To advance this mission, the foundation welcomes applications for projects that introduce new skills and knowledge in the multi-layered worlds of the arts and humanities, health and well-being, animal welfare, and the environment.

Grants of at least $10,000 will be awarded to eligible organizations and projects, with priority given to those serving California and Massachusetts.

To be eligible, applicants must be a tax-exempt charitable organization in good standing under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Letters of Intent are due May 1. Upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal by June 15, 2021.

See the Dr. Seuss Foundation website for complete program guidelines and application instructions.

https://drseussfoundation.org/grant-process/

Deadline: May 1, 2021

The Toshiba America Foundation is accepting grant applications from grade 6-12 teachers for innovative science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) projects.

Through the program, grants of at least $5,000 will be awarded in support of teacher-led projects with the potential to provide students with opportunities to “do science” in ways that increase their engagement with the subject matter and improve their learning.

(Note: the foundation typically supports project-based learning and does not consider requests for computers, laptops, or tablets.)

The foundation is considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers and education and indicates it cannot presume to suggest how teachers should deal with the obstacles that social distancing and safety concerns place in their way. The foundation will consider only one application at a time from any single teacher and will consider alternative proposals contingent upon how, when, and if schools are open as usual. Under the circumstances, the foundation will also try to be more accommodating in considering the kinds of equipment or expenses it can fund.

For complete program guidelines, information about past recipients, and application instructions, see the Toshiba America Foundation website.

Deadline: May 1, 2021

This is the first in a two-part series brought to you by the American School Health Association and The Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education. The second offering will go deeper into best practices for adult mental health and self-care and how to transfer those skills to students.

Students and staff are struggling. While concern for mental health is not new, the global pandemic has elevated this need to a critical level. With remote learning, students have been isolated, often unable to participate in activities that promote connection, and lacking access to resources and services necessary for their health and learning needs. School staff have had to learn new technology and teaching strategies on a dime, adjust to changing schedules, and deal with mass quarantines and a general upheaval to school operations. Even with the advent of the vaccine, dealing with the trauma and lasting effects of this time will be ongoing.

This webinar will highlight a variety of free, evidence-based tools and resources that can be implemented at the school, district, or state levels. Participants will learn how to access these resources, discover appropriate tools for different audiences, and learn about other resources available from the National Center on School Mental Health and the National Center on Safe and Supportive Learning Environments.

Register here

This eighth annual report provides the most current data on high school graduates’ postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion outcomes. These data are the most relevant benchmarks for monitoring and evaluating progress in assisting students to make the high school to college transition and earn a credential in a timely manner. This year’s report examines the immediate college enrollment for the high school graduating class of 2019, persistence for the class of 2017, and completion for the class of 2013. We continue to see large gaps between higher-income and low-income high schools on all fronts.

In response to the increasing need for up-to-date enrollment information during the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s report features a special look at how the pandemic has impacted the immediate college enrollment rates for the 2020 high school graduates.

Learn more and download the report here.

You may register as a full class or in smaller teams. The escape room is conducted via Zoom and all puzzles and clues are Google Suite compatible. Student teams must have access to an internet accessible device.

Two sessions available:

• Tuesday December 22, 2020 11:00am – 12:30pm
• Wednesday December 23, 2020 10:00am – 11:30am

Registration Required.

Question? Please contact Stephanie Austin-Johnson, sdjohnson@ccp.edu.

Information flyer.

The event includes a summary of TICAS’s annual report. Over the past 15 years, college debts have outpaced year to year inflation rates in all 50 states. Pennsylvania, notably, has the second-highest debt at an average of $39,027, doubling over the past 15 years. 25% of undergraduates missed payments, and this disproportionately affects black students (40% have missed payments). Since 2016, NPSAS data has shown a flattening in the curve. While this is true, and 2019 saw a slight decrease in average debt, COVID-19 has exposed to the broader public serious threats. From delays in completion and starting college to the digital divide and a lack of full recovery from the previous recession, students are struggling to access and complete college degrees. TICAS is looking for law and policymakers to invest in public colleges, to extend emergency relief, and to improve upon transparency with greater access to data.

The Panel highlighted the past 15 and future 15 years. For the past, panelists highlighted several key issues. Lauren Asher noted the creation of Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plans. Lande Ajose mentioned both state-provided grants as well as the exposure of non-tuition costs as a limiting factor. State provisions were countered by James Kavaal’s comment on overall state disinvestment from higher education without full recoveries from the past recession. Bob Shireman pointed to the creation of Grad Plus Loans with no limits fueling the no limit tuition price growth and the creation of Parent Plus Loans that cannot take advantage of IBR. Ajita Menon and Zakiya Smith Ellis surfaced the inequalities. Ms. Menon began with identifying the disproportionate effect on students of color and called for a hopeful plea to expand data collection for deeper insights that could guide building a more equitable system. Ms. Smith Ellis noted that student debt is now ubiquitous, not just affecting a niche group, and therefore has garnered bipartisan action.

The look-ahead was an equally bleak and hopeful mix. Ms. Asher called for increased accountability of institutions to avoid returning to old behaviors. Flip the script, colleges need to realize the risks they pose on students and not the opposite as they have in the past. Ms. Lande seconded the accountability through a need to address the opaqueness at which institutions operate, and they need to shift their definition of what constitutes a basic need in a post COVID world. Mr. Shireman poignantly said that colleges need to take into account students’ budgets for what is reasonable to charge. Ms. Menon noted that public and private institutions need to address filling gaps with equitable solutions before For-Profit colleges fill them with predatory ones. Ms. Smith Ellis adroitly said, “When White America catches a cold, Black America catches the flu…when White America catches the flu, Black America dies.” She noted the inverse affects of repayment for people, especially women, of color who are systematically not given access to higher-paid, work-from-home job opportunities. Mr. Kavaal closed out by saying that we are facing the consequences of maxing out in borrowing for the future rather than investing in the future. Additionally, we need to be clear that even with higher degrees, people of color still face workplace and hiring discrimination that makes jobs that will pay back college debt inaccessible.

You can watch the full event here.

They build trusted relationships with students and families. They identify what inspires each student, leveraging the science of learning to invest in the whole child. They identify what works, and lead transformation in their schools, districts, and states. They leverage technology, creative student groupings, and blended learning to personalize instruction to maximize the potential of each individual learner. They are lowering barriers and building and strengthening bridges to students, families, and one another.

“Barriers to Bridges: Teacher Perspectives on Accelerating Learning, Leadership, and Innovation in the Pandemic” examines the frontline experiences of educators during the COVID-19 pandemic and provides recommendations for education leaders and policymakers based on teachers’ guidance and input. The report is based on the feedback from 532 teachers in 152 virtual focus groups held across 25 states.

Read more and download the report: https://teachplus.org/BarrierstoBridges

Philadelphia Futures conducted a survey of students in the College Success Program regarding access to
and utilization of CARES Act funding through their colleges and universities. The survey covered: ease of
access to funding, needs experienced by students as a result of the sudden shift to remote learning, needs
met by CARES Act funds and anticipated needs if schools continue to operate remotely.

Download the report here: https://philadelphiafutures.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/CARES-Act-Survey-Report-PF2020.pdf

That’s why our colleague Ben started reading But She Said by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza. A self-proclaimed recovering Catholic, Ben was skeptical at first about reading a text on biblical interpretation; however the heart of the text is more secular. The book lays out the groundwork for an intersectional discourse which the author names as the Kyriarchy. Ben sought to understand this framework to develop their eventual dissertation proposal on how housing agencies across the globe function as kyriarchal systems. What they read, however, uncovered some deep truths about education and how we are spoon-fed master-servant dynamics.

In her critique of Kyriarchy and Patriarchy, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza confronts Higher Education. While her primary focus is the politic of biblical interpretation, her critical review of Kyriarchy in Higher Ed is noteworthy. She proposes Kyriarchy as the extension of European/American White male androcentrism into perpetuating systems of oppression as intersections of race, class, militant colonialism, heterosexism, religion, and education. She reviews the Athenian Patriarchical Democracy that has become the basis of all major power structure that perpetuates oppression. She notes this was the basis of European and American Democracies that actively justified slavery, subjugated women and “nonpersons”, and xenophobia. As she adroitly puts it, “…we are strangers in a land whose language, constitution, history, religion, and culture we did not create.” (Fiorenza, 185) Because, as she proposes, this is the foundation of power structures, she deconstructs how this is seen in Higher Ed spaces.

She initiates the discussion by debunking the Academy’s “…claim to be socially neutral, objective, and value-free and have shown that in reality, it expresses the subjective values of elite male Eurocentric ethos.” (Fiorenza, 170) She continues to say how this has led to historical silencing and othering of women and racial minorities within the academy. Success for marginalized groups comes from adopting the language and academic tools of the oppressor while internalizing kyriarchal practices. The oppressor, therefore, teaches us the tools on how to oppress ourselves. This is because, as Fiorenza puts it, “virtually every academic discipline operates on the unexamined assumption of academic discourse that equates male reality with human reality.” (Fiorenza, 173) Further she, rather pithily, identifies how “The recourse to biological determinism and gender differences is still frequent today in scientific debates that seek to defend the androcentric framework of academic disciplines as ‘objective and scholarly.'” (Fiorenza, 174)

In her discussion of studying theology, she makes claims we can apply more broadly to Higher Ed, in particular, pedagogies of liberation. We have to decenter neutrality and objectivity, which, as she points out, are impossible to have in an exploitative, oppressive system. Rather we must center the patterns, processes, and standards of exclusion and domination embedded in the process. Who are we taught to be the fathers and grandfathers of scientific understandings? What agendas and baggage do they bring into their conceptualizations? Who do these bedrock theories serve? We can choose to center emancipatory practices and those developed by oppressed communities. Further, we must center questioning the composition of Higher Ed and how that continues to marginalize, other, and oppress nonwhite, nonmale, and non-colonized voices. In doing all of this, she notes, the “White Lady” must tread lightly due to her socio-political location and the tendency of white women to fall back on the authority of whiteness. The “White Lady” must resist tokenism in the academy and ally with other marginalized groups to call out systems of oppression. Part of this calling out is naming how, as Fiorenza quotes Elizabeth Kamark Minnich, “Other knowledges in turn are ‘relegated to subcategories, or if brought into the ‘mainstream’ category, are improperly judged because they are placed against standards, closed within contexts and discourses, that not only did not include them in the first place but were founded by people who thought they ought to be excluded.'” (Fiorenza, 190)

As opposed to the tradition of lecture-based, Socratic tutorials, and the well-intentioned course catalog, she proposes a need to make educational theory and practice more focused on “articulation and analysis of experience, critical thinking, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning, cooperative work and antihierarchical, Democratic leadership.” (Fiorenza, 170) Seminars are also kept out of this in the sense that they foster adversarial debate that, through combative competition, works to police thoughts and have one idea to master all others. Moreover, it’s important to interrogate who controls the questions being posed in the seminar.  We need to look at our pedagogies and actively interrogate how are they anti-oppressive or if they perpetuate oppression.

“Naming is an act of creation, knowledge a source of vision.” (Fiorenza, 196) We need to name what we see. By doing so we are then able to critically pick it apart. Additionally, quoting Paula Gunn Allen, “The root of oppression is loss of memory.” (Fiorenza, 193) We need to remember the friction and resist moving with it. Her words are almost 30 years old, and yet they still hold water. There have been major headways in moving democratic pedagogies forward, but they still exist within our notion of the Greek Patriarchal Democracy. Education attainment and college success will be realized when we name the processes in place that reduce and marginalize those with recent entrance into the academy. We need to reflect on that stolen material that makes up the ivory in the tower and on whose backs it was built.

The Captain Planet Foundation was established as a corporate foundation to support youth-led efforts inspired by the show Captain Planet & the Planeteers, a cartoon program produced by Ted Turner & Barbara Pyle that aired from 1990-1996. In the show, Gaia, the spirit of the planet, assembles a team of five young “planeteers” from nations around the world who are able to summon Captain Planet to help them solve ecological and other global problems. Although it has been off the air for more than two decades, Captain Planet lives on in the minds of many real-world “Planeteers” as a symbol of how we all can be superheros for planet Earth.

Today, the foundation supports educators working to facilitate youth-led projects that result in positive environmental impact in schools and communities. To that end, the foundation welcomes applications for its ecoTech™ Grants. Through the program, grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded in support of innovative technological programs that address environmental challenges and efforts to engage children in STEM-related projects that leverage technology and/or use nature-based design to address environmental problems in local communities. Grants may be used for the purchase of materials and other direct expenses related to the project.

Examples of previous ecoTech™ grant projects include the integration of robotics and sensors to explore water bodies, collect data, and organize cleanups; renewable energy design challenges; biotechnology research; and nature-based design applications.

Ideally, projects should be student-led, and students should be part of the entire process. At a minimum, students must be responsible for implementing the project.

To be eligible, applicants must be based in the U.S., have an annual operating budget of no more than $3 million, and be tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (including most nonprofits and schools), or have a fiscal sponsor with such status.

See the Captain Planet Foundation website for complete program guidelines and application instructions.

Deadline: July 15, 2020

Learn more and apply: https://captainplanetfoundation.org/grants/ecotech/

Established in 1969, the NEA Foundation serves as a laboratory of learning, offering funding and other resources to public school educators, their schools, and districts to solve complex teaching and learning challenges. The foundation advances student success by investing in public education that prepares all of America’s children to learn and thrive in a rapidly changing world.

In response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning, the foundation is inviting applications for the COVID-19 Response Student Success Grant program. Through the program, grants of either $2,000 or $5,000 will be awarded in support of educator-led initiatives that increase educational equity and opportunity and address student needs associated with the pandemic. Successful projects will support creativity and individuality in student learning while clearly responding to needs that emerged or worsened during the pandemic. Examples include addressing the social and emotional needs of educators, students, and students’ families; learning new pedagogy and/or adapting curricula to support distance/virtual learning and instruction; addressing student learning loss resulting from extended school closures; providing educational enrichment to support student learning; and strengthening educator/school engagement with families and communities to meet student needs. Particular attention should be given to identifying and addressing pertinent educational equity and opportunity gaps exacerbated by the pandemic.

To be eligible for a grant, applicants must be a current member of the NEA and be a teacher, education support professional, or specialized instructional support personnel. Education support professionals (ESPs) are defined by the foundation as paraeducators; school bus drivers or other transportation staff; custodial and maintenance staff; food services staff; school nurses, health aides, and other health and student services staff; clerical staff; security staff; skilled trades staff; and technical services staff. Specialized instructional support personnel (SISP) include professionals such as school counselors, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, library media specialists, speech pathologists, and others.

See the NEA Foundation website for complete program guidelines and application instructions.

Deadline: July 15, 2020

Learn more and apply: https://www.neafoundation.org/for-educators/covid-rapid-response-grants/covid-response-student-success-grants/

Wait, Ben, why are you talking about this here? Awe, well Ms. Jacobs had a few choice words to share about planning’s effects on our education system. First, in talking about the uses of sidewalks and their impact on community safety, one of her conclusions is that this lack of perceived safety leads to hollowing out of schools. She pinpoints middle-class families from Chatham Village who, because of their privilege of choice, transfer their kids away from the neighborhood schools into other communities or private institutions. They do this because there is no community back and forth, no synergy, no dialogue between neighbors. Therefore, they have built mistrust in the community due to self-isolating. She further goes on to explain what effective uses of sidewalks should be, and how historically the continual use of them by community members has maintained “eyes on the street.” This community surveillance ensures block safety. As this social force deteriorates, she perceives, the overall neighborhood decays. She later goes on to say that ‘good sidewalks’ produces ‘spontaneous play’, which is far superior to the structured play of playgrounds. Her preference for sidewalk play leads her to disparage the funds funneled into playgrounds. Back in 1961, she stated how resources could be better allocated to communities through something other than a couple of aluminum bars hodgepodged together. Jacobs selected schools as needing it more, remarking, “City schools need something approaching a 50-percent increase in teachers to handle severe problems and also reduce normal class sizes to a figure permitting better education.” This seems still very resonant today and slightly disheartening that there is still inertia to such progress.

After discussing streets and sidewalks, she delivers her verdict on neighborhoods. Good ones, she says, are those that know what their problems are and approach them directly. Bad neighborhoods have needs that overwhelm them and thereby leave them helpless. We can think that better homes, better schools, and better green spaces are ‘touchstones’ for better neighborhoods; however, nothing exists within isolation, and all sociopolitical factors must work in unison. For schools, she highlights this by noting:

Important as good schools are, they prove totally undependable at rescuing bad neighborhoods and at creating good neighborhoods. Nor does a good school building guarantee a good education. Schools, like parks, are apt to be volatile creatures of their neighborhoods (as well as being creatures of larger policy). In bad neighborhoods, schools are brought to ruination, physically and socially; while successful neighborhoods improve their schools by fighting for them. [emphasis added]

I tend to agree with these simple metrics for success. During her time in battling city planners, she noted that technocrats used income and poverty as determinants for failed neighborhoods. She dismissed this, noting that more often than not neighborhoods labeled as slums were very successful neighborhoods and improper unslumming—be it urban renewal or gentrification—undermine them. This shifting of people through dubious means leads to an unstable school population, in turn leading to schools going in and out of funding.

In all, Jane points to failures in local government as the culprit. She notes, “And our successes are successes at localized self-government. I am using self-government in its broadest sense, meaning both the informal and formal self-management of society.” She seeks to abolish orthodox planning schemes for more hyper-localized methods, e.g. block-by-block or district-based.

Jane grew up in Scranton but moved for work to New York. Jacobs formative work reviewed what American planning had done wrong up until her publication in 1961. While some of the mid-century rhetoric can be a little hard to swallow at times, her work does a masterful job at inductively walking the reader through how our cities began to decay. Her work has key Philadelphia spotlights, notably with an undercurrent of an attack on Edmund Bacon’s hollowing effects of Open Space Planning. Her work continues to inspire community developers to put people first. As Jane writes, “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”

Overall it was a great read. Jane’s uses no-holds-bar language laced with sincerity and matched with dogged pragmatism. She confronts the systems of the day, and ultimately how they discriminate against marginalized communities (back then being non-Anglo Americans, especially people of color). It is a highly recommended primer for anyone who deeply cares about their community and wants to keep it progressive. You can order a copy for yourself here. Enjoy!

Our colleague Ben attended an NCAN Webinar on May 14th summarizing the findings of a research project in which PHENND and other Post Secondary Success organizations participated. The research conducted by Blessing Douglas, DaQuan-Lee Cook, Maggie Jacobi, Mykelle Richburg, and Travis Reginal from the George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration focused on how organizations create ecosystems for post-secondary success. They highlighted 5 key characteristics:

1. Evolution: Strategic Planning and Problem Solving
2. “Data Clearinghouse:” The Coordinating Role
3. Face to face Networking and Meetings: Key to the Partnership Success
4. Facing Challenges: Outcomes Mismatch
5. Challenges and Successes with Data & Technology

First, with Evolution: Strategic Planning and Problem Solving, the team outlined how organizations use strategic planning for long-term success and problem solving for quick short-term solutions. Both are used to grow or tweak things as they come up as well as scale up best practice resources. The culminating results are guidelines for policies and procedures in order to better train community leaders to carry on the work thereby building the organization’s capacity.

Next, with “Data Clearinghouse:” The Coordinating Role, the discussed how often times these organizations coordinate evaluations and partnership data to send out to wider audiences. Much in the way as our newsletters and updates try to be your go to resource guide, other organizations try to share resources to their networks. The major limitations in doing so are differences in data sets or priorities, navigating bureaucracies, and the capacity to store everyone’s data. The team noted that most of this is mitigated through setting clear boundaries in the partnership when establishing the initial MOU or through the first key finding (strategic planning and problem solving).

lastly, in terms of successes, all organizations utilize Face to face Networking and Meetings. If you saw our Google calendars you’d see this as one of our strengths! The team described this key best practice as a way of making partners feel like their success is part of the organization’s broader success. These organizations create such successful networks because the key objective is relationship building. In building these relationships organizations are able to do many things, notably: building boundaries and onboarding materials to increase efficiency and consistency in service delivery; establishing regular contact for crisis management; and widening their network to allow the organization to pivot when needs be.

The team noted that it isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Two key findings show how these organizations are tested and what they do to pull through in success. The first barrier is Facing Challenges: Outcomes Mismatch. The biggest barrier to achieving success as a data clearinghouse is different priorities or metrics for success, especially when different partnerships are in conflict or competition with each other. Not resolving these types of mismatches can ultimately lead to issues in proper resource allocation. acting as the moderator, the convening organizations can often times squash the beef or set very clear expectations for priorities.

Another barrier can be Challenges and Successes with Data & Technology. Essentially, the team noted, it’s hard to make people data driven. However, data often convinces funders among other things. Additionally, how do you promote persistence from student partners to use and collect more data. If there is mismatch in priorities or metrics this can further stymie success. The team noted a few ticks to overcome these challenges. Successful organizations have centralized their partners’ data into easily accessible data visualizations and data trackers shared on their website. Further, they create resource guidebooks that use layperson friendly terms.

In all, these organizations focus their efforts on convening through intentional engagement. They note where conflicts among organizations lie, and they bring them together to resolve conflict and bolster cooperation. Where these is obscurity, they bring people together or meet with partners one-on-one to demystify issues. They do all of they as an issue arise, i.e. they don’t let things linger too long. They are able to build partners’ success through iterative goal setting. This type of goal setting consists of creating open dialogue, re-centering priorities, balancing long- and short-term problem solving, and navigating differences in preferences. Most importantly, their approach is based on using empathy and a community core drive.

For organizations interested in boosting their own post-secondary ecosystems, the team outlined some general actions steps. Begin by asking yourself these questions:

• What is your institutional capacity? What is its limitations?
• How will you balance increasing your footprint and delivering high quality services? Which is the priority for you, if the two are mutually exclusive for you?
• What already is out there? What are your existing partnerships already bringing to the table? Who’s missing from your table?
• How will you manage sweat equity, i.e. ensure not one person is doing all the work?

Overall, before you get started, ensure you have really specific research questions to ask.

The research was conducted by the team using a 4-phase process. They initiated with literature review of methodologies such as 6-Sigma, Collective Impact, etc. They used they to generate actionable feedback and identify promising best practices. The literature review informed their next step–conducting a Qualtrics survey. This survey narrowed down a pool which they used to conduct phone interviews as their following step. Their last step was a call for follow-up document resources such as partnership MOUs. They noted that limitations of the study included its generalizability and narrow scope of analysis. To learn more about the study and its outcomes, you can check out these 2 resources: Case Study: FL CAN and Their Guidebook. 

Principal Robinson, Spring Garden School:

Spring Garden School is located at 12^th & Melon, adjacent to Northern Liberties. The school has 315 students, which is over capacity. The demographics have changed in the last ten years since I started at the school.  Ten years ago, the school was 99% African American.  Now, the school is 61% African American, 35% Latinx, 2% White, 1% Asian, and 1% other/mixed. The ELL population is about 25%. The Special Ed population is 9%. A large increase in the number of immigrant families.

30% of the student body has experienced housing insecurity at some point in their lives. This is not just due to poverty and straightforward eviction but also due to a parent’s incarceration, foster care, drug and alcohol treatment, domestic violence – sometimes a combination of these factors.

It is very hard supporting families in crisis. We have to become conscious of our practice.  We are getting teachers professional development in trauma-informed care. We use PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports), a District-wide approach that reinforces positive behavior rather than punishing bad behavior.  One issue we have, and that CCP has started supporting us with, is finding resources for the incentives such as trips and special events for these PBIS rewards.

The school is in flux constantly. In other schools, the student body is basically set by September. At my school, I have children registering new all year round. These children desperately need continuity and structure to help them feel safe.  Continuity and structure are actually good for all children so when we provide this type of environment for our children in crisis, it helps everyone.

Housing insecurity is often not a one-time event. It can be something that affects them year after year. Thus, it’s not surprising when children experiencing multiple instances of housing insecurity have skill gaps. They need highly structured one-on-one tutoring and support, which CCP has been helping to provide. Though it’s important that those tutors have adequate and appropriate training.

Attendance is a barrier. It is often difficult for parents in these situations to get their children to school on time, every time.  Especially when children are traveling far distances.  The McKinney-Vento Act allows children experiencing homelessness to stay in their original school before being displaced, but this may mean that children are riding buses for over an hour each way. CCP has helped by providing incentives for students who have good attendance.

We need more training for medical providers and healthcare professionals to recognize what is and is not a learning disability. We need to be careful about over-labeling children who have these skills gaps due to crisis rather than to an actual deficit.  This leads to over-representation of black and brown children in special education.

We are creative in reaching out to parents – we capitalize on report card days when we have the highest parent participation. We try to provide resource fairs to parents during those events to connect them to other critical resources in the community.  We need to meet folks where they are at.

We also have a great need for self-care (and externally provided care!) for teachers and administrators experiencing secondary trauma witnessing these crises day in and day out.

Principal Brown, Waring School:

Waring is located at 18^th & Green in the Fairmount neighborhood. We have similar attributes to Spring Garden School.  However, Waring is one of three schools in the District, (the other two being McCall and Kearney), that are designated as shelter feeder schools. Meaning, students in shelters are placed intentionally in these schools. We have students who are doubled up (living with relatives). We have foster students from the YES Shelters. We have students in the US on medical visas living in the Ben Franklin Home.

We did an audit in 2016 and discovered that 65% of our students had ever experienced homelessness.

We have a large Autistic Support program. We are a K-8 school with four autistic support classrooms (though we also practice inclusion).

Our school is located in Fairmount but it is not representative of the neighborhood, which is now affluent. 88% of our students are African American. Our catchment area includes five shelters (including drug and alcohol treatment facilities). I attend monthly meetings of at least one of the shelters, to listen to the parents of children in my building in a place where they are comfortable (and available).

Housing insecurity is compounded by food insecurity. In many cases, if you live in a shelter, you cannot bring in food, so it is hard to keep food on hand. We have a food bank in our school for this reason.  We give out non-perishable items, but we also have a partnership an organization that will provide other items like meat. However we have challenges distributing the food due to transportation limitations – some parents can’t come to the school to pick up the food so we send it home with older children. ZIA has capacity to feed 50 families but right now we’re only servicing about 20 due to the transportation challenge.

School breakfast is critical. If we don’t feed children in the morning we all pay the price. We serve breakfast to everyone even if they come late to school. Same with lunch. We open the building early since some parents need to drop of their children early. I come in at 6:45 every morning, the building opens at 7 AM and breakfast starts at 7:45.

We also need to talk about mention and emotional health. Chronic instability can lead to stress and trauma for students.

This is challenging for teachers and administrators.  We also experience secondary trauma. Our teachers need training on implicit bias, cultural competence. I grew up in this neighborhood, and actually attended Spring Garden School. I can communicate with our families but not everyone can.

We need health professionals to provide services on site. Our families don’t always have insurance or the means to take children to medical appointments.

Despite all of this, we are progressing as a school. We have developed creative partnerships, not just with CCP.  Masterman High School students come and tutor our kids – this is a program the students set up themselves since they recognize the injustice of the disparities between the two schools. We have a Friends of Waring group. They are helping us to open a library.  We have a library but no librarian. We are looking to CCP for volunteers for the library.

We need tutors for classroom support. We need spaces for special events and athletics.  We have no gym or auditorium. We use the cafeteria for both of these purposes and it’s just not adequate.

We just have to show up for kids day after day.  This is social justice work.

Michelle Lopez, Manager, Institute for Community Engagement and Civic Leadership, CCP

Michelle provided an overview of the Institute.  It’s about three years old. The Adopt-a-School program pre-dates the Institute by many years, but prior to its inclusion in the Institute, it mainly focused on tutoring through the Federal Work Study program. Now, the Institute is trying to expand partnerships with the schools, particularly those in the neighborhood around the College, and use a social justice framework to approach the work.

Michelle noted that CCP serves students with many of the same challenges as Spring Garden and Waring. CCP students face housing and food insecurity.  They are likely to be non-traditional age, be working, and/or have children themselves.

Michelle reviewed the goals and services of the Adopt-A-School program.

They have a long-list of special projects and events in addition to the basic tutoring — school supplies drives, community dinners, First Book, and personal care products drives to name a few.  They are also trying to mobilize other CCP partners to provide service to these schools.  For example, CCP works with Junior Achievement’s early college awareness program which brings 3^rd graders to college campuses.  At CCP’s request, JA is now also doing financial literacy at Spring Garden and Waring.

The CCP Marketing office created a children’s book, Oh Dear, What a Career, that explores careers for young readers. They distributed copies of the book.

Some of the CCP tutoring comes through service-learning classes. One of the more successful partnerships last year, was two developmental English courses, ENG 098 and ENG 099, which provided tutoring to kindergarteners in these schools. The kindergarten teachers rated this experience very positively and the CCP students also had increased retention. Unfortunately, this partnership did not continue this school year because the instructor was not available to teach the course.

One big challenge is that students are in crisis – both at these schools but also at CCP.

They have now formed a three-way partnership.  Principal Robinson and Brown are close and collaborate often.  Michelle used to communicate with each of them separately about the needs at their respective schools.  Now she talks to them together – they are becoming a united team and taking a group approach to this work.

PHENND’s VISTA team has grown, with the addition of Dana Kayser as the new Operations Coordinator for the VISTA programs. Dana will be working primarily on the monitoring and evaluating of the program, as well as organizing systems and creating and documenting the policies and procedures of PHENND Fellows VISTA. Dana comes to us from most recently working at the Operations Director of YMCA Macedonia and serving in the Peace Corps. A graduate of Goucher College in Baltimore, Dana is originally from New York and has done 5 years of National Service with AmeriCorps and Peace Corps. She is excited to bring everything she learned from those experiences to help amplify the impact of the PHENND Fellows VISTA program by helping to make data-informed strategic decisions. Besides National Service- Dana loves traveling, curling, dogs, and New York bagels. You can reach Dana at dana@phennd.org.

IMPACT Philly seeks to provide experiential learning opportunities for high school students to cultivate confidence and leadership skills while giving back to the community. With the assistance of Jefferson University, students use innovative problem solving methods to address needs of local non-profits and design practical solutions. 

PROJECT SACRED SCARVES

Team Sacred Scarves has partnered with the Ronald McDonald House to create 250 personalized head scarves for kids and their siblings dealing with cancer for their 2019 Summer Oncology Camp in the Poconos. The scarves come in the form of an activity kit that aims to help childhood cancer patients feel more confident after losing their hair while undergoing chemotherapy. The kits include the following: 

• Customizable box
• 1 pre-designed scarf (Jefferson Fashion and Graphic Design students assist with creating gender neutral patterns, fabric selection and manufacturing scarves) 
• 1 blank scarf for the oncology patients to decorate as they wish
• Fabric markers and stencils to have children color and make their own designs
• General decorating supplies including fabric glue, a variety of stencils, adhesive jewels/stickers etc. for use for the entire group
• Instructions for wearing scarf in various styles 

PROJECT GOAL

The goal of the kit is multi-faceted. In hospital settings, it can be used as a creative outlet while kids are administered their chemotherapy medication. Another area of focus is to partner with organizations that support patients/families dealing with cancer. The kits serve as a bonding activity to provide kids dealing with cancer the ability to express their individualism and boost self-esteem through art therapy.

OUR PROCESS

Team Sacred Scarves had an initial interest focused on finding a way to help younger oncology patients boost their self-esteem. Utilizing design thinking as their problem solving method, students were able to meet with kids who had been hospitalized and dealt with hair loss as a result of illness. After listening to their stories, they were able to create the Sacred Scarf kit to address the needs that stood out to them most. 

With the assistance and resources that Jefferson University is providing, we are able to fulfill this order. The work ethic, mentorship and talent that Renel has provided so far during the prototyping phase has been invaluable.

IMPACT Philly Team

Jefferson University 

• Louise McShane
• Team of Fashion and Graphic Design students led by Renel Forand as Project Manager

Mercy Career & Technical High School

• Business Education Students
  • Sean Colon, Shawna Henderson, Johnnie Leca
• Teachers
  • Lori Aument, Jennifer South
• Facilitator
  • Mary Ruskey

With these priorities in place, the Gompers-SJU partnership has expanded greatly over the past two years, and to date, now comprises of approximately 40 distinct programs that span approximately 20 different departments at SJU. Just a few of the Gompers-SJU partnership programs include:

Mental and Social Well-being:

• SJU education, sociology, and psychology student internships with the school counselor
• Community Health Fair

Physical Activities and Fitness:

• Upcoming Sports Fair – Gompers students and SJU athletes try out a variety of sports
• Upcoming middle school sports teams – SJU athletics will assist Gompers coaches

Afterschool Programming:

• Gompers’ Yearbook Club, Afterschool Program, and Improv Theater facilitated by SJU Campus Ministry, Student Life, and Faith Justice Institute service learning students
• Gompers’ Student Government mentored by SJU Student Government officers

General Academic Needs:

• Classroom Assistance and Tutoring – provided by SJU Campus ministry, Faith Justice Institute service learning, and education students
• Fieldwork Placements – SJU education majors conduct fieldwork hours at Gompers

Science Education:

• SJU biology’s Seedlings Program & Body Adventure Camp (described below)
• Brain Awareness Day – collaboration between SJU neuropsychology faculty and students, local high schools, and Gompers teachers and students

Special Education:

• Principal Support – faculty-principal mentorship on special education planning
• SJU Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support – faculty-teacher collaborations for professional development and student support

The 2019 Lindy Award for Excellence in K-16 Partnerships application highlighted one of our most effective and long-standing partnerships – the Seedlings Program through SJU’s biology department. Now in its 15 year, SJU science majors teach lessons to 4th and 5th grade Gompers students through the Seedlings program. Growing out of that relationship, SJU, along with Main Line Health, provide a free week-long health science camp that includes lessons, field trips and mentorship for rising 4th and 5th graders at Gompers. These two exemplary programs highlight the reciprocal nature of our partnership as both SJU and Gompers students benefit.

Caitlin: What are your initial plans as you are preparing to launch VCDC?

Yi: We are looking to improve the training of college student volunteers who support low resource communities, particularly in Chester. We see a need for more comprehensive, culturally-connected training that addresses privilege and positionality. We want to see trainings that are grounded in an understanding of the lived experiences of the communities in which our volunteers serve and works to mitigate harm.  We want to humanize our trainings so we have more conscious tutors.

Maleyah: We are working towards a Sunday teach-in (from 11:00 – 2:30) for college student volunteers from our network. After food and opening remarks introducing VCDC, we will host a workshop on positionality and privilege, facilitated by student leaders.

Terence: We are also including a workshop on trauma and self-care. We would like volunteers to understand how trauma affects a community. In addition, we want to focus on how to process trauma instead of internalizing it. As volunteers, it is important to take care of ourselves too, so we can be the most effective in our service, and it is not wrong if you want to take a step back.

Yi: We are also developing a workshop on the role of a volunteer. What do high school students need? What can volunteers provide? What are the resources available? What conflicts or problems might volunteers encounter? This workshop will be led by two high school counselors from the Chester-Upland School District. The workshop will be more discussion-based, not just a lecture. At the end of the training we also want to make sure we leave plenty of time for reflection.

Caitlin: What has been your process developing these workshops? Why did you decide on these particular topics, and how did you create the content?

Yi: We had over 70 (seventy) conversations or meetings with student leaders, administrators, professors, and outside organizations. For the privilege and positionality workshop, we are working with student leaders from Swarthmore’s Intercultural Center and the Black Cultural Center.

Maleyah: We also have an Advisory Board that consists of professors, staff, and college access providers. We recognize the need to engage multiple perspectives and acknowledge the work of those who have done this before. We want to learn from previous efforts– what has worked and what didn’t work? We want to be flexible, and provide support where needed. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Terence: Yes, we are very passionate about this work, but we know we aren’t the only ones doing this. We want to make sure we are turning to experts in the community. We have also been receiving a lot of guidance and mentorship from Swarthmore professor, Dr. Mark Wallace.

Caitlin: What are your plans beyond this initial teach-in?

Terence: This won’t be the only conversation. We want to be strategic and have a series of trainings and events, so this is more of a continuous process. To support this we are creating a high school point team of volunteers to talk to students and counselors to figure out what they want out of their volunteers.

Maleyah: The college access field is really collaborative. We continue to expand our community partners and are constantly reaching out to them about future trainings and needs. We know we can’t think of everything.

Caitlin: How else do you see VCDC providing support?

Yi: We are hoping to make college resources more accessible. We want to an arsenal of information and resources on this work. We see ourselves as somewhat of a research think tank, gathering information and feedback from counselors, teachers, and students in the communities our volunteers are serving, so as to constantly inform not only our process, but the relationship between institutions of higher education and the community.

Terence: We would also like to support more opportunities for Chester youth to visit Swarthmore, for more than just the campus tour experience. We like to show students that college is a place where you can explore your passions. We plan to include various places on campus, such as our arts recording studio. We would also like to support Swarthmore students in visits to the school before the trips, to build relationships with the students and ease any nervousness they may have.

Caitlin: One challenge of such student-driven work on college campuses is sustainability. What are your plans to ensure VCDC lives on after you graduate?

Yi: We are student-driven but we are also thinking about sustainability. We have a student core, but we also have core faculty and staff at the institutions that we work with. We’ve thought a lot about how to build relationships between higher eds and K-12 schools, and this process is continually evolving.  We want this to exist within higher education, but not necessarily represent high ed. A distinction has to be made so that it can be truly collaborative.

Terence: Sustainability is definitely important to us. We are expanding our core leadership team and cultivating new student leaders. We want this to be a free space for new ideas so we can adapt to a changing landscape.

Maleyah: Another important piece is consistent collaboration and communication. We host frequent point team meetings, and have a monthly student leader meeting where we provide updates to the entire organization. Collectively we review our timeline and progress towards our common goals. This semester we have really been working smarter and getting more students engaged. We are aware of the time commitment of this work and recognize that is not for everyone, so we are also thinking about other ways our peers can get involved.

Caitlin: Lastly, tell me a little about yourselves. What motivates you all to do this work?

Terence:  I’m originally form Detroit, where I was an Eagle Scout. Here at Swarthmore I am studying pre-law, work at the Black Cultural Center, and am a Class Senator in the Student Government. In high school, an upperclassmen was recommended to me as a mentor, who nurtured my strong work ethic. Because I saw the impact a mentor/mentee relationship can have first hand, I’ve developed a passion for connecting others to resources.

Yi: I moved from China to the U.S. when I was two-years-old and lived near the campuses of Ohio State and Princeton before coming to Swarthmore. While living near these institutions, I saw the inequity and lack of responsibility and accountability to the communities neighboring these institutions, particularly in schools. Originally I wanted to go into teaching, but I did a fellowship at the Chester Education Foundation and was inspired by how they have brought folks from many different perspectives together around college access. Now I am inspired to go into education policy. I’m an English Honors major, with minors in sociology and education. I write poetry, and also have a podcast “A Bitch’s Guide to Books.”

Maleyah: I’m an Honors Sociology major with a minor in Education Studies. I grew up in Brooklyn, and I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer. In 8^th grade I started going to a rigorous academic summer law institute run by Legal Outreach, a local nonprofit. I learned the basics of law and met lawyers and law students. Part of Legal Outreach was a college bound program during the summer and Saturdays that provided SAT prep and professional networking. Legal Outreach was not just a program, but a community that went above and beyond. When I arrived at Swarthmore, I reached out to Legal Outreach to work with them for my LANG Center Summer Social Internship. On campus, I am President of Students of Caribbean Ancestry, where I work to raise awareness of the cultural experiences of students who have lived in, or have families from the Caribbean here on campus.

School District of Philadelphia Resources

Interested in becoming a partner and learning more about process? You can reach out to the Office of Strategic Partnerships. You can also download a copy of the Onboarding Guide, referenced in Ayana’s presentation. You can also view the handout about the School Partner Agreement.

Questions on clearances and background checks? Check out the Offfice of Family and Community Engagement, which  has resources for volunteers, including an online Volunteer Video Orientation.

Curriculum questions? Check out the Office of Curriculum and Instruction. For specific questions about science or math, contact science@philasd.org or math@philasd.org.

STEM Partnership Toolkit

You can download a copy of the STEM Partnership Toolkit that Jamie went through here. You can also access Jamie’s presentation here.

Philadelphia STEM Ecosystem

The STEM Partnership Toolkit was developed through one fo the working groups in the Philadelphia STEM Ecosystem. If you would like more information on how to participate, contact Nancy Peter, Director, McKinney Center for STEM Education at the Philadelphia Education Fund (npeter@philaedfund.org).

Other Resources

• Thursday, January 31, 2019 4:00-6:00 STEM PD Provider Convening II: Aligning your PD Offerings with SDP Curriculum by the Philadelphia STEM Ecosystem Professional Development Workgroup.
• Here is the handout from Latoya on Temple’s Upward Bound Math & Science Program.
• Interested in finding out more about STEM programming in your neighborhood, check out the STEMcityPHL  Asset Map.
• From our resource table, information on summer programs for high school students at Penn.