Cleopathia Moore-Bell: Planning a better future for west Modesto’s children

My life was changed forever when I was looking out from the Stanislaus County public health building to the cemetery across Scenic Drive. I was torn apart by the poor health conditions of residents in the county. My given mission in life was to address health concerns for vulnerable populations. I worked full time in public health but devoted my evenings and weekends to this cause.

In 1991, we created the Stanislaus Minority Health Coalition, which became Stanislaus Multi-Cultural Community Health Coalition, West Modesto/King-Kennedy Neighborhood Collaborative. I retired from public health in 2010 and continued serving as the executive director for the nonprofit. Our goal is to create a healthy and safe community. If you want to improve the future, you have to improve conditions so that children can flourish.

Our organization worked hard to help children by partnering with groups and agencies to develop educational programs and projects developed specifically to help reach our goal. These included:

▪ Healthy Birth Outcomes Project

▪ Neighborhood Outreach & Engagement

▪ Families in the Park

▪ Junior High Wellness Project

▪ Healthy Eating, Active Living Zone

▪ Neighborhood Outreach Workers

▪ Community Capacity Building

▪ Zephyr Clarke Wellness Center

▪ Community Supported Agriculture

▪ Certified Farmers Market

▪ Helen White Memorial Walking Trail

In the Healthy Birth Outcomes Project, we work with mothers so they can have healthy births. We help ensure they have proper prenatal care, education and support. Doing this allows these newborns to have a strong foundation from the very start. We educate and train not just the mother and child, but the whole family. It takes a collaborative to raise a child. But we’ve learned that monitoring pregnancy through the sixth grade is not enough. We need to guide these young people through age 18 if we want to make a difference.

The Sierra Health Foundation, which provided our group its first grant in 1993, is assisting again in developing a plan to raise the money and how to best spend it. Sierra Health provided funding for a survey, community and leadership meetings and development of a five-year plan.

For example, to address youths who fall through the cracks, we will team with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which serves kids ages 6 to 18. Too many west Modesto youths still need guidance and a solid direction. So we surveyed 300 residents door to door asking if west Modesto could benefit from a Boys & Girls Club; 98 percent said we needed it.

Modesto started its first Boys & Girls Club in 2013 in a partnership with the Sylvan Unified School District; our group has partnered with Modesto City Schools to begin the process of becoming a chapter of Boys & Girls Club. We are trying to secure space for 200 boys and girls. With the King-Kennedy Memorial Center facilities, we’re limited on how many we can serve.

However, I have a dream. We want to partner with or purchase the nearby Vine House Ministries and garden property. In my dream, it’s a campus with additional buildings where we can expand the Boys & Girls Club and provide child care, senior housing, offices and training rooms to teach work and parenting skills. To accomplish this multimillion-dollar vision, it’s critical WMKKNC expands upon our relationships and support from our partners while identifying new partners. We need their input, expertise and leadership as we work to further ensure a viable future for west Modesto youths. We hope to be talking to you soon.

This story was originally published January 23, 2015 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Cleopathia Moore-Bell: Planning a better future for west Modesto’s children."