Our Three Phase Effort for St. Louis Education

The Ferguson Library was peaceful as always. The regulars were sitting at their regular seats or using their regular computers. A group of adults was in the small conference room just a couple feet away from the colorful kids' corner. And off in the very back of the library, in the room that was once filled with over 50 kids and dozens of volunteers, there were now four of us, with sugar just within reach and homemade whiteboards leaning on a wall.

Sugar + Whiteboards = Plans

I learned this equation while taking one of Wash U Professor Anna Shabsin's classes when I was in law school.

A few miles away from us, protesters were marching in downtown St. Louis. People from near and far joined together to protest police violence in the wake of the Mike Brown shooting. From my personal experiences and observations, the protests also criticize the inequity of opportunity that too often characterizes the St. Louis region (and our region is certainly not alone). A large protest later moved to the Shaw neighborhood, where another teenager, Vonderrit Myers, was a victim of an officer-involved shooting just a few days ago. Last night and early this morning, the protest moved onto St. Louis University's campus. This weekend was named "Ferguson October."

No matter where you land on this protest movement, I think most of us can agree that our kids ought to have better opportunity. And no one who has driven just a few minutes around the St. Louis metropolitan area can say that all of our children are getting an opportunity.

So we were in the library, drawing out diagrams and plans. Someone had an idea? It went on the whiteboard. A concern? A long discussion until it was addressed.

What we ended up with was a way to make sure kids have support in three phases of education:

1) Support inside the classroom by offering volunteer teaching-assistants to interested teachers to help identify kids who need extra attention and then give it to them.

2) Enrichment outside the classroom through the EEC summer academy that will emphasize character building by putting kids in simulations where they will have to solve the greatest crises our world has to offer. In a world that's gone mad, we'll put the kids in charge and see what they come up with. And we won't just do it in the summer anymore. We'll extend our programming to weekends to stay connected with our kids throughout the year.

3) Mapping of kids' futures both within schools and outside of them as kids apply their academic and character skills to choose the futures they want, be it college or whatever else they want to do when they graduate from high school. We need to give kids a chance to be what they want to be.

All three of these supports work off of each other. They're designed to make sure that a kid who "slips through the cracks" is caught by another supportive aspect of the overall system.

Will it work?

I don't know. I think back to hearing Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone speak at St. Louis University a couple of weeks ago, how he said he tried so many things to help finally reach a solution for Harlem. And I think about the seven years we've been in St. Louis, how we've been moving to this triple-support system for a long time, how we've seen successful outcomes.

That's why I think it will work. I also think it will take a lot of hustle (or huStLe, as one might say in this city) by the overall community.

Unfortunately, St. Louis is a community divided. It was divided before the protests began, but this division was ignored. We are committed to bringing people together so that we can explore solutions together, especially when these solutions can give our kids a better chance to choose their own destinies.

So for our next upcoming project.... I'll just wait for the next blog post. Stay tuned.


Elad Gross
President and CEO
Education Exchange Corps
www.EdExCo.org 

College Readiness Program Coming to Ferguson

Kids were everywhere. Several 5-year-olds were chatting away while coloring at their tables on one side of a partition, many younger kids were sitting on a mat nearby doing some sort of loud reading activity, a line of second-graders marched right in front of me on the way either to the library book stacks or to the large-ish back room where a gazillion older kids and volunteers excitedly embraced the controlled chaos that was the Ferguson Library program.

In the midst of it all, as Governor Nixon came through and Captain Ron Johnson visited and a number of other celebrities shared a moment with the kids, an older gray-haired gentleman sauntered up to me as I was just dropping off a new kid to her group. "Here," he said. I expected to be given another kid to take to her class, or maybe another pack of donated food to place by the lunches. Instead, in this man's hand, was a gray t-shirt, emblazoned on the front with the phrase, "I [heart] Ferg."

The surprise knocked me out of my auto-logistics mode. Amongst all the excitement and attractive insanity of holding a makeshift school at a local library, this man's face was totally normal. I had met the man a few hours earlier in the morning when I was greeting kids and parents into the library. He asked me if I had gotten a Ferguson shirt yet. I said no. He disappeared. And now here he was. All he wanted to do was give me a shirt. Sometimes, the most memorable thank-yous don't ever make use of those two words.

I wrote about the great work the St. Louis community did in Ferguson at the library a few weeks ago (a lot, actually: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). We were fortunate and honored to be able to help.

But since the program ended, something has kept drawing me back. Something about that library, about the kids, about the volunteers, about the whole atmosphere was enchanting.

So we're coming back.

We will be working with the library, the school district, and whomever else wants to get involved to provide college readiness programming for kids and parents on Saturdays. We'll talk about kids' current perceptions of college, their dreams, and what they can do today to make sure they have options when they graduate from high school. We'll provide help with standardized testing preparation. And, as oft happens with such programs, we'll give kids another level of support: mentors to talk to as they go through the academic year and beyond.

Eventually, we plan to provide these college readiness workshops at multiple locations on the weekends, rotating from one site to the next to reach even more kids. Based on the six plus years I've been working with underserved kids in St. Louis, I can tell you that this kind of programming is desperately needed.

We're excited to start in Ferguson.

Over the past several weeks, many folks in St. Louis and around the country have been taking part in tough conversations. Some people feel deeply passionate about what Ferguson so starkly demonstrated to the world. Others don't know how to feel. Some believe that they don't have a right or a true ability to feel because, in part, they don't know how to contribute.

But, no matter how you feel, there are at least a few things most of us can agree with. One of those things is that kids today should have a real shot at charting their own futures, should have the support they need to have real opportunity. And you can give them that.

You don't need to be good at math or the ACT to help a kid. All you really have to do is listen. Too many kids today grow up thinking that their society does not value them and is not willing to care about them. You can change that.

You can change how a kid thinks about herself just by being there, by paying attention to her and the stories she wants to tell, by answering questions about what being an adult is like, what being in high school was like for you. This is what our kids need from you.

We've always looked for ways to get as many qualified volunteers involved in kids' educations as possible. That's why we are holding these workshops on the weekend. If you can, we're asking for just a little bit of your time. And that little bit will make a world of difference.

Years ago, when I was young and impressionable, I had a mentor tell me, "Just go change the world." He said it as an order, as matter-of-factly as a parent telling you to wash the dishes or take out the trash. No matter what life has thrown me, I keep finding ways to work with kids because I believe it is the best way to change the world. And maybe I'm paying my many mentors' service forward.

By working with kids, we can escape the politics that have plagued the adult world. Kids bring out the best in adults, and they bring adults who never knew each other before together under a common banner. I've seen volunteers make lasting friendships with those they serve and with those they serve with. These programs became a magical world of their own, generating experiences that make everyone involved better.

St. Louis, you want a way to heal the fissures that have torn our city apart? Come join us. Email me at Elad.Gross@EdExCo.org.


Elad Gross
President and CEO
Education Exchange Corps
www.EdExCo.org

Ferguson Library: A Summer Day Full of Chills

I keep thinking about the multiple moments I got the chills today while working at the Ferguson Library. The good kind of chills. The kind that precede progress.

200 kids.
100 volunteers.
A TON of donations.

Just another day at the Ferguson Library!

When I arrived early this morning, the library was closed to the public, but that didn't stop families from lining the sidewalk in anticipation of the 9:00 AM opening. After coordinating some of our volunteers and speaking with the other wonderful staff, I did my thing. I walked out the door, pen in hand, donning a time-tested maroon button-down, and started getting parents and kids fired up for the day. They still had ten minutes before they could go in, but I was compelled to make sure even the moments in the morning heat on the sidewalk would be fun and engaging.

The day started and the kids poured in. Parents remembering Mr. E from yesterday cheerily shouted "Hello" and "Gooooooood morning!" right back at me, some beating me to the punch. I had a few kids hug me or demand high fives as they entered. I'd only met them yesterday.

One child insisted that he knew me from somewhere other than the library. No matter how much I disagreed, he was convinced that I was a teaching assistant at his elementary school. This was my first time working with the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

The surge of students quickly filled the library. Once we were full, we sent kids to our overflow site at First Baptist Church just down the street. Thanks to the wonderfully well organized folks at Springboard, we had plenty of arts, music, dancing, and other activities for our kids to do. Because of the efforts of the church, Springboard, the library, and all of the volunteers, from our organization, Teach for America, and so many other places, we were able to accept every child who came to us to learn.

And we had visitors too: Governor Jay Nixon; Captain Ron Johnson and several officers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol; Judge Marvin Teer; St. Louis City Alderman Antonio French. I watched kids line up to talk with Captain Johnson, but only for a second. The Pre-K kids needed a story to read, and the Science Center staff came in to do my favorite experiment: SLIME!

I should also mention that Jack Dorsey of Twitter-fame was there yesterday. He volunteered for much of the day with a friend. He joined a legion of St. Louisans who have given so willingly of their time to make these children feel special.

Due respect to all of our visitors, but I was absolutely floored when I heard the familiar, low, radio-ready voice of high school football teammate and righteous dude Anthony Wise. He just got in from out of town and had to volunteer. I took him with me and he settled down with our Pre-K crowd.

Anthony is a tall man. He towered over these kids and spoke with a booming voice--the kids loved him! I came back a while later to see him pick out a book to read out loud. I sat down to watch as the kids interacted with him and asked him questions in the middle of the story about a boy and his alien friend. Other volunteers started watching too not just because he is engaging, but because he actually wasn't reading the story at all. He was making up a story, with the kids, based on the pictures in the book. I had to leave because I was tearing up laughing. He'll be back tomorrow.

The day wound down. Parents picked up their kids. I gave every kid and parent the old don't-eat-your-slime joke on their way out. The high school students I am coordinating as volunteers helped reunite kids and their parents. Two middle school brothers weren't picked up. Well after the program ended, after exhausting all resources, I walked with them to their grandmother's home.

We talked about a lot of things on our walk: jet planes, the neighborhood, the protests in Ferguson. We even passed through the protest being held in front of the Ferguson Police Department. Our conversation was natural, nothing pressed. The younger kid told me he felt like I was his cousin.

After getting them home, I walked back to the library alone. I passed through the protest again. I stopped to invite parents to bring their kids to the library tomorrow. One man said he volunteered there today. I thanked him, he smiled, and I left him standing on the street with a sign.

I skipped one piece of the day. As I was waiting for someone to pick up the two brothers, two young black men asked to do an interview with me. They traveled from Virginia to show the real story of Ferguson. The interview turned into a conversation about education in the whole region, about the importance of giving every child a chance, about what we can do when we decide to work together.

Toward the end of the interview, I got the chills, those good ones, not just because I am passionate about education and kids and our future, not just because of the outpouring of support this program has received, but because the men who were interviewing me, who were there just to document my words, were nodding in agreement.

I invite you to join us at the Ferguson library again tomorrow. Click here for the details.


Elad Gross
President and CEO
Education Exchange Corps
www.EdExCo.org

Call for Volunteers: Teach in Ferguson

Schools are closed. But kids want to learn!

The Education Exchange Corps is supporting the efforts of Ferguson-Florissant School District teachers, in partnership with the Ferguson Municipal Public Library, to hold classes for kids Pre-K-8th grade this week. We're calling on volunteers to work with kids for however much time they can.

Where: Ferguson Municipal Public Library, 35 N. Florissant Rd.

When: Anytime between 9:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Thursday and Friday 8/21-8/22

What: Lead and/or assist others leading group activities for students

Why: Just because the school district is closed doesn't mean they shouldn't learn!

Today, I spent most of the day at the welcome desk of the library to greet parents and kids, get them registered, answer phones, and dole out the EEC's soon-to-be-patented form of logical discipline. I also organized high school students to serve as volunteer assistants during the program. It was a long but wonderful day. The teachers of the district were out in force, and the kids were funny, open, and so happy to be there.

Tomorrow, the Ferguson-Florissant teachers will be gone for professional development. We'll have several retired teachers, Teach For America members, and other volunteers coming to help, but we can always use more motivated, active, engaging people who are willing to step up and work with kids with little instruction from others. We had 150 kids show up today, and the more active volunteers, the merrier.

If you come, I guarantee I'll be super supportive. I know I won't be the only one. Not only will you help a bunch of kids, but you'll also get to work with some very special people, like Mr. Washington.

I promise you will not regret it.

If you cannot volunteer, you can still donate supplies.

To get involved, contact me directly either by email at Elad.Gross@EdExCo.org or by phone at 314-753-9033.

Elad Gross

President and CEO

Education Exchange Corps

www.EdExCo.org