Legacy Community Health Fund Gives to WSU Program for Homeless Kids, Student Teachers

Post date

CONTACT:

VANCOUVER, Wash.- Thanks to Susan Finley, Vancouver's homeless students have happier summers and brighter futures.

The Washington State University College of Education associate professor founded At Home At School, which provides fun educational activities and tutoring for hundreds of needy youngsters every year. The seven-year-old AHAS program also ensures that future teachers enrolled at 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø understand the lives of children who, when the final bell rings, head home to a crowded shelter or even a tent.

Now, other communities will benefit from the lessons AHAS organizers have learned. A grant from the Legacy Health System's Community Health Fund will pay other faculty members to take over Finley's teaching responsibilities, giving her the time to evaluate the fast-growing program in which WSU students work with underprivileged youngsters.

"We've always had three equal goals: kindergarten through 12th grade education, teacher education, and research," Finley said, noting that she has needed more time to devote to that third goal. "We have a huge database of field notes that describe students, student learning, curriculum pieces. Specifically, we want to know: Does the program help K-12 students bridge achievement gaps? Is the experience helpful when graduating teachers get their own diverse classrooms?"

The $170,000 grant will pay for three years of research.

"The At Home At School program was selected because it addresses community inequities, an area of priority for Legacy Community Health Fund," said Kari Stanley, director of community relations for the Portland-based Legacy Health System, which includes six hospitals. "Student mobility is a major factor in lack of academic achievement, and Dr. Finley's research will promote development of best teaching practices that help youth facing significant social and economic challenges."

The Legacy Community Health Fund supports major community health care initiatives in Oregon and southwest Washington. The fund was created in 1998 from a $10 million endowment by the Legacy board of directors and is designated for unmet community needs. Up to $500,000 in grants is available annually from the health fund. Since the fund's inception, over $4 million has been directed to support health and social service initiatives at 125 nonprofit programs.

AHAS gets its name from the notion that children should feel "at home at school"-comfortable and secure. The program began in 2002. Finley-an artist and activist as well as an educator-had just arrived at 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø from Michigan State University.

"I don't know how she got my name, but the director of a shelter called and said she'd heard I was interested in homelessness," Finley recalled. "She asked if I could help them set up a summer program."

Based first at the shelter, then at a school, the summer program provides lunch for children and includes such activities as video storytelling, and environmental science.

It started out with 25 youngsters and is expected to enroll 400 next year. Participants now include low-income children who aren't homeless or who are otherwise low-status, and underserved students. AHAS also provides mentors for about 100 students throughout the school year, and sponsors Saturday art and environmental classes. The program is joining with the Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center and Project Green Build to construct an outdoor environmental classroom, a project that just received a $50,000 Swift 4 Kids Grant.

During the years of growth of AHAS, Finley chaired 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø's master in teaching (MIT) program. The MIT degree is designed for people who have an undergraduate degree in some other field, and decide they want to go into teaching. Students must spend 50 hours in a "field diversity experience." For most of them, that means working with At Home At School.

"I pretty much fell in love with it. I saw there as an immense benefit to the community and to myself," said Kris Hackett, who is now student-teaching a sixth grade class. Hackett is one of 17 AHAS Scholars, teachers who receive help paying tuition or making school loan payments in exchange for volunteering with the program. She coordinates the school-year tutoring in homeless shelters. "It's a huge effort in these shelters to find an isolated, quiet area for these children to do their homework," Hackett said.

It's also hard to come by pencils, paper, dictionaries, art supplies and, of course, computers. "One of our goals is bridging the technological divide," said Finley. AHAS is operated on a shoestring budget of in-kind and small grants. There's a long list of needed items on its Web site, .

Erica Nicewonger, an MIT program graduate, is impressed by the community of people who make AHAS a success. "Everyone feels comfortable, whether you're a student learning or a teacher learning," said Nicewonger, now the program's volunteer director of service learning. "It's a beautiful mix of people from different backgrounds."

June Canty, academic director for the College of Education at 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø, is proud of the AHAS program. "I've visited it, have seen our teacher candidates working with the students and know it has had a positive impact on their learning. It's an integral part of our MIT elementary summer experience and Susan deserves all the credit for keeping this going and helping it to grow and serve more kids."

Photos - click thumbnails for high resolution images.

  • Susan Finley, 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø associate professor of education and founder of the At Home At School program for Vancouer elementary students.

  • Teacher Kathy Hardy, a graduate of the 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø master in teaching program, with two students in the At Home At School program.