{"id":19252,"date":"2026-05-01T13:17:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T13:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=19252"},"modified":"2026-05-01T13:17:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T13:17:44","slug":"the-monroe-street-neighborhood-center-annual-jazz-brunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/01\/the-monroe-street-neighborhood-center-annual-jazz-brunch\/","title":{"rendered":"The Monroe Street Neighborhood Center Annual Jazz Brunch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Mistress of Ceremony Valerie S. Walston, ThD, and Monroe Street Neighborhood Center Executive Director Tracci K. Johnson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Truth Staff<\/em><\/p>\n

On Saturday, April 18, the Monroe Street Neighborhood Center held its annual Jazz Brunch at the American Legion in order to raise funds for the Center\u2019s Freedom School Program.<\/p>\n

Several hundred supports gathered to listen to the jazz renderings of the Skip Turner Band, to enjoy a brunch buffet and to honor three area residents for their contributions to the Center.<\/p>\n

The Center\u2019s Freedom School is a six-week literacy-based summer camp for students K though 8. \u201cWe have hot lunch and breakfast for them,\u201d said Tracci K. Johnson, executive director of the Monroe Street Neighborhood Center. \u201cAnd it\u2019s just $150 for the entire program. Part of this fundraiser is to keep the cost down for our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Freedom School, which began in 2018, brings in 60 students each summer to be taught and mentored by college students and by Toledo Public School educators, said Johnson. The social justice focused, literacy-based program is designed to prevent the seasonal summer education slide and to \u201cmake sure students\u2019 reading levels stay the same or increase, added Johnson.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lavada Griswold-Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saturday\u2019s event began with greetings from mistress of ceremonies, Valerie S. Walston, ThD, and a welcome from Lynn Bachelor, board president of the Center.<\/p>\n

Johnson presented an overview of the Monroe Street Neighborhood Center programs and Lavada Griswold-Smith spoke of the history of the Freedom School and introduced the staff and scholars of the school.<\/p>\n

After brunch, the honorees were presented: Terry Crosby, Rev. Larry Clark and Kimberly Fisher.<\/p>\n

Crosby, a former outstanding two-sport athlete at DeVilbiss High School and longtime professional basketball player overseas, is a corporate ambassador with Taylor Automotive Family. He has served as a Youth Service Mnager, a certified Mental Health and Wellbeing Professional, a Youth Offending Mentor and a host of the Terry Crosby Youth Basketball Camps.<\/p>\n

Rev. Clark, a United Methodist minister since 1979 has pastored urban churches in Toledo, Cincinnati and Columbus. He has also served as executive director of Toledo Area Ministries and taught courses at the Methodist theological School of Ohio, the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University. He served on the board of the Monroe Street Neighborhood Center for six years.<\/p>\n

Fisher, the youngest daughter of Officer Earl and Lenora Barry, has more than 25 years in education. She is currently the Children\u2019s Librarian at the Lagrange Branch Library. In addition, she is an adjunct professor and co-cordinator of the Early Childhood Education program at Ownes Community College.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Truth Staff On Saturday, April 18, the Monroe Street Neighborhood Center held its annual Jazz Brunch at the American Legion in order to raise funds for the Center\u2019s Freedom School Program. Several hundred supports gathered to listen to the jazz renderings of the Skip Turner Band, to enjoy a brunch buffet and to honor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19251,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[250],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[345],"class_list":["post-19252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19253,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19252\/revisions\/19253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19252"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=19252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}