» Elev8 Update

» Fact of the Day

» STEM and Cover Girl

» Principal Have Our Hearts

» Police Dept. Training

» Come Read with Us!

» Feeding the Community

» Howard U. Pitches In

Elev8 Baltimore, an initiative

of Humanim, Inc., partners

with schools to prepare every

student for a successful

transition to high school.

elev8baltimore.org

IN THIS ISSUE

ABOUT

Schools have enormous jobs to do. And they can’t do it alone.

For students to be successful, schools need willing partners to provide the “outside-of-the-classroom” things that all children need and deserve. That’s where community schools come in.

What are community schools?

Community schools use a strategic set of partnerships and opportunities layered into a school to affect the conditions of learning for the students there. Successful community schools employ a full-time coordinator who works in close partnership with the school’s principal—and alongside the community’s youth-and-family centered programs—to provide resources and opportunity that otherwise might not be within the students’ reach.

The community schools coordinator sweats the small stuff. They handle all the student-related challenges that are not about math or reading or science. They meet kids and families where they are around issues such as hunger, homelessness, generational poverty, access to work, extended learning opportunities and leadership and development, among other things.

The idea seems like a no-brainer. Kids can’t learn if they are hungry or worried about where they’re going to live or caught up in the fall-out of a parent who has lost a job. And schools—though deeply committed to their students—have little time, staff or resources to tackle such concerns in a comprehensive way.

Community schools begin to address these problems, by freeing school principals to focus on vision and leadership; educators to focus on teaching; and students to focus on learning, playing, growing and succeeding. (Continued on page 2)

SPRING 2016

Elev8 UPDATE!BALTIMORE

“The next national community schools forum will be held here in Baltimore in 2018. We can’t wait to show what our students, school partners and communities can do!” Alex Warrick Adams, Director

As a result, the community schools movement, which has been a quiet force for many years, is growing. And Elev8 Baltimore is a part of it.

This spring, 15 people connected to Elev8 Baltimore boarded a plane and headed to Albuquerque, NM. Three students, two parents, two volunteers, a school principal, Elev8 Baltimore staff and I set out for the Community Schools National Forum 2016, to learn more about how to better incorporate the latest research and best practices of the community schools movement right here in our city.

Those of us who attended came back more knowledgeable and even more inspired than before. I can’t describe how moving it is to see hundreds and hundreds of likeminded people who are passionate about supporting children and families, and building community.

As we head into the last few weeks of school, we’re still feeling the energy. One highlight was a visit to Emerson Elementary School, a successful community school in Albuquerque.

Rochelle Machado, principal at Arundel Elementary/Middle School, found exciting ideas at the conference that she intends to bring to Arundel next school year, such as a “Homework Diner” where students, accompanied by their parents, come to school once a week for tutoring and homework help from the school’s teachers. Afterward, everyone enjoys dinner together.

“The visit to the school was enlightening,” she told me afterward. “It helped me to see the power of the community school strategy and what our community school can become.”

Machado’s words resonate with me: She can now imagine what her community school can become.Every day that I spend time at Elev8 Baltimore’s community schools with leaders, partners, students and parents, I see the fruits of our community-school-building labor. Students run up to show off their improved report cards. Parents feel comfortable visiting the school—and tell you so. Attendance is growing in all of our afterschool activities.

Imagine how much progress we could make if more schools adopted the community schools model. With more investment in and support for community schools, imagine what our students—what our city— can become.

Community Schools, Cont.

Elev8 Baltimore / 1701 N. Gay Street / Baltimore, MD 21213 / (410) 381-7171 / elev8info@humanim.com

Elev8 Baltimore staff, community schools coordinators and parent and community advisory board (PCAB) member Candace Baxter (far left) show their enthusiasm for the 2016 Community Schools National Forum.

The number of students who participated in Out of School Time during the 2014-2015 school year.

FACT OF THE DAY

520The number of participants has more than tripled since 2010-2011.

»

Thirty future Cover Girls from Arundel Elementary/Middle and William Pinderhughes Elementary/Middle schools were swept off their feet this February, not by the prospect of a modeling contract, but by the brilliant minds behind the Procter & Gamble (P&G) brand. A busload of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders participated in a day-long tour of the P&G plant in Cockeysville, Md. learning how STEM is in everything—even makeup.

“They got to see all the things P&G is responsible for, like laundry detergent, soap, and other everyday things,” says Kellie Brown, Community School Coordinator at Arundel Elementary/Middle School.

Brown and a fellow coordinator learned of the opportunity during a STEM summit organized to increase girls’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math. “There are an increasing amount of STEM jobs but not enough women who take that route,” Brown says.

Each P&G scientist introduced their specialty to the girls and explained how they use STEM every day. They learned how P&G uses 3D printing in prototyping, and they learned how scientists use biology and chemistry to test new products and gauge how materials may react with skin.

“The great thing is that these were all young Black women,” Brown says. “As they were introducing themselves, some of them shared that they were in sororities. Some showed pictures of themselves traveling or with family, so the girls got to see how they live.”

The students had lunch with the scientists, then toured the floor of the plant where lipstick and eyeliners are made.

At the end of the day, each student received a gift bag filled with Cover Girl products, and the opportunity to be mentored by their host scientists.

“We’re definitely hoping to do this again next year with a new group of girls,” Brown says.

These Principals Have Our Hearts!

Congratulations to William Pinderhughes Elementary/Middle School Principal Federico Adams and Arundel Elementary/Middle School Principal Rochelle Machado, who are being honored this month with a “Heart of the School Award”!

Tickets are still available for the awards ceremony on May 23rd at the Hippodrome.Purchase tickets here.

Proceeds from the event, which is sponsored by the Fund for Educational Excellence, will help establish a new Principal Support Fund that will provide grants to a wide variety of principal-driven projects. We’re very proud of the work of all of our Elev8 Baltimore principals. Join us as we congratulate Mr. Adams and Mrs. Machado for this achievement!

30 Elev8 Students Dive Into STEM with Cover Girl

Celebrities and supermodels have nothing on the real life STEM stars Elev8 Baltimore students met at Proctor & Gamble, the makers of Cover Girl, this school year.

Tough Questions, Honest Answers During Baltimore Police Department Training

Less than 24 hours after shocking video was released showing a Baltimore school-based resource officer assaulting a teen, 27 seventh- and eighth-graders from Arundel Elementary/

Middle School headed to the Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School to spend the day with Baltimore City Police officers.

The visit was a part of a program developed by Outward Bound and the Baltimore City Police Department, matching every Baltimore City police officer 1:1 with a young person from Baltimore City for a full school day. The exercise is built into the Baltimore City Police Department’s training requirements.

“Some students didn’t even want to go anymore because of that incident,” says Kellie Brown, Community School Coordinator at Arundel Elementary/Middle School. “It didn’t matter to them that the officers we were going to see weren’t the same as the officers at Outward Bound.”

But the students went anyway for a day of trust-building activities with the officers—which seemed even more necessary, as a result.

Many of the students selected to participate in the day’s events have had “interactions” with the

police, Brown says. “So it was very interesting to see them engage the officers.”

Each student-officer pair completed a series of activities, including rock climbing and an open dialogue session, but not before each participant completed a pre-assessment that gauged their biases and preconceived notions about one other.

“‘How come when we’re downtown, you always make us leave?’ That was one of the questions the students asked the officers directly during the large group discussion,” Brown says. Officers explained the protocol they have to follow when a call or report is made.

“Many of the students were able to see that not all police officers feel a certain way about youth and vice versa,” Brown says.

While it is not clear how officers’ overall conduct or attitudes toward young people in the city of Baltimore are being affected, the program, whose earliest form was established in 2008, lauds its results so far.

According to data compiled by Dr. Peter Winch, a professor of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, such interactions are helping to “dissolve…tensions and long-held stereotypes on both sides,” with youth remarking that they found “officers less aggressive, racist, rude, strict and scary.”

The program will run every Thursday through the end of the school year.

Elev8 Baltimore / 1701 N. Gay Street / Baltimore, MD 21213 / (410) 381-7171 / elev8info@humanim.com

Elev8 Baltimore is partnering again this summer with the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom Schools® program to help engage students in learning throughout the year. Over the years, scores of Baltimoreans have signed up to spend a morning with us, reading to students, and our young people have been enriched by each Guest Reader.

We’d love for you to participate by reading to students one morning! The summer program runs from July 5th to August 4th. If you can make it on any of those dates, we’ll be lucky to have you! Sign up here: http://www.elev8baltimore.org/opportunities/learning/guest-reader

Come Read with Us!

Snow Storm? sNOw Problem! Arundel and Partners Feed the Community During Winter Blizzard

Of the, nearly, 85,000 students attending Baltimore City’s Public Schools, 84 percent are eligible for free or reduced-price meals—and many students eat one or two meals a day at school. For a full week of closed schools in January—as a result of the biggest snowfall of the winter— some of those students might have faced hunger.

“We realized that many scholars may be missing out on adequate meals,” says Kellie Brown, Community Schools Coordinator at Arundel Elementary/Middle School. As the snow days piled on, the Family League of Baltimore and Baltimore City Schools worked together to open recreation centers as food hubs.

“The Family League of Baltimore asked us if we would open our doors to families so they could have access to food during the school closures,” Brown says. “We didn’t hesitate.”

“Cherry Hill is a food desert,” Brown continued. “Even if it’s a nice, sunny day, there’s no food to get to. No one came to shovel anything out, and after a few days, even if you were prepared for the storm—you’d need help restocking supplies.”

Brown and Arundel principal Rochelle Machado, who live closest to the school, reached out to parents via robo-call and email. By Tuesday, January 26th—four days after the first school closure—the doors of the school were opened, with 100 meals to give.

“Only about five or six kids showed up,” Brown says.

Brown, Machado and a parent quickly decided to pack up the meals, snacks and juices, and drive into the surrounding community.

“As soon as we got to the corner, kids started coming over and taking the food,” Brown says.

In less than 15 minutes, the meals were gone.

“Everyone was just thankful that they had an extra meal,” Brown says.

Over the next few days, teachers and other principals in the community joined the effort, and worked to inform parents and families. The team even distributed meals to a nearby senior center.

By Friday—a week after schools closed for the first time—the team had distributed 1,000 meals.

Over the next few days, teachers and other principals in the community joined the effort, and worked to inform parents and families. The team even distributed meals to a nearby senior center.

By Friday—a week after schools closed for the first time—the team had distributed 1,000 meals.

Arundel students and Cherry Hill neighbors come to pick up free meals during the storm.

Come visit us or give us a call!1701 N. Gay StreetBaltimore, MD 21213elev8info@humanim.com410.381.7171

Get in Touch

Elev8 Baltimore / 1701 N. Gay Street / Baltimore, MD 21213 / (410) 381-7171 / elev8info@humanim.com

Howard University Students Spend Spring Break Bringing Bison Love to Pinderhughes

Spring Break is usually a time to rest, regroup and refocus after months of hard work and excellence-chasing. For college students, it’s usually a time to catch up on studies or take a much deserved break after hitting the books all semester long.

But over this year’s break, one group of Howard University (HU) students decided to use their free time to volunteer at William Pinderhughes Elementary/Middle School. Armed with Subway

sandwiches for lunch and a strong desire to make a difference in the lives of the elementary and middle schoolers at the school, 11 undergrads from HU spent the week in service.

After a short orientation, the Howard students—who had majors ranging from education to political science to psychology—were quickly put to work. Dispersed throughout the building in different classrooms including resource classes like art, the “Bison” did an incredible job of working alongside teachers and one another to truly make a positive impact on the students and the school. They proved themselves to be excellent role models and inspirations to the Pinderhughes students—some of whom will be applying to college themselves in just a few short years.

The university students mentored, tutored and acted as much-needed gophers. They hugged, joked with, encouraged and befriended the Pinderhughes students and quickly became part of the family.

At the end of the week the Howard students were saddened to leave and the students and staff were even more depressed to see them go.

The good news: We’ll get to do it all again with a new dynamic group of Howard students next year!