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“The purple lights are lit above Joshua Wells’ doorway at C.D. Owen Middle School (Owen Middle), which means the resource room is open for business. Inside are bookshelves lined with school supplies — binders, pocket folders, markers, scrap paper, notebooks, and pencils — with book bags stacked on the floor.
Against the window is a makeshift clothing closet. Around a partition are extra toiletries and period products. There is a refrigerator for drinks and racks for food. Wells has a cart he wheels around the hallways for students to grab mid-afternoon snacks. In the middle of the room, there are bean bags for a hangout space.
Wells has been the community school coordinator here for nine years, and the lights above the resource room were his bright idea.
“We’ve really been working on trying to make our school a legit place for the whole community to be,” Wells said.
The room, its supplies, and Wells are all there thanks to the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County (UWABC) community schools network, which connects Owen Middle with local partners.”