|
Center of Hope Holds Banquet to Honor Community Partners
By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor
The Center of Hope Family
Services, Inc held its second annual celebration on
Thursday, May 14 at the Toledo Club to acknowledge the
support its community partners have extended in order to
bring success to the agency’s after school program.
The ELEVATE (Engage,
Learn, Empower, Volunteer, Achieve, Teach, Enrich) Program,
which engages 50 students at Old Orchard Elementary School,
along with a first-year pilot program involving 25 students
at McKinley Elementary, provides after school and summer
programming for students in grades kindergarten through
eight.
ELEVATE offers services
such as academic intervention with certified teachers;
education enrichment;
social/emotional/physical/health/wellness education; career
preparation; mentoring; parent engagement, meals/snacks and
Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools Summer Program.
The program, operated by
Center of Hope Family Services engages a number of community
partners in order to accomplish its mission including:
Toledo Public Schools, WSOS Community Action Planning
Agency, the Ohio Department of Education, Toledo Mud Hens,
Kistler Ford, ProMedica, Ohio State Extension Program, Lucas
County Commissioners, Pathways, Inc, Toledo Community
Foundation, the Children’s Hunger Alliance, Plate 21 and the
Children’s Defense Fund.
“We are guided by
collectivism,” said Executive Director Tracee Perryman
during the evening’s opening remarks. ELEVATE, Perryman
said, uses the “village model,” in order to “make the
American dream a reality for most if not all” of its
students.
|
Jen Lawless, Valerie Dreier, D.L. Perryman, Stacee Perryman,
Willetta Perryman, Aufwiedersehen Winfield
Rev. D.L. Perryman, Tracee Perryman, and
First Lady Willetta Perryman
Toledo Councilwoman Sandy Spang, Trace Perryman, LC
Commissioner Pete Gerken
Trace Perryman and WSOS Jackie Wells |
|
ELEVATE has had a presence
at Old Orchard for two years and during that time results
from an outside evaluator indicate that 50 percent of the
students have improved their reading scores, compared to the
state average of 31.25 percent. In math, 56 percent have
improved their scores compared with the state average of
30.5 percent.
“Our goal is to continue
the ELEVATE Program,” said James Gault, Transformational
Leader of Curriculum for TPS. “This is a successful program;
we would like to replicate this program across the district,
so that all students have the opportunity to learn and
maximize their potential.”
Kistler Ford has become
part of the collective effort that Perryman touts for the
success of ELEVATE. “We want to be part of the process at
the beginning,” said Josh Harnegie, director of community
engagement for Kistler. Harnegie stated that the reason for
Kisler’s involvement is both a matter of practicality and a
desire to be a good corporate citizen.
“When you do good, good
things happen,” he said of the corporate citizen aspect.
However, he also noted that Kistler, as is the case with
virtually all auto dealerships, is always trying to locate
employees for hard-to-fill positions such as auto
technicians. He estimates that there are 2,000 such
positions open in Ohio alone just at dealerships, and as
many as 5,000 in total.
“These are people that
could get hired right away,” said Harnegie. “Students aren’t
even aware until too late. We want to help expose them to
jobs and careers in this age group.”
That sentiment was echoed
by Perryman who emphasized that part of the mission of
ELEVATE is to make students in the K-8 grade age group aware
of the career tech possibilities that TPS offers in its high
schools.
The pilot program at
McKinley is expected to expand to include 100 students
within the next several years. |
