Today we’d like to introduce you to Janet Morrison-Lane.
Hi Janet, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have been with Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation for fourteen years. I was hired to run the EAGLE Scholars college readiness program, a five-week summer program that worked with students from Tasby middle school to prepare them for college. My passion is education and I had run afterschool and summer programs for 17 years while I was working at another nonprofit (CitySquare). I was so excited to be in a space that helped middle and high schoolers prepare for and go to college!
I knew nothing about Vickery Meadow before working there. I had often driven to the Sam’s Club that used to be on Park Lane and I had taken kids to the Dallas Children’s Theater on Abrams, but I had no idea the beauty and the amazing cultures that existed between the two. When I first started, I drove through the community with a friend of mine and was in awe of the people walking through the community dressed in their cultural attire. I later learned that the small community of Vickery was only a 2.5 mile radius of a neighborhood and was made up of people who spoke over 50 languages, at least 5 different religions, and many different cultural groups.
I decided my first task was to get to know the students in the program and their families. I pored through all of the documents that held their information and started calling teenagers, one-by-one, asking if I could meet with them and their parents in their home. If they didn’t want me to go to their home, I asked if we could meet at McDonald’s. They were skeptical, but many of them agreed. I made it my goal to meet with about six families a week. I created a set of questions to help me get to know the families. I asked the students and their parents to tell me about their dreams and goals. Since most of the parents didn’t speak English, I had their children interpret for me and interpret for their parents so that all three of us could hear all of the questions and answers. Though I did it for my own learning experience, it was fabulous to watch parents and children be amazed at the dreams each of them had for themselves and their kids. Through that, I grew our EAGLE Scholars program into a year-round college readiness program.
I quickly learned that getting first generation students college students to college was only half the battle. Getting them *through* college was even a bigger challenge. We started developing a process to stay with them through college to help ensure that they had enough scholarships and knew how to manage the financial aid they received.
After overseeing the EAGLE Scholars program for nine years, our Executive Director retired and I stepped into the Executive Director role for VMYDF. Though I loved working with our Scholars, being able to move into a bigger role with the organization was a new opportunity and a new challenge. We were in the process of building a building in Vickery Meadow. We had never had a building before so it would change the way we operated and what we could offer to the community.
We now have a building that runs mom’s group programs, has a computer help center, offers middle and high schoolers opportunities to gain skills by attending classes two days a week in the building, and we still have our EAGLE Scholars program, which prepares middle and high schoolers for college. We also continue to stay in contact with our College Scholars and have developed a Scholar Coach program, where six of our Scholars who have graduated from college meet with the current College Scholars and help them stay on track with their financial aid, as well as providing them support and help them access resources they might need to make their college journey smoother.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Life offers all kinds of challenges, but it also offers all kinds of learning opportunities.
My first challenge was learning about cultures I never knew existed. I knew little to nothing about the refugee experience and had no idea that there was a difference between refugees and asylees. I gained a new appreciation for immigrants who went through years worth of paperwork and processing before they came to the U.S. and came with only a bag of items to their name. I experienced challenges (and still experience challenges) figuring out ways to communicate with the thirty different languages that make up our programs. After meeting with so many families – African-American, hispanic, White, Asian, and African – I learned that every last one of them said that they wanted their children to succeed educationally. My goal has always been to communicate with people in their heart language. That is an ongoing challenge since some of the language groups are so small and finding someone bilingual can be difficult.
Another challenge was the pandemic. As with most everyone else, our entire program was in person. We had to find a way to continue to engage Scholars in a way that connected with them and overcame their reluctance to be on Zoom. In the summer of 2020, we shortened all of our classes to 15 minutes and offered what we called “With Me’s.” Each of our Interns created a class around something they were good at – “Draw with Me,” “Crochet with Me,” “Learn about College with Me,” “Write with Me.” We mixed enjoyable activities with educational activities and the Scholars responded. We maintained almost all of our Scholars during the pandemic.
During the pandemic, our organization was in the process of building a building from ground up. This has been a new challenge because our programs were always built around using other people’s spaces. We completed the building in May of 2023. This has given us an amazing opportunity to connect with the community in new ways. Our building gives us a dedicated space to not only offer our own programming, but to connect with neighbors, partners, and our local schools in new ways.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am passionate about education and I love knowing that our organization offers that opportunity to students and their families. I have a deep belief that learning is enjoyable and that, at their core, young people are extremely intelligent.
“Where you focus is where you’ll end up” is a phrase I learned when I used to do kung fu and I have taken that belief into my work. Instead of focusing on the parents that aren’t showing up for meetings, I believe it is important to focus on those who do. By working with them and focusing on what they need, others see that and will be drawn to it. Instead of focusing on the negative behavior of kids who are causing problems, I think it is important to recognize what skill they are bringing to the table and focus on that. If they are loud, create trouble, and every follows them, it is important to tap into their leadership potential and help them figure out how to lead. If they are throwing rocks at windows to break them, it may be important to invite them to channel their energy and interest into physics experiments and help them connect that desire to their future.
My goal is to creatively look at how we approach things: How can we utilize the skills and talents of volunteers and organizations to connect with students in ways that are meaningful and help better prepare them for their future? I believe that low-income, first-generation college students have strong voices and that we need their voices at the table to make our world a better place. In order to do that, we have to make sure that they are invited to the table and equipped with the resources they need to get them to that place.
I am most proud of my relationships with young people and with families in our communities. For years, I lived in Jubilee Park. I was able to see students grow from elementary to high school to college and into productive adults. Not all of their paths are the same. Some went to college; some didn’t. Some of them felt like they were destined to be a statistic, but so many of them are not. I have seen them grow up and become teachers, truck drivers, nonprofit workers, doctors, and so much more. I am proud to call them friends and I am proud to still have connections to their families. I love knowing that they are making our world a better place.
I am also extremely proud that our Vickery Meadow Youth Development staff consists of EAGLE Scholar graduates and parents of EAGLE Scholar graduates. Our Development Manager is a former Scholar, as is our Manager of Building Operations. Our part-time van driver, also a Scholar graduate, dedicates his hours outside of his full time job to developing the current Scholars. Our Parent Support Specialist lived in Vickery Meadow when she started with us 16 years ago. One of our front desk receptionists had two daughters who went through the program and the other one has lived in Vickery for a long time. Several of the staff in our Computer Help Center are Scholars in college who also speak several different languages. I love that so many of them have such a vested interest in our Vickery community and continue to dedicate their lives to the community.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the future are here in Vickery Meadow. Our building is still fairly new. My goal is to continue growing our presence here in Vickery. I want to keep working to figure out ways to connect with the community so that the community is not just engaged in what we do, but is a vital part of who we are as an organization. I want to ensure we are listening to and learning from the community so that they drive everything we do.
I often call our organization an “educational hub” for the Vickery community. I want to continue developing that and ensuring that we offer opportunities in many different languages so that our space is a model for others and can offer new and innovative ways to provide services that ensures organizations are a comfortable and welcoming space for everyone.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vmydf.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/vmydfdallas
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmydf
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vmydf/
