fifth Ave. N.W., Hutchinson. Families are welcome to bring their sleds and saucers for an afternoon of fun complete with free hot cocoa to warm up.
After that it's McLeod for Tomorrow's Winterfest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, at the McLeod County Fairgrounds. This annual event has grown each year and promises free indoor and outdoor activities.
Kimball, who has high hopes for this effort, cited anthropologist Margaret Mead's admonition as Passport to the Parks launches: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has."
