Three lives add to the changing story of Lyon Street [The State (Columbia, S.C.)]

Oct. 20--COLUMBIA, S.C. -- For years, people who lived in the working-class Lyon Street neighborhood resented the reputation of the Gonzales Gardens public-housing complex along its border.

Now, the two are uniting to change the course of their in-town Columbia community -- starting with the children.

Residents, church members and other civic leaders have joined to enrich the lives of kids in the neighborhood, helping them discover the world beyond their city block.

Of the 612 residents of Gonzales Gardens, 303 are children younger than 18.

"For years, people have used public housing residents as guinea pigs," said Julia Prater, deputy for affordable housing at the Columbia Housing Authority. "All of a sudden, people get it: You don't just come in and do surveys and study them. You engage them."

U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles has worked behind the scenes to connect established community groups, churches and police in an alliance he calls community-based law enforcement.

"The community has got to take ownership of turning itself around," Nettles said. "They can no longer sit in their houses and wait on law enforcement to arrest their way out of the problem."

Incidents for Lyons Street area (January 1-October 5, 2011; 2012; 2013) Source: Columbia Police Department

Nettles also engaged Midlands Tech, which offers a Quick Jobs program -- continuing education that leads to good-paying jobs in demand in health care, construction and computer technology, president Sonny White said.

While it's harder to measure than arrests and convictions, improving the quality of life in the Lyon Street community, which includes the families who live in Gonzales Gardens, is the goal.

"That engagement is really paying off," Prater said. "It's paying off for the community and it's paying off, especially, for those children."

Robert McCray

Stop by evening football practice, and the moms have plenty of stories about Coach Rob, his discipline and generosity.

If someone can't afford a uniform, he buys it.

If they don't have a ride to practice, he carries them.

And Saturday, if his Pop Warner football team makes it into the playoffs, Robert McCray will promise every pint-size player and cheerleader dinner and a place to stay when they compete out of town.

"He believes in no child left behind," said Fittonia Dwyer, whose kids play sports year-round with the lanky, big-hearted man known as Coach Rob.

McCray, 35, is park director in the Lyon Street neighborhood, devoting his nights and weekends to kids, too.

He started work at St. Anna's Park as a college student in 1998; left to pursue a pro-basketball career in 2003; and came back to stay in 2007.

He's known some neighborhood kids all their lives. They work out together. They play basketball, football, soccer, T-ball together.

But with McCray, success isn't just about sports. It's about homework, social skills and a sense of community. He's getting neighborhood teenagers involved in a clothing drive for those in need to instill "a culture of giving" among young people who might otherwise feel they have nothing to give.

During homework sessions, his tiny corner office, replete with trophies, is also "time out."

McCray said he's driven by a sense of duty to children, particularly African-American boys, touched by the violence and drugs familiar from his own childhood in Miami.

"I know what it took me to get out of my neighborhood -- and it was athletics," said McCray, who came to Columbia on a basketball scholarship to Allen University.

He'll tell you he's no angel.

At 16, he was sent to a high school for troubled teens after stealing a pink cellphone and gold chain from a girl, then being confronted by her boyfriend. The two guys got into a fistfight. A teacher tried to break it up and got hurt.

His life was turned around by a basketball coach who "set expectations for me, real-life expectations, and let me know the consequences for actions."

McCray said his wife, Krystal, a beautician, understands his "calling" and accepts his demanding schedule. Between the two of them, they have eight children. They live in Hopkins.

McCray has developed programs for kids that allow them to play even if they can't pay.

It cost $70.31 per child, or just over $9,000, to sponsor the 128 kids, ages 5 to 14, on his Carolina Hurricanes football teams and cheerleading squads. The money goes for physicals, uniforms, equipment, insurance and fees. Loyal parents provide snacks and serve as assistants.

This fall, the Carolina Hurricanes were so successful raising money that none of it came out of McCray's pocket. He was able to set aside money for a fall banquet, too.

If one of his teams makes it to the playoffs Saturday -- and Coach Rob expects they will -- he estimates he'll need another $3,400. He doesn't have it but said he's not touching the banquet fund.

That's for all the kids, he said. To celebrate.

The Carolina Hurricanes play at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Garners Ferry Sports Complex, 8620 Garners Ferry Road, Columbia. Want to help the team? Contact Coach Rob at (803) 476-6175 or make checks payable to The Heat/Hurricanes and send to: St. Anna's Park, 1313 Liberty Hill Ave., Columbia, SC 29204.

Michelle James

Michelle James was stopped at a light on Forest Drive one summer day in 2010 when she looked out the window of her minivan and saw a bunch of children playing in the yard at Gonzales Gardens.

A suburban mom who home-schools her children, James knew she wanted to start a mission project but was focused on people in need in other parts of the world.

An idea struck. In the next few days, she helped organize a group of moms who loaded their cars with games and snacks and met with some children under a tree at Gonzales Gardens.

By the end of the summer, as many as 50 children were gathering for weekly get-togethers that were mostly about developing relationships among people from one community with very different lives.

From that impulse, James, 40, has created an after-school program at nearby Friendship Baptist Church. Volunteer tutors are working to boost the math and reading skills of the 41 participants, children who attend Carver-Lyon Elementary.

But it isn't just about study. There's basketball and hula-hoops in the church gym, singing, Bible stories -- even a weekly session on cooking and nutrition.

The Prosperity Project started a new middle-school program in January that pairs young people with mentors who talk about a future outside their neighborhood, their talents and potential careers. They help with schoolwork, too. Some parents in the public-housing community allow their children to travel with their mentor families -- to swim at Lake Murray, canoe the Saluda.

Altogether, 48 children and their parents are involved in the Prosperity Project this fall. Another 22 remain on waiting lists.

James said the program works because of a fundamental characteristic shared by mothers, herself included: They want what's best for their children.

And mothers who live in Gonzales Gardens are joining the project.

One recent afternoon, Naketa Mayers walked with children from the school bus stop to the church. She doesn't allow her two daughters to go outside without her, she said, because she has a fear of random gunfire.

"My daughter signed herself up, and Ms. Michelle came and knocked on the door," Mayers said.

At the time, she couldn't help her girls, Alexis, 10, and Karmen, 8, with their homework; she was working long hours and they were in bed when she got home. So she agreed to let them go to James' after-school program.

"They made all A's," Mayers said.

Further, her girls have more confidence and they're talking about what they want to be when they grow up.

Denise Dicks, the wife of Friendship Baptist's pastor and a retired teacher, is volunteering with James. She said she's been inspired by James' methods -- going into homes to meet with parents, asking for their advice and ideas. "What she has done is build relationships with the people, more than offering a program," Dicks said.

James said the fact that she's white and middle-class was probably a barrier for some parents at first. Then the program was embraced by the African-American congregation at Friendship Baptist, which now hosts the program three days a week from 2:45 to 5 p.m.

The Prosperity Project has attracted 50 volunteers in addition to parents. This year's budget of $10,800 was donated by individuals, churches and businesses.

James said she's focused on changing lives. The program's motto, a Bible passage from the book of Jeremiah, says it all: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Interested in volunteering? Go to www.ProsperityProject SC.org

Marvin Heller

After a recent community meeting, Marvin Heller pulled aside a neighbor who had complained about kids throwing a rock through his front window.

"If they knew you," Heller told him, "they wouldn't do that."

Before long, the man was helping children plant a garden at the neighborhood park. "Marvin, guess what I figured out?" he said. "These kids aren't bad, they just need something to do."

Heller, 57, a lifelong resident of the Lyon Street community, has a gentle way of connecting people.

Since being elected president of his neighborhood in 2009, he's been working to dismantle one stubborn boundary that divides his neighborhood, the one that encircles Gonzales Gardens, the oldest and largest public-housing complex in Columbia.

It is home to 612 people, half of them children, according to the Columbia Housing Authority.

"If they live here, they're part of our future," Heller said.

Granted, not everyone shares that view. Some in the neighborhood would just as soon Gonzales Gardens disappear.

But he has chosen to work with local government in hopes that the Columbia Housing Authority can be persuaded to rebuild the complex, much as it has other outdated apartments. He insists the greater Lyon Street neighborhood should be part of any revitalization efforts and said having mixed-income housing is key.

"When we paint this narrative, we not only talk about things we need, we talk about things that are no longer here," Heller said.

He remembers a library along Gervais Street, a neighborhood elementary school, a drug store, bank and grocery store.

"Nobody has really addressed this stuff yet," he said. "Now I believe the city is engaging the Columbia Housing Authority in a way that's going to redevelop Gonzales Gardens and the neighborhood around it."

Heller has his own business, doing insurance repairs on homes and businesses. He's constantly on his cellphone.

He was instrumental in the development of a community garden that's cultivated by the entire neighborhood.

Someone else in the Lyon Street Community Association takes children from Gonzales Gardens downtown to the library on a regular basis.

And when residents of the 280-apartment complex hold a bazaar at St. Anna's Park next month, Heller will be there.

He grew up along McDuffie Avenue in a working-class family of five. His father was paint supervisor with Richland 1 schools and his mother a homemaker who was always involved in school and community affairs.

Heller graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1978 with a degree in both African-American history and government and international studies.

Three years later, his brother Harrison, a prosecutor with the 5th Circuit Solicitor's Office, died in a boating accident. Heller still feels the loss of a brother he admired for his ability to move among powerful people and everyday folks alike.

For 11 years, Heller cared for his father at home after a stroke and hip replacement surgery that went badly. When his father died, he moved to Atlanta for a few years.

But, "I've always found my way back to McDuffie Avenue," he said -- in a city neighborhood filled with caring people.

The Lyon Street Community Association and A Better Me are collaborating to host the Good Day Bazaar, noon to 4 p.m., Nov. 23 at St. Anna's Park, 1313 Liberty Hill Ave., Columbia. Vendors, live entertainment, a health fair, flea market, food and games are planned. Want to get involved? Call (803) 477-7905.

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(c)2013 The State (Columbia, S.C.)

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