As one of three CHS Family Support Centers, Ballinger Family Support Center strives to provide positive out of school time experiences to youth and families living in Ballinger Homes - a KCHA low income housing unit. Most of the families we work with are immigrant and refugee families with amazing stories to tell. The buzz is all about the Center with spring here and summer right around the corner. Just two of the fabulous examples of work follow.

Homework Factory celebrates Northeast African Cultures
In May, Homework Factory (HWF) celebrated the Eritrean and Ethiopian culture. Although Eritrea declared its independence from Ethiopia in 1993 and is very much its own country � with two have very similar cultures, HWF youth decided to study these two Northeast African Countries together.
In order to celebrate and learn about these two countries, HWF checked out an extensive list of books from the Seattle Public Library, sharing and reviewing one of these books daily during HWF Reading Time. All spring one of the HWF teens, Ruta Ghebremichael read to the students, which provided an invaluable gift. Having Ruta read and especially help with pronunciation of names/places and explanation of the culture was a gift! THANKS RUTA!

A Celebration of Culture through Graffiti Art
Ballinger Action Teens (BAT) is particularly dynamic group at Ballinger. Comprised of 20 teens that are passionate about making their community a better place, BAT participants take part in weekly discussions or service projects about social issues facing their communities.

Recently BAT volunteered to serve meals at various Seattle homeless shelters and at Nickelsville and the Orion Center (a teen homeless shelter). This May, the teens experienced a unique art medium through the creation of a mural on a shed behind the Center, beside their community garden. This work was inspired as a way for the Ballinger Homes community to beautify the property and send a positive message. Previously the shed was white with curse words scrawled across it. BAT�s high school youth wanted to learn graffiti art in order to learn a new art medium, as well as to be able to create a mural on this shed that tells the stories of the community's people, as well as their hopes - in an aesthetically pleasing way.

A graffiti artist, who recently moved to Seattle from Mexico, volunteered to teach workshops at our center, culminating in the teen's mural. His dynamic, experienced and passionate approach to graffiti art inspired BAT members to do this incredible work. The result was a beautified lasting instillation that will be incredibly meaningful to the Ballinger Homes community for years to come.