Member spotlight

Maria L. Baldwin Community Center ~ MLBCC
What are your organization’s guiding values?
Our mission is welcoming  and including everyone, lifelong learning, and fostering a culture of creativity and cooperation.

What are the ongoing services or programs that your organization provides?
We provide year-round children's programs (afterschool, vacation week camps, and Outback Summer Program), and Maud Morgan Arts (including studios and classes for all ages). We provide a free community art gallery, The Chandler Gallery; The Baldwin Neighborhood Council; and The Living Well Network which supports adults 55 and up to thrive as they age in place. We also organize community events, including the Hip Hop Festival, Kids Only Holiday Sale, and Maud's Handmade Market.

What are some upcoming projects or initiatives that your organization would like others to know about?
Afterschool open enrollment: Our afterschool programs are open for enrollment and can accept new students at any time, throughout the school year! We currently have openings for kindergarteners and short waitlists for our 1st-8th grade programs. Anyone interested in enrolling can contact our Registration Coordinator, here, or visit our the MLBCC website here agassiz.org.

Community gallery space: Our community gallery space-The Fay Chandler Gallery, is exhibiting a collection of paintings by artist and Maud Morgan Arts teacher Roz Sommer; entitled “Foremothers and Forefathers.” The pieces are all inspired by a photograph of her family taken in Poland in 1929, before many of them were killed in the Holocaust. The pieces will be on display from now through
December 6, 2024. More information can be found here.

What is a recent story that embodies the work of
your organization?
We serve a range of ages, so we often have lifelong connections to people in our community, and sometimes their impact can long outlast their time in our programs.

We recently completed a project in memory of a former student and teacher; James DeLancey, who was also the son of our former Executive Director; Terry DeLancey.

James sadly passed away in 2022 at the age of 42. James was a talented artist and avid sneaker collector, so one of our current ceramics instructors, Gustavo Barceloni, made a set of ceramic sneakers that our middle school students painted in a style inspired by James’s paintings. These sneakers are now on display in our window in the Porter Square Shopping Center with a tribute to James’s life
and artistry.
 
It’s been heartening to see the connection our current students made to James, who they never met, but have this organization and the art we do here in common.

If your organization was an emoji what would it be and why?
A tree 🌳
Like a tree, we have strong roots but continue to grow and change to meet our community’s needs.