What our partners are up to

Yesterday evening, we had a great and informative Partners Council meeting. The meeting cleared up some of the confusion surrounding Macon Promise Neighborhood recently, but more importantly featured the impact that a few of our pilot solutions have experienced. Two of the partners gave their experiences along with one of our neighborhood advocates explaining what the neighborhood advocates have been up to.

Katherine McCleod, executive director of First Choice Primary Care, a health care center in downtown Macon, described how the $500,000 received for the construction of a school based health center will be used. "There is a pediatrician on staff but they don't see a lot of action because not many children use our facility." Part of this is due to children and their families not being able to come downtown due to lack of adequate transportation. Unfortunately, this is a reality for many families across the nation. A school based health center at Ingram-Pye Elementary School will make healthcare more accessible to the residents of the MPN due to it being located within the MPN. In turn, this will help make the neighborhood a much healthier place.

Taryn Collinsword, the executive director of Communities in Schools of Middle Ga, spoke about the work done inside of the target schools by Communities in Schools. Last year, 70 Mercer students worked in after-school programs in the target schools of the MPN. All but one student that received this tutoring were promoted to the next grade. Also, site coordinators have been placed at Ingram-Pye Elementary and Ballard Hudson Middle to provide services to about 350 children that have been determined to be in the most need.

Lastly, Joel Chambliss, a neighborhood advocate, described the impact that the neighborhood advocates have had so far on the neighborhood. Because the people in the neighborhood don't have clear connections with each other, neighborhood advocates often hold living room chats inside of resident's homes. The purpose of these chats aren't only to keep an ear to the neighborhood but also to develop and facilitate relationships between neighbors. This has allowed the dynamic of the neighborhood to begin to change and many relationships in the neighborhood are being cultivated and made stronger.

The above examples are only a tip of the iceberg of the work that has MPN has been doing inside of the neighborhood. The work is gaining momentum and with continued support from the community, partners, and Macon, tangible progress in the neighborhood and target schools will be seen.

*picture courtesy of 13 WMAZ

MPN Pilot Solutions

During the previous planning period, Macon Promise Neighborhood and its partners piloted several new strategies in the zone that not only continues the mission of supporting the children of the Unionville and Tindal Heights communities, but also integrate services and share accountability for results. The strategies include the following:

• Big Brothers Big sisters of the Heart of Georgia is utilizing Mercer's Office of Leadership and Volunteerism to train and place 60 Mercer students as mentors for neighborhood children.
• Mercer University has partnered with Communities in Schools to provide 78 tutors in reading and math and Ingram-Pye Elementary School, Monday-Friday. Last school year, 96% of the students were promoted to the next grade.
• Communities in Schools has placed site coordinators at two of the four MPN schools (Ingram-Pye and Ballard Hudson Middle School) to coordinate intensive support services for the 10% of students identified by the schools as the highest need population
• The BCSD Gear Up program has partnered with Mercer professors to train and engage 106 Mercer students as tutors in AVID programs at 4 middle schools, including Ballard Hudson and Bloomfield.
• In partnership with the Workforce Investment Board, Southwest High School counselors, and the local business community, MPN partners have implemented a year-long internship and mentor program for 21 11th grade students at Southwest High School.
• Central Georgia Technical College has partnered with Communities in Schools to offer adult learning opportunities to the parents or older siblings of at-risk children identified and served by Communities in Schools site coordinators in elementary and middle schools.
• The Macon-Bibb County Economic Opportunity Council and Tift College of Education are working together to organize and resource a neighborhood childcare network focused on early learning.
• Tift College of Education and Ingram-Pye teachers are beginning the first steps towards developing the MPN target schools as Professional Development sites.

These pilot programs are only the first steps in improving children's achievement in school and ending generational poverty in the Macon Promise Neighborhood.  

A Fresh Start (Juvenile Justice pt 2)

It is the beginning of a new year. Most of us have spent the holidays with loved ones, got some much needed rest, and have reflected on the past year. Many of us have come into the new year with a sense of renewal and new purpose. We make resolutions such as spending more time with our families, starting a business, becoming healthier, or becoming more spiritual. We do this because we understand the value of second chances and being able to change. Our children who are involved in the justice system need to feel this same sense of change.

In the summer of last year, the Supreme Court barred mandatory life sentences for minors.  In the same vein of this decision, it is important to remember that there are children in our community who have been involved in the justice system and they need to be afforded second chances not only by the state, but also in terms of how we as citizens interact with them. It is a disservice to those children to deny them the chance to become productive members of society when they have reached adulthood because of the mistakes they have made in their childhood and it is important that they understand that the mistakes they made as children may not determine where they end up in life. 

How can we help them get back on the right track? Here are some ideas:

• Help them get extra help in terms of education
• Help them find a mentor
• Hold a professional dress seminar or take them to a store and show them how to dress professionally
• Get them involved in sports or other extracurricular activities
• Help them find a productive way to relieve stress and manage anger (exercise, martial arts/boxing, writing poetry, etc)
• If need be, help them enroll in a drug/alcohol rehabilitation program.

We cannot simply expect the juvenile justice system to effectively give these children a sense of hope. The families and communities of these children can make a bigger difference in their lives. The ideas above are just a few ways to help the kids. What they really need is love, someone to tell them that they are important, and ways to start becoming more productive. All in all, they are the future and we must invest in them.

*picture courtesy of the Nature Conservancy*

Juvenile Justice part 1

Juvenile crime is at its lowest since 1987. Part of this success is due to the deterrence of tough on crime laws that were put into effect during the crack epidemic of the late 80s and early 90s. Drug and gang prevention and education programs were implemented inside of the schools. After school specials helped with deterrence also. Much of this success, however, is due to the decline of actual detention rates with states having lower rates having much lower crime than those that didn't. And while this is good news, there is another aspect of juvenile justice that we cannot lose sight of because it answers the question, "What goes on on the inside?"

The photo blog Juvenile in Justice gives us a peek at what many detention centers across the country look like. Some pictures show promise. Others display what unfolds to be a very traumatic and hopeless experience. Here are only a few of the more popular pictures (taken from various centers across the country).

Return for part 2: "Why the reentry program is vital for juvenile offenders"

Communities of Practice and Promise Neighborhoods

When introducing Macon Promise Neighborhood to people who have never heard of it before, they will tend to ask the same questions such as: "What exactly do you all do", "Why just that neighborhood?", "Where are you located", and every now and then "Are you hiring?" However, after explaining the purpose of the Promise Neighborhood and how it operates, the response may include "Wow, that's neat. Maybe you all can actually accomplish something around here." Although there are a number of organizations existing to accomplish many of the same goals as Macon Promise Neighborhood, Macon Promise Neighborhood sets itself apart from other initiatives and organizations with its use of a layered "communities of practice" approach within the actual neighborhoods, its partners and among other Promise Neighborhoods.

A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a common concern, set of problems or interest in a topic and who come together to fulfill both individual and group goals; it is shared learning in its simplest definition. The theory has been used one way or another since the beginning of recorded history and is used extensively in a wide variety of fields (for instance, teachers who teach the same or similar subjects readily share content, materials, and best practices among each other). Promise Neighborhoods are no exception. Within a Promise Neighborhood, residents may meet to discuss ways to identify and approach a problem within the community, to share issues with Promise Neighborhoods, or simply to fellowship with others who share a similar hobby. Outside of the neighborhood, Promise Neighborhoods collaborate with local agencies to help direct a concentrated effort to establish and achieve goals.

Macon Promise Neighborhood (MPN) uses the Community of Promise theory extensively. In an interview with the Magnet Schools Assistance Program, Project Director Ebony Harris explains how MPN works to establish buy-in, feedback, and participation among partners, “We try to
make sure that we cross sectors as much as possible to help everybody see all levels of participation and all perspectives on how this work is moving forward.” MPN has also made sure that there is feedback and participation at each and every layer of the project, ranging from neighborhood advocates arranging and attending meetings inside of residents homes, to having a council made up of the partners of MPN that meets periodically to measure and monitor MPN's progress. MPN has also begun to collaborate with the other Promise neighborhoods in the state (Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah) in order to share resources and best practices. For instance, through working with the other Promise Neighborhoods in the state, MPN was able to create a web-based data system that was then shared with with the other sites in the state. It's not about competition but more about "resource sharing and lessons learned" says Ebony.

Being a part of a Community of Practice is an excellent way of sharing knowledge, solving problems, forging working relationships and sharing resources. It has allowed MPN to be a lot more efficient in terms of using methods that work along with becoming a source real value to to the community. All in all, more organizations should adopt the CoP theory to become leaner and more efficient in their work.

Poverty's Role in America's Education Conundrum

Within the past ten years, there has been a grand effort in the United States to invigorate its education systems with sweeping changes being implemented. For instance, standardization of learning outcomes ensures that all children will learn the same material. Rigor has increased. Student achievement is quantified and the data drives decisions regarding curriculum and instruction. Teachers, schools, and school systems are being held more accountable for student achievement. Swaths of legislation, education programs, and volunteer efforts have attempted to tackle the issue. This "reform" of sort has brought much success to struggling schools and school districts.  However, time and time again, many efforts still miss the mark, and the country's educational system still lags behind much of the developed world. One reason for this may not be an issue with the educational system but more so of child poverty.

Earlier this year, UNICEF published a report detailing child poverty rates in the richest countries of the world. Interestingly enough, the United States, with 23.1% of its children living in relative poverty, ranks the 2nd highest among the world's 35 richest countries in terms of children living in poverty. If this is the case, it is no wonder that many failing schools exist in poor areas and much of our efforts need to be focused on the eradication of poverty in those school zones.

How exactly does poverty affect learning? Children raised in poverty encounter a number of external stressors that children living outside of poverty don't come into contact with: they receive less cognitive stimulation other than what goes on in school, emotional and social challenges of parents lead to children not having many of their crucial needs met, and they receive insufficient nutrition and healthcare. Each of these stressors are detrimental to the developing brain, and the combination of two or more of them working in tandem generally results in poor behavior and/or academic performance in school. It is no wonder then that there is a gulf in achievement between more affluent students and those living in poverty.

As we can see, the answer to the country's conundrum in regards to academic achievement may not solely be one that concerns the education systems. With a sizable population of school-aged children living in poverty, there seriously needs to be an effort to relieve and eradicate poverty and its effects in zones of failing schools.

The New Adult Education

In years past, when people heard the words "Adult Education", a certain stereotypical image came to mind. One pictured a high school dropout who finally had come back to school in order to obtain a GED. These students accomplished this by going to night school at a small technical institution in a program that may have ranged from a few weeks to a few months. At the end of the program, the students took the GED exam and, upon completion, received a diploma.

While there is no doubt that these students still exist today, "Adult Education" has evolved into something much broader that includes the following:

• Adult basic education programs- these include General Education Development (GED) programs along with adult high school programs.
• ESL (English as Second Language) programs- these include classes for adults who's main language is not English and need to learn the language in order to pursue the job or career of their choice
• Vocational and technical diploma/certification programs- these programs prepare students to work in a specific trade, craft, or technology.
• Apprenticeship programs- formal, on the job training leading to journeyman status in a skilled craft or trade
• Work related learning- classes designed to increase the efficiency of employees 
• College and university degree programs- classes are designed to count towards a degree ranging from an associates to terminal degrees.

Along with being able to serve the learning needs of almost any adult, Adult Education programs have become extremely streamlined in helping students reach career goals. Providers now create highly specialized programs that focus on desired segments of a local population. This increased specialization in turn creates opportunities for people that may not have been available without the program along with increasing the level of education of the population as a whole. One such institution that has streamlined its programs is Central Georgia Technical College. Boasting 190 certificate, diploma, and degree programs, campuses and centers in 7 counties in Georgia, and online and distance learning programs, CGTC can offer courses in just about any industry imaginable. 

However, one program that CGTC offers mirrors a trend in a number of other cities. At no cost, the PowerUp program helps students earn their GED in 6 months along with assisting them with jumpstarting a career. CGTC understands that there are many environmental issues that may block students from participating and the PowerUp program offers eligible students childcare, meals, transportation, and more. Many Adult Education programs are doing the same by recognizing that people aren't completing their educations due to lack of competence. More often than not, those who participate in the programs drop out because of happenings outside of school. Schools realize that if they can help students remove or simply get around those barriers, then they may have a chance of changing a few lives.

And that, in itself, is good.