From the depths of a global pandemic came a spark, born almost from necessity.

Ideas have fanned that spark into a flame.

This is not the fire of destruction but the ember that can fuel people to greater heights.

The Flint and Steel Coalition was born in Mineola to create opportunities for community youth to find a better path.

It’s motto: “The spark that ignites a flame in our community.”

Nathan Witt, a 1998 Mineola High School graduate, found himself suddenly back at home from Collin College in the spring of 2020 after his school, and all others, were shut down by the spreading coronavirus.

He had enjoyed skateboarding in high school and found himself looking for something to do and wound up at the St. Paul Community Skate Park next to St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church.

He wasn’t alone.

The park, which has been around since 2008 but has had its ups and downs, was in need of major renovations, and beyond that, expansion to accommodate more skateboarders – mostly teens and early 20s.

So he dove in last August to see what he could do to help.

Witt noted that the pandemic seemed especially hard on his generation.

“We were already not helping ourselves,” he said. “Social interaction is not what it used to be.”

He explained that when he went through some difficult times during his high school days, he was fortunate to have a supportive family. But many of his friends did not have that and spiraled into drugs and criminal activity.

Working on improvements at the skate park, Witt said he recognized himself and his friends in this next generation of youth.

“We’ve got to do something,” he said, adding that he was seeing young people without a lot of hope.

They needed a place to go – one such place is the skate park – and things to do.

He describes his vision as an integrated peer network, meshing different age groups, overcoming the divide between younger and older members of the community.

Since high school, Witt said he became aware of an “us versus them” mentality, with no way to connect across the generations.

One of the next pieces of the puzzle came on board in recent weeks with Tuesday Knights, a chess club. It has grown to around two dozen players with an age range of almost eight decades.

The larger vision is to have a space that can house artistic endeavors – digital, physical and audio – along with a retail space for those who create art to be able to market it.

Witt is making the rounds connecting with the city, the school district and the county, inviting them to come on board as participating partners in the coalition.

He has made presentations to the Mineola Economic Development Corp. and the city council and found good support.

He has also met with school officials and is working through plans to partner with the high school Career and Technical Education program for the digital aspects of art and creativity, such as graphic and website design.

Witt and his family have also tapped into family connections at Dallas Baptist University (Witt attended there and his Dad taught there) to partner with graduate students to help operate a facility once it gets going. His dad created a similar program between DBU and nearby Sky Ranch.

The coalition has targeted a facility on Front St. that the city recently acquired.

In the five-year plan, Witt proposes it will include three music recording studios, an outdoor stage and event space, a multipurpose physical art space, a computer digital space and a market place.

Within the year he hopes to have the art space up and running. The digital art is also gaining momentum with the school district’s recent hire of a new teacher for graphics.

Flint and Steel is working to become an official non-profit. In the mean time donations are funneled through St. Paul church.

The coalition is reaching out to various organizations already established in the community, such as the Mineola League of the Arts.

Art is important, Witt, explained, because it allows youth avenues of expression Each person has differing means of expressing themselves. Maybe it’s painting or poetry or something in the digital space.

Describing himself as an optimist, Witt sees Mineola as having a very rare potential to create something special.

The community has been so supportive he said, but it needs to overcome a lack of momentum.

Another way of looking at flint and steel, he noted, is that the spark comes from between a rock and a hard place.

Learn more at flintsteel.org.