By MELANIE ASMAR
Monitor staff
Monday, July 16, 2007
One muggy morning last week, Laurie Hart and Lindsay Conway knocked on the brown screen door of Batulo Mohammed. Inside, Mohammed, a refugee from Somalia, sat with her four youngest children in their sparsely decorated apartment.
Until recently, 2-year-old Medina stayed quiet during the Even Start visits. Last week, she jumped right in.
Hart and Conway, educators with the grant-funded Even Start program, took a seat on the tile floor. Conway pulled toys out of a canvas bag - plastic blocks, some colored wooden pegs, a few books - and the entire family crowded around. Two-year-old Medina, who was quiet during the weekly visits until a month ago, sat so close that her knees touched Conway's.
"Yellow duck, yellow duck, what do you see?" Conway read from a chunky book. "I see a . . ."
"What color is that horse?" Conway asked.
"Blue!"
Conway has been visiting Mohammed and her children at home for more than two years. In that time, Mohammed has learned English through adult classes, her children have learned English through preschool, and the family has grown to include 18-month-old Hassan and 6-week-old Sangabo.
Last week, Sangabo lay sleeping in the folds of her mother's dress as Mohammed sang the ABCs with her older children. Even Start will no longer exist when Sangabo is old enough to sing along.
Because of cutbacks, grantees who have received federal Even Start funding for 12 years or more are no longer eligible, said Dottie Fair, the state Department of Education's Even Start coordinator. That includes Dame School, whose program serves families all over Concord and runs out next month.
"Even Start is designed to be a demonstration program," Fair said. "The expectation is that over time, the program is absorbed within the community. But the reality is that the coordination piece is a really hard piece to keep going without additional dollars."
Since 1988, Even Start has granted money for what Fair calls a "full program approach" to family literacy. The program has four components: adult education, early childhood education, literacy and parenting skills. Since 1995, Dame's yearly $150,000 grant has paid for adult education classes, preschool classes, three staff members to coordinate and do home visits, and parenting classes.
In that time, however, the amount of federal money set aside for the program has grown and shrunk. Last year, the amount available decreased from $225 million in 2005 to $99 million. The number of New Hampshire towns participating has decreased as well, from a high of seven to a low of three, Fair said.
To be eligible for Even Start services, a family must have at least one child younger than 7 and one adult who has not finished high school. About 20 Concord families enroll each year and generally stay with the program for two years. To participate, families must take part in all aspects of the program.
"It's not like a menu," said Dame Principal Ed Barnwell. "They can't just go for their GED and not do the family literacy component or the parenting classes."
In the past few years, 90 percent of the families served by Even Start have been refugees. The grant says the federal monies must help those "most in need," and Barnwell said refugee families fit the bill.
Shifting demographics have changed what the program does. Instead of helping parents earn their diplomas and read to their children, Even Start educators focus on helping parents read field-trip permission forms and understand what to do on a snow day or a school vacation. Instead of pushing families to get back on track, the program serves as an essential link between home and school.
"It's intimidating for families to even make a phone call to the (school's) main office when they don't speak English," Conway said. With Even Start, "they know they can call us and we'll understand."
Hart, who serves as the program's coordinator, said the home-to-school piece will be missed most.
Home "becomes the place where we make our connection with the family and build that trust," Hart said. "Then we can begin to broaden their world in terms of education."
There are other agencies in the city that visit refugee families at home, educators said, but none that focus on all four pieces of the Even Start program. Barnwell said the schools will look to fill the gaps with other grant money, including a recently won $135,000 21st Century enrichment grant.
Barnwell said the schools' application was "more slanted toward family literacy."
"There will be some transitioning into other ways to find the resources to meet those needs" after the Even Start grant runs out, Barnwell said. "You have to at least try to find the resources."
Educators hope to offer some of the same services next year, though they'll be truncated. Hart will stay on part time through the 21st Century grant, but Conway and the other Even Start educator will not. There will no longer be a special Even Start phone line. And there will be no one versed in both the refugees' lives at home and at school; Conway can rattle off the names of all of Mohammed's children, their ages and whether their development is on track. Is Medina talking? Can Fartun count?
"It will be a huge loss for the families," Conway said, "because we know that when you provide early education support, you can see what a huge difference it makes in school."
Melanie Asmar can be reached at 224-5301, ext. 321, or by e-mail at [email protected].
Source: Concord Monitor, July 16, 2007