Brevard Neighborhood Development Coalition (BNDC), an FCLF Borrower since 2007, hosts the Anchor Breakfast this week. The organization celebrates its work with youth and others through its programs. The following article was featured in Florida Today online on May 2, 2012. To view the original article, visit Florida Today Online.

Neighborhood coalition salutes progress: Anchor Breakfast raises money for youths' life enrichment

Written by Maria Sonnenberg for FLORIDA TODAY. 7:08PM, May 2, 2012

As a financial adviser wtih Wells Fargo, Allan Prestwood knows how important it is never to lose sign of the goal.

Brevard Neighborhood Development Coalition’s ability to undertake projects from idea stage to reality always has attracted Prestwood, who became a board member in 2001 during the organization’s first year of existence.

Now the group’s president, Prestwood is spearheading Friday’s Anchor Breakfast, an inspirational fundraiser that draws strong support for BNDC from the local business community.

“Those attending the Anchor Breakfast will experience our version of ‘show and tell,’ ” said Prestwood, of Melbourne.

“They will learn more about our projects to help restore neighborhoods and will also get to meet some of the young people who will share their life-enriching experiences. This event also allows us to give a special thank you to all of our volunteers and financial supporters.”

This year’s breakfast has special significance for Prestwood, since the guest speaker is retired U.S. Navy captain and space shuttle astronaut Winston Scott, dean of Florida Tech’s Office for External Relations. A Florida Tech alum, Prestwood was its former alumni president and continues to be active with his alma mater.

Scott will be busy during the breakfast. In addition to being the featured speaker, he is expected to play the trumpet with Electric Altitude, the band composed of youths who attend BNDC’s DOCK, a drop-in center for young people who live in Melbourne’s Booker T. Washington neighborhood. The only astronaut with a degree in music, Scott is also a professor of music at Florida Tech’s new music department and a frequent speaker at area schools on music’s transformational abilities.

Electric Altitude will prove a perfect example of the power of music, as well as of BNDC’s ability to mobilize the community for the common good. The band was furnished with instruments donated from the community. Volunteer teachers mentored the DOCK students as they began their musical journey. The Rev. David Jahn, pastor of Advent Lutheran Church in Suntree, leads the group.

The DOCK, one of Brevard Neighborhood Development Coalition’s three major programs, serves an average of 40 children daily during the school year and 50 daily during the summer. A small staff and a corps of about 40 teen and adult volunteers help elementary and high school students with homework and provide life enrichment opportunities such as Electric Altitude and Roots of Rhythm, the DOCK’s African drum tribe, which also will perform during the Anchor Breakfast.

FLORIDA TODAY’s 2009 Organization of the Year, Brevard Neighborhood Development Coalition also operates Greater Heights in the Booker T. Washington neighborhood. The affordable apartment community serves the working poor and the elderly of the area.

In Palm Bay, the agency has teamed with the city, the Congregations for Community Action and Powell Subdivision Neighborhood Watch to develop Evans Center, a neighborhood market and job training center that will serve as the site of a community health clinic in collaboration with the Brevard Health Alliance.

BNDC vice president Daryl Bishop applauds the coalition’s ability to serve as a catalyst for action.

“I believe in our primary mission of revitalizing poor neighborhoods in conjunction with resident neighborhood leaders,” said Bishop, area president of BankFIRST.

“I feel it is the partnership that is important. The faith-based nature of the organization certainly is a differentiating factor, as well as improving neighborhoods both physically and economically. These missions are typically more traditionally provided by cities and counties.”

However, like most nonprofits, the agency faces a constant struggle to find funds.

“The challenge is the lack of recurring revenues outside the funds we receive from the United Way,” said Bishop.

For more information on Brevard Neighborhood Development Coalition, visit their website.

To view more photos of BNDC and their projects, visit our Flickr page.