Innovative Program to Help Students and Families

There are many reasons why a kid might not be doing well in school.

The child could have special educational needs, as 25 percent of students in East Providence’s public school system do, according to . Or the student could be hungry, because his family is facing a language barrier when it comes to applying for food stamps. More than 10 percent of children in East Providence live in families that fall below the federal poverty line.

Those children and families are the ones that school and community leaders are looking to help with an innovative partnership between education administrators and social service organizations.

"We're looking to move the needle," for child welfare measures in East Providence, said Jeanine Achin, executive director of the Newman YMCA.

For more than a year and a half, East Providence school and non-profit administrators have been working on a project known as the Watters Student and Family Resource Center. East Providence Superintendent Mario Cirillo said the idea stemmed from the recognition that superintendents alone don’t have the answers.

The school system is working with social service organizations  — the Newman YMCA, the Boys & Girls Club of East Providence, the East Bay Community Action Program and Meeting Street — on the initiative. It will be housed in a former school on Hoppin Avenue in Riverside.

School and community leaders hope the consolidation of services in one location will help them to follow at-risk children and their families starting prenatally and past graduation.

“This is an opportunity to really do something special and provide services that right now are scattered and bring them under one roof,” Cirillo said. The non-profits would have satellite operations at the center.

The Watters project is based on a model that was launched in Maine and has received national recognition because it involved the collaboration of social service agencies that typically compete for resources, such as the YMCA and Boys & Girls Club.

“The school system and the non-profits with their expertise work together to help provide the services that are needed,” said Ken Walsh, CEO of the Alfond Youth Center in Maine, who worked as a consultant on the Watters project.

The goals are to both raise students test scores and increase the high school’s graduation rate, according to a grant application written by Erin Gilliatt, director of the East Providence Boys & Girls Club, in which she also used the example of the hungry child.

Some members of the school committee who took office in December originally expressed skepticism about the project because of the city’s financial situation, but they are now on board.

School committee members Chrissy Rossi and Ryan Tellier sat down with school officials and heads of the agencies.

“One after another, for several hours, they spoke to the wonderful programs that they will be bringing to our community," Rossi said in an e-mail. "Their programs will aid our chidren in growth and development, learning, financial matters, homework help, and a host of social and economic services to go along with it."

“We listened and asked questions. They each have their own licenses, insurance and areas of specialty. In the end, the deal closer was that it will not cost the City or the District any money. Zero Dollars and Zero Cents. A win-win in my opinion."

"The only question left is: 'When can we get started?'" she added.

School facilities managers have been working to make sure the center is up to code and it is scheduled to open in September. Project leaders are anticipating an initial enrollment of 75 students, according to the grant application. Children will initially be bused in from Waddington and Oldham elementary schools and Riverside Middle School.

The number of children the center can eventually serve will be determined in part by the amount of grant funding the project receives, Achin said.

The project has already received three grants and because it involves a partnership of social service organizations, which is looked upon favorably by donors, it’s in a good position to receive more funding down the line, Cirillo said. 

The services provided at the center will start with Meeting Street, which serves children with multiple disabilities and their families and plans to launch an early intervention location at the site and teach parenting skills.

The YMCA and Boys & Girls Club have combined aspects of their after-school programs that give children practical experience, such as cognitive thinking games like Scrabble, Lego Engineering and a career launch program.

The program would also include tutoring and homework help that tie specifically to math and literacy skills that organizers are hoping will help improve test scores.

Achin anticipated that because of the partnership between the schools and the non-profits, teachers would work with students as well.

Then, the East Bay Community Action Center would provide job training and career development and service referrals.

Walsh, of the Alfond Center in Maine, said his program was the first nationally to combine a Boys and Girls Club and YMCA under one roof, which he joked was like merging the Yankees and Red Sox.

The facility there is 72,000 square feet and he said donors have looked favorably on the partnership aspect. Though the organization has also reportedly had layoffs because of the tough financial times, Walsh said the facility built an endowment from nothing to $9 million in ten years, he said.

“The basic thing," he said, "is especially during tough economic times, non-profits need to look at working together and streamlining their efforts for the best interest of the community."