LEADERS—Andrew Cheeseboro, Stacy Elliott, Nikki Coffee and Melvin Hubbard El. (Photos by Rossano P. Stewart)
Small Seeds Development Inc. (SSDI) is all about cultivating and nurturing families, so it’s no wonder that the organization celebrated 16 years of serving and supporting families at its 6th annual Signature Event with the theme of “Planting Seeds,” Oct. 8, at the LeMont Restaurant.
SSDI CEO Andrew Cheeseboro, said, “Planting A Seed for a better future for children, teen and families is what we do.” The event offered an opportunity for supporters and friends to join the organization in celebrating this work.
With its three service models, SSDI has served families in more than 41 Pittsburgh neighborhoods since 1999. Each year, SSDI provides intensive and critical services to more than 1,430 families throughout Allegheny County in order to combat violence, sustain and support, and provide opportunity to families and youth so that they can thrive.
DAVID PORCHER AND DONNA BAXTER
Reverend Dr. James H. McLemore, Small Seeds founder and board chairman, said the organization was formed with the purpose of finding and satisfying the needs of families.
“The need is that every child deserves a loving and productive family,” he said. “The need is that if these children don’t have a family, then we the community need to band together to make sure that these children have their needs met. That’s what Small Seeds is about.”
Doctor Mac, as he is affectionately called, said that when Small Seeds was first conceived, Allegheny County had more single mothers than any other county in the United States next to Dade County, Fla.
KEINO FITZPATRICK
“To me that meant that some one didn’t have both parents to help raise them. It means that when they got sick, they may not have had anyone there to respond. So we decided that we had to satisfy the need to assist these parents,” he said.
Doctor Mac appealed for assistance from others to identify families in the community who are in need of help.
“If some youngster that you know of is struggling, they need to know that there are programs to help, and we are one of those programs,” he said.
He called for financial as well as volunteer manpower assistance.
“We can’t do this alone. We believe in what we do and we believe in the people that we help. Help us plant a seed. Small Seeds has deep roots, and we want those roots to go even deeper,” he said.
Board member Sonya Toler, public information officer for the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety, said she serves on the board of SSDI because the organization offers an antidote to the destructive situations that she is exposed to through her job.
“Small Seeds works to preserve and strengthen the foundation of families and exposes people to opportunities that they may not have known existed. The organization offers direction and hope. Its work is vital to creating a new Pittsburgh that is truly a most livable city for all of its residents,” she said.
Through its three main delivery models, SSDI annually supports 2,860 children, 500 teens and 450 young adults. The models are:
•Mother to Son (MTS), whose mission is to strengthen families by creating a stable home environment through the support and utilization of community resources and by actively networking with new and existing organizations and agencies. The goal is to improve the quality of life for single mothers, with sons of African American descent and siblings.
•Family & Community Teaming, which is a voluntary service that helps families develop a plan based on family strengths and needs. It is believed that families are able to create their own plan, made up of family-identified needs, outcomes, and action steps in order to best address their unique needs and challenges to prevent violence and the breakdown of the family unit.
•Diverse Intervention Response for Effective Change (DIREC) whose goal is to empower teens and young adults, ages 10 to 25, by providing direct services facilitation that yields changes in character, academic achievement, lifestyle, behavior and attitudes. The objective is to address teen issues head-on while offering supports for those who need it most.
(For more information on Small Seeds and its programs, visit www.ssdipgh.org.)
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