Strategies for Hope: Corps Keeps Focus on Education

Martin Friedman

Philadelphia Inquirer April 1997

A first grader in South Philadelphia comes to school two or three days a week in dirty clothes, hair not combed. He rarely speaks in class, does little work and is almost reclusive. His mother has no phone and does not respond to notes sent home from school. At the request of the boy's teacher, Darryl starts spending about an hour a day with the youngster. They talk. Darryl has him write in a journal - at first only a few words at a time, then a sentence or two, now four- or five- sentence paragraphs. Darryl sends notes home to his mother. Eventually, a permission slip comes back signed, so they take a field trip together and then another. The boy's now coming to school four to five days a week. He has become talkative and outgoing. He plays with other children. He combs his hair.

A first grader from North Philadelphia is living with his grandmother now that his parents have returned home to South America. His grandmother speaks no English, keeps to herself, perhaps lives in fear. He's a behavior problem and poor student. The Eagles Eye Mobile came to the school, and the student is found to be nearly blind in one eye and to have problems in the other. Sonia takes charge, going home with the student to talk with the grandmother; taking them to Wills Eye Hospital for additional diagnosis, and translating what the doctors said. There is a remarkable change in the student, who now participates fully in school and in an after-school program.

Sonia and Darryl are two of the nearly 200 individuals serving in Philadelphia's largest AmeriCorps program, the National School and Community Corps (NSCC). The NSCC began with 75 corps members in 10 schools in 1993-1994 and now serves students and families in more than 60 schools throughout the city. More than 15,000 students have participated in the NSCC's programs, which include tutoring, mentoring, homework help, reading, science, music, theater, chess, sports, and recreation.

Before school, students get breakfast; their homework is checked, and they start the day on a positive note. During school, students play during socialized recess; go to special time-out rooms when they interfere with others' learning; get the extra help and attention they need - when they need it. After school they participate in clubs, get leadership training, deal with the problems of adolescence and play in a secure environment. There are programs on Saturday and in summer, too.

For the students living near Third and Indiana and neighborhoods like it, NSCC provides and alternative to the life of drugs and hopelessness that so many young people, especially young men, fall into. For children still too young to engage in that life and feel that despair, the NSCC helps them become engaged and hopeful. The immediate results?

Students miss less school, do more homework, get better grades, and are more attentive and motivated in class. Teachers teach more and discipline less. Their frustrations go down, and satisfaction goes up as students get the help they need to succeed.

The NSCC works, for many reasons. The corps members are one key. They range in age from 18 to 83. A few didn't graduate from high school; some have Ph.D.s; many attended or graduated from college. Perhaps most important, about half of them come from the neighborhood in which they serve.

The Third and Indianas of our cities are rich with people who have much to give but who sometimes need a structure to bring them out. The NSCC is a strong partner of the School District of Philadelphia and its Children Achieving agenda. As a critical element of the district's newly established Family Resource Network, the schools and central administration have supported the NSCC's growth over the last three years by matching the federal AmeriCorps fund nearly dollar for dollar (making the NSCC the largest AmeriCorps program serving in a single school district in the nation).

Corps members are fully involved in most school's governance and planning groups. The actual work of each team of corps members is determined locally. Parents, principals, teachers, corps members and people who live in the school's neighborhood decide what they will do. This approach keeps the program focused on what each community actually wants and needs, helps develop trust and acceptance, and prevents this program from being one "dropped into a neighborhood by outsiders," even though NSCC is operated by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship of Princeton.

Significant emphasis is put on collaboration. Last year more than 160 agencies, organizations, businesses and groups worked with the NSCC. These included municipal agencies and programs, such as the Family Centers, established by the Mayor's Children and Families Cabinet; numerous community-based organizations such as Taller Puertorriqueno; other nonprofits such as the United Way; and businesses from local bodegas to large corporations.

Like all AmeriCorps programs, the NSCC is about service. While its members are given a living allowance (of less than the minimum wage) and a voucher for post-secondary education, they receive a great deal in personal growth and satisfaction as they give back to the community. For many, it has become a strategy for hope.