Educational and Nutritional Classes:

A combination of these free and meaningful programs and services are provided in the community center at Woodleaf Village, The Park at Emerald Village, Green Leaf Village, Apple Orchard, WestTown, Prairie View, and Willamette Gardens. A total of 760 households have ACCESS to these programs.

• Summer Lunch Program Children receive a free nutritious meal five days a week during the summer months (June through August).
  
  
• Extra Helping Program Families are given surplus bread and seasonal vegetables, helping to bridge the gap in the family budget. This is a resident driven program sponsored by Food for Lane County. Resident volunteers are needed to keep this program running, so we encourage residents to participate. 
  
  
• OSU Nutrition Classes Often taught as a family cooking night, or a teen chef's class, this program offers nutritional cooking recipes and focuses on the food pyramid and other educational material.  Residents prepare a meal together while they learn, and are sent home with fun recipes to try later.
  
  
• Credit 101 This exciting workshop provides techniques to fix and repair debt, create a financial action plan, establish a realistic family budget, and create a debt management plan. 
  
  
• Make Parenting a Pleasure Classes This two hour workshop focuses on the principles of parenting skills, and covers helpful ideas and information for parents of all ages.  The curriculum is based on Birth to Three's "Make Parenting a Pleasure" program. Yearlong referrals are available. 
  
  
• HomeBuying 101 This program presents a variety of topics including: preparing for homeownership, house shopping, credit and what goes into your score, mortgage options, and the loan and closing process. Provided by NEDCO or local real estate professionals, this is a great first step if you are thinking of owning a home sometime in the future. You are not alone when it comes to buying a home! 
  
  
• Willamalane Summer Camp This program is offered throughout the summer at the Park at Emerald Village.  Willamalane Parks and Recreation has chosen our community to run a four day a week summer camp with fun games, arts and crafts, and other enjoyable summer activities.
  
  
• Lane County Head Start Head Start uses a portion of The Park at Emerald Village community center for Head Start Classes.  In return, residents at the Park at Emerald Village are given priority registration for this program.
  
  
• Relief Nursery Also at the Park at Emerald Village, the Relief Nursery is a safe place for parents and children to go when in need of some assistance for their family.
  
  
• Super Snackers  A fun program offered to children that teaches nutritional and creative ways of eating and snacking.  Children taking this class participate in food preparation and are provided a cookbook with various recipes to try later.
  
  
• NA/AA Meetings Offered in the community room at Green Leaf Village, this program helps individuals maintain a drug and alcohol free lifestyle.

Community Building Activities:

• Kids Club A twice a month program offering arts and crafts, games, outdoor activities, and organized events to all children five and up.
  
• Internet access is available for parents and children needing the internet for learning and fun.
  
• Movie night held a couple times a year, residents enjoy a night out together.
  
• Community Adventures and Celebrations City of Eugene Parks and Recreation sponsors events on-site or with transportation. Activities include ceramics, sports games, and OMSI field trips. Community celebrations include food and fun, giving families opportunities to celebrate together and to get to know one another.
  
• The Marshall Program/Rising Star Club is designed as a good deeds reward club, where children are nominated and earn awards for good behavior.

Our ACCESS Program
(Assets, Community, Collaboration, Education, Services, Success)

Metropolitan Affordable Housing developed the ACCESS model to offer opportunities for success and to empower residents to take control of their lives.  One aspect of the model offers paths out of low-income jobs into career paths that lead to better pay and better futures.  This is an innovative process of connecting our residents to education and training to help them in obtaining employment with a defined career path.  We are able to offer training and career ladders in jobs with high demand such as health care and technology through partnerships with other local agencies such as the Lane Workforce Partnership, Lane Community College and both PeaceHealth and McKenzie-Willamette hospitals.

In 2005, Metro collaborated with The Lane Workforce Partnership, Good Neighbor Care and Lone Oak Assisted Living to provide free CNA training to employee's of Good Neighbor Care and Lone Oak Assisted Living.  We held the CNA training classes in our Apple Orchard Community Center, and since three Metro properties (Apple Orchard, Green Leaf Village and Oak Leaf) are neighbors to the above employers we were able to promote this training and employment opportunities to our residents.  Four Metro residents enrolled and graduated from the CNA program.  This is the type of success we are hoping to achieve with the ACCESS model. 

With this program:

• We are providing a secure living environment for individuals to build savings and assets in order to pay for future education and build for their personal retirement.
  
  
• We are providing opportunities for individuals to advance through career ladders to obtain better paying jobs so they can afford food, shelter, and insurance.
  
  
• We are providing access to skills training and education to prepare individuals for what the job market needs rather than having individuals wait for the job market to offer employment that matches their current skills and educational levels.
  

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