Description
Our Work: The Clarkston Community Center accomplishes its goals with initiatives in five focus areas: Arts, Sports, Community Development, Education and Health. Programs target both long standing residents and newcomers.
An Anchor to the Past: Typical of structures built in the 1920s, the old high school has architectural merit. The old high school is an anchor to a low income, blue collar history unknown to Clarkston’s newest arrivals.
A Bridge to the Future: Clarkston and the surrounding vicinity has an estimated 26,000 refugees from Bhutan, Burma, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Sudan, Vietnam, Liberia, Russia, Sierre Leone, Cuba and many other places around the world. The Clarkston Community Center is a bridge that connects the past to a new world.
Champion of Diversity: Since 1994, the Clarkston Community Center has had an excellent record of serving and employing refugees in all of its programs as well as in representing refugees on its Board of Directors. The Clarkston Community Center reflects the community it serves.
Standard Bearer: The Clarkston Community Center is geographically at the center of this ethnically diverse density. In addition, because many of Clarkston’s newcomers are just entering the U.S. economy and often have no English language skills, Clarkston is a walking community. As the only place accessible to everyone, the centrality of the Clarkston Community Center makes it a key player in setting the standards of "community".
A Model of Civic and Democratic Values: Striving to distinguish the democratic freedom to pursue happiness from the often mistaken license to do what we want, the Clarkston Community Center is a place that models, for those who have no experience with democratic values, civic involvement, hard work, volunteerism and giving back to the community.
