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History of Project 
Over half of the families in the Shadowwood mobile home community in the northern part of Champaign are new, Spanish-speaking immigrants who are struggling to create new lives for their families. They must overcome minimal incomes, cultural differences, language barriers, and a sense of social exclusion. In the Fall of 2005, the afterschool program that had been offered at Shadowwood was terminated, leaving young at-risk students there, most of whom attend Booker T. Washington School in Champaign’s Unit 4 District, without the support they needed. In December 2005, Ann Bishop, Lucia Maldonado, and Fernando Reyna (Shadowwood family advocates and members of the local Latino Partnership Outreach Committee) met with Shadowwood residents to discuss their needs and aspirations and develop some possible responses. The most pressing needs identified by families who participated in the discussion were:
The tasks of addressing these needs necessitated a community approach. The proposed Community Funds of Knowledge action research project was established to respond to those needs with an innovative approach that recognizes the “hidden assets” and entrepreneurial spirit of Shadowwood families. It has been developed collaboratively by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Booker T. Washington School (BTW), Shadowwood families, and the Latino Partnership. The project identifies and links the knowledge assets held by at-risk families to the school curriculum, providing bilingual education in a socially meaningful context. The Community Funds of Knowledge project identified the following goals:
The Booker T. Washington School SOAR Program (Student Opportunities for After-school Resources) began in February 2006. With no available options for academic support, parents were desperately worried about the future of their children, who were falling more and more behind in school. Initiated by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at UIUC, GSLIS initially partnered in the afterschool program with the Latino Partnership, a non-profit association of organizations who meet monthly to share information about services for local Latino families, and the Booker T. Washington School (BTW). The BTW principal, Sherry Alimi, provided both enthusiastic support and physical facilities for the program. Principal Alimi also prompted the establishment of an important cornerstone. She was a strong advocate for multiracial participation that would include both Latino and African-American children, for two reasons--there were African-American children whose need for help was equally great and there were rifts between both children and the constituencies advocating for them that she hoped would not be perpetuated if the community was to help at-risk children in north Champaign succeed. Parents and teachers perceive benefits to student learning from the BTW SOAR Program. This perceived benefit of the program from teachers was discovered in an unfortunate manner. In November 2006, a new afterschool program was offered at Shadowwood for about four weeks. Due to its greater convenience for families, many Latino students began attending the new program instead of coming to BTW. Several teachers stopped by the SOAR program to find out what had happened. They were very worried, reporting that their students were no longer completing their homework and were falling behind in class. In February and March 2007, two informational sessions were held with parents to update them on the program and gain their feedback. In these sessions, parents reported that they thought the SOAR program was helping their children with their schoolwork and that they were pleased with the support their children were receiving. Learning/Family Strengths/Stories are three points of a model triangle for program activities. The design and implemention of ideas for learning and enrichment incorporate all three elements. Two examples are the “Family Strengths/La Fuerza de la Familia” exhibit created by the students and the Story Studio held in connection with the Family Resiliency Center Open House in March 2007. On Fridays at the BTW SOAR program, visiting storytellers presented narratives that emphasized family strengths and students then created their own pictures, poems and stories about strengths in their families. Their work was mounted as an exhibit at the Open House (and later at BTW). At the Open House, Professors Ann Bishop and Betsy Hearne coordinated the Story Studio, in which children, accompanied by their parents, wrote out their stories and made their own books from construction paper. Older BTW students learned how to use PowerPoint to create a poster of their stories for the exhibit. The Story Studio books are being turned into multimedia products that include video of the children reading their stories with the words and pictures forming an animated background. Each participating family will receive a CD with all of the stories from the Studio. |
Morey, October, 2007