Julia Sleeper of Tree Street Youth with Lewiston High School senior Binto Matan, who is graduating this month, and as an aspiring chef, will go on to culinary school. (Photo by Phyllis Graber-Jensen, Bates College.)
Five years ago, Julia Sleeper was applying for a grant for her as-yet unnamed program to provide learning opportunities to underprivileged youths in downtown Lewiston.
A name was needed for the grant application. The corner facility’s streets – Howe and Birch – were suggested (and rejected). Then it struck Sleeper.
“The neighborhood where we are is known as ‘the tree streets’ – Pine, Maple, Ash, Spruce – but the term always had a negative connotation,” Sleeper said. “That was a misperception. You have families, that’s all, large families, going to school, going to work. Many of them low-income, and facing that challenge.
“So the idea (of ‘Tree Street’) was to take back the term, a little bit. And it relates well to the urban setting, and to Maine overall.”
And to the idea of growth. Tree Street Youth, which Sleeper and Kim Sullivan co-founded and of which Sleeper is now executive director, on its average days serves anywhere from 120 to 150 school-age kids, pre-school to grade 12. The 14 staffers include six AmeriCorps members and four interns.
The StreetLeaders are a big part of Tree Street’s success. They are “high-achieving high school youth (who) serve as role models and tutors for our younger youth, passing the sense of leadership and responsibility down from one generation to the next,” and “receive training throughout their employment to enhance their on-the-job skills and cultivate their own personal interests.”
The “tree” metaphor extends to the organization’s BRANCHES (Becoming Responsible Adults ‘N Cultivating Higher Education Success) Program, a college preparation effort that “works to increase the overall graduation, college acceptance, and college retention rates of at-risk, first-generation students in Lewiston-Auburn.”
BRANCHES was established by Sullivan, a Brunswick native who is now a Tree Street board member, and is now coordinated by Alli Nolan.
Tree Street founder honored with Samantha Smith award
Tree Street co-founder Julia Sleeper was recently honored at the Holiday Inn By The Bay as the recipient of the 2016 Samantha Smith Award, presented by the Maine Women’s Fund at its annual Leadership Luncheon.
The award “recognizes a young woman from Maine who works to promote social change in her school or community, inspires other girls to become active in supporting long lasting change in Maine, (and) uses her voice boldly to influence others and make a difference in her community.”
In different categories, the MWF also honored children’s book illustrator Melissa Sweet, Rockport; photographer Rose Marasco, Portland; and the Women of the Commons of Eastport.
Sullivan and Sleeper are both Bates College graduates, and it was while taking an education course that Brewer native Sleeper began working with kids in local classrooms 10 years ago. Seeing the need for additional academic support, Sleeper began a small homework help program in the basement of a church. What would become Tree Street began with the women running “what was supposed to be just a July-and-August summer camp, in what is now their permanent home.
Heartened by the enthusiastic response from both kids and parents who were “so into it … we just saw the potential for an after-school program, and that evolved,” Sleeper explained. The summer program, for its part, sees its sixth anniversary in 2016.
The support of volunteers, donations and in-kinds was essential, she emphasized. Tree Street became a 501 (c) (3) in the fall of 2012.
Tree Street now owns its one-level facility, which used to be the SandCastle pre-school, and before that, Polar Paints and Supplies. This “very busy place” Sleeper said with great understatement, has four very large classrooms (one of which doubles as a dance studio); a space devoted to BRANCHES; and an “enrichment wing,” for art and music.
More space is needed, so Tree Street is in the midst of a $1.3-million fund-raising campaign, for renovation/expansion. Already more than $900,000 has been raised, and Sleeper is thrilled that an anonymous donor recently kicked in $50,000 and challenged the organization to match that amount in 50 days.
You can find Tree Street Youth on Facebook and check on the progress of the $50K, 50 Day challenge. Just now the amount raised, more than $19,700, has cleared the trunk and reached the lower branch on its ascent towards the top of the tree. The 50 days will conclude on June 30.
Whether “branch-sized or leaf-sized,” all donations are greatly appreciated. There’s a “wish list,” too, at treestreetyouth.org.
Asked whether a Tree Street Youth would work in other locations, Sleeper acknowledged that “the model is there to replicate,” for “a champion” who would need thorough knowledge of the community and its children. “We would always be open to supporting anyone.”
For now, she is immersed in the day-to-day and the days-to-come in central Lewiston, “growing, and getting our funding to where it needs to be, and expanding our Sustainable Partnerships and the opportunities we can provide to students … My vision is huge.”
These monthly profiles are brought to you by Lee Auto Malls. The Lee family is committed to supporting local organizations that work to sustain Maine communities.
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