Children across the Fulton County area are learning to move their feet to a different groove thanks to JV Outreach.
JV Outreach takes kids out of the streets and into the dance studio
Corinne Smith provides for JV Outreach's ballroom method
Friday, December 5, 2014
JV Outreach takes kids out of the streets and into the dance studio
by Gabriel Ramos
ALPHARETTA, Ga. – It’s a
rainy Sunday as Jacqueline Vergez sits in a local Starbucks store. She’s
slightly preoccupied over the logistics of an upcoming fundraiser she has
planned out for her nonprofit organization, JV Outreach, which is dedicated to
spreading the art of dance to children and teenagers in the Atlanta area.
 |
| Jacqueline Vergez is the founder of JV Outreach. Photo by Gabriel Ramos |
It’s
nothing new. One of the biggest obstacles in running a nonprofit is raising
enough funds to keep programs running and employees paid, and JV Outreach is no
exception.
Even
still, Vergez feels strongly about the organization she singlehandedly started.
Ballroom dance is a hobby she took up after going through a divorce in 1998,
which quickly became a passion. This passion carries on through JV Outreach.
Moving
feet, changing lives
JV
Outreach was originally started as a simple program to give children free dance
lessons out of Roswell’s Waller Park Recreation Center, which is surrounded by
low-income housing. After a few years of annual programs, Vergez decided to
expand the program and register as a 501c3 nonprofit in 2004.
For
Vergez, the opportunity to combine the hobby she’s so passionate about with an
opportunity to get involved in the lives of kids was too good to pass up. She
felt it gave kids a substitute or complementary activity to sports.
“Dancing
provides a lot – social skills, teamwork, leadership, self-confidence,
self-esteem, and that’s what we’re really about. As I tell everybody, it’s like
our programs, yeah, we’re teaching dance steps, but it’s really about building
the kids’ self-esteem and confidence so they feel good about themselves so
they’ll make the right choices and go after their dreams and steer away
hopefully anything negative,” she says.
An
unexpected start
Vergez
states that the inspiration started with a community service project, which
coincided with an accident her daughter, Claudine, had endured. After
Claudine’s time in the hospital, Vergez got creative and with the help of her
daughter, decided to try to raise gift cards for kids staying in Scottish Rite
Children’s Hospital.
The fundraiser wasn’t without its
obstacles.
“I had called all restaurants,
recreation centers, hotels, in the Alpharetta/Roswell location, and I got a lot
of ‘no’s. And they kept asking me what my budget was. When I told them it was zero,
they were like, ‘I can’t help you.’”
Eventually, though, her persistence
paid off. The Hilton Garden Inn in Alpharetta contacted her and allowed her to
use their ballroom space for free, which lead to a snowball of sponsorships and
aid from friends and family. The event proved successful, and Vergez was
motivated to do more.
Dancing toward a
better future for children
After seven years, JV Outreach continues its mission
to get kids dancing, offering classes in salsa, bachata, hip hop, and ballroom.
The programs are typically held as a physical education session for schools
involved, but the interest has grown at a quicker rate than the available
funds.
Fortunately, Vergez has managed to
round up a strong staff, which includes four other board members in addition to
herself and an evolving roster of teachers available. She hopes to eventually build
the program toward all schools in Georgia, and provide scholarships for the
kids involved.
The funds themselves come from a
wide variety of partnerships, including through Fulton County itself.
“Funding for our programs is
provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners,” Vergez states.
JV Outreach’s next fundraiser will
be held at F&B Atlanta, on Dec. 20 from 3-6 p.m. and will be a winetasting
with hors d’oeuvres. For more information on the event, how to donate, and JV
Outreach’s programs, visit www.jvoutreach.org.
Corinne Smith provides for JV Outreach’s ballroom method
by Gabriel Ramos
“These two styles complement each other well, because one is
fast and has a lot of hip action, and the other is smoother but sharp,” she
explains.
JV Outreach is a nonprofit organization dedicated to
bringing the art of dance to children in Fulton County, and this is one of
their programs in action.
 |
| Corinne Smith is a champion dancer who loves teaching children. Photo by Gabriel Ramos |
She brings a solid background as a 10-Dance and American
Rhythm Pro/Am Champion under the National Dance Council of America banner to
the table. This experience helps her to explain things as a student would
understand them, but her personality is what drives the lessons home.
“She’s such a joy to have, and she works really well with
kids,” says Jacqueline Vergez, CEO of JV Outreach.
It’s easy to see the effects of her lessons. Within minutes
the children are learning something new and are enthusiastic about the process,
especially at an age where hormones dominate their personalities. Even with a
gym full of more than 60 children, Smith still has them in relative order.
“I love this job,” she says with a laugh. “I wouldn’t be
doing anything else.”
Friday, November 7, 2014
Headline for Sidebar One
Assume that your reader did not
read the main story. Reintroduce your interviewees. Tell them again the main
topic. And make sure you have a nut graph that tells them the point of the
sidebar.
Your
sidebar should be about 200-300 words long. One page or a page and a half is
plenty.
Asdf
kl;’ asd fl;ka;’sldf
Headline
The sentence describing the story.
Maybe two sentences. No more than that.
I really don’t want a lot here.
- Headline for the main story that is a link to main story
- Headline for the sidebar story that is a link to sidebar
- Headline for
the graphic (if it’s not embedded in the main story)
- www.externallink.com
Headline for the main story
By Your Name
Then
do a lead that is not a repeat of the paragraph on the layer one page. Assume
the reader did not read the paragraph on the layer one page.
Asdf;ksdal;
f’ksasl f;sa;f sad/
Alsdkf ;’sa sl;af ks;ad lf
After three
or four graphs, put in a subhead.
Subhead one
Then
keep going with the story. If you refer to the sidebar topic, underline it and
parentheses the headline for the sidebar as if it were a link (headline
of sidebar). If you refer to your external link be sure to put it in
parentheses also (www.externallink.com).
Insert your
graphic (picture) where appropriate and don’t forget to say in the caption who
took the picture. If it’s not immediately clear or obvious what the picture is
or who the picture is of, put the person’s name or a brief description of the
scene in the caption as well. You could also post your graphic in a separate
post. If you do that, be sure to put a headline on the graphic post and link
that headline on the homepage. (see below)
 |
| Carolyn S. Carlson (Photo by Jake McNeill) |
Slakdf
;’sakf sdl;a k’sa
Asdlf k’asdl;fk as;dflksa
As;dlfk
sa’dfl; k;sal f
Adsl;fk s’adl;f ka;sdlf
As;ldfk
‘sal;df ks’dl;a
Asdfl;k s’adl;fk s;dlf ka
Sa;ldf
k’asl;df ksdl;a
A;sldfk ‘sdl;ak f;’dl fk;
Subhead two
Asdfk
;sadfk a;sl fasd; ;fsda
Asdflk;’asdf lk;’asdf lk;sadf
I dunno what I should write
but apparently I need to write something and publish so I can understand how to make a sidebar.
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