The Community Education Building is located at 1200 N. French Street in Wilmington.
A block party Saturday at the Community Education Building in downtown Wilmington will feature free food, entertainment and even free sports physicals.
“This is our re-introduction to the community,” said Tamarra Morris, chief operating officer of the CEB. “A lot of people have no idea what we’re doing here in this building, so we want to make sure that we take advantage of these opportunities to interact with the neighbors and the parents and families of kids that go here.”
Morris describes the CEB as a “commercial landlord” for these schools and thinks of the building as a hub for education in North Delaware.
“We want to make sure that folks know that this is an emerging hub here in this community,” she said, “and our focus is making sure that we support the child’s success even after high school.”
Located in Wilmington, it’s holding its first block party on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on French Street.
Community Education Building’s block party will offer:
Arts and crafts for children, such as a pumpkin-painting and face-painting station
Live performances including a musical set by New Castle’s DJ TIMDOGG
Prize giveaways including a new bike
A career corner with community partners offering internship, workforce development and certification opportunities.
About 900 students go to the CEB for their schooling.
“We also have a commercial kitchen that serves several schools outside of our building,” she said, “so our reach on a daily basis is about 1,200 students in Wilmington.”
The building uses a community school business model. The services it provides allows those schools to focus on curriculum.
“For example, when a student is hungry or having trouble at home, in most traditional school settings, the teacher is the one that tries to do their very best to connect the students with the resources they need to make sure they’re getting help,” she said.
That teacher usually has 20 other students in addition to the one who needs attention, she said
Teachers shouldn’t have to play therapist or nutrition worker
“Those kids can slip through the cracks, or they’re not able to fully get what they need,” Morris said. “This removes that. It removes that heavy burden and that heavy lift on the teacher and it allows us to focus on students as individuals and as families.”
The Department of Labor will also be at the block party to assist parents with job-readiness and training programs.
“We try to wrap our arms around the family as a whole because we know that the students are an extension of us and of their experience at home,” Morris said, “so we’re assisting with questions and directing folks towards the pathways to better careers or to beginning careers.”
To register to attend the Block Party, click here.
Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.
