Friday, February 25, 2000
Agency guides homeless kids through studies
Mother leans on Project Connect
BY JIM HANNAH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Without Project Connect, Stacy Johnson is convinced her children would fail at school.
Ms. Johnson is a 25-year-old homeless, single mother of four who depends on the tutoring services offered by Cincinnati's only organization devoted exclusively to homeless children.
Her three school-age children — Dashawn, 8; Dayshawnna, 7; and Ebony, 5 — attend Oyler Elementary School in Price Hill.
“Their after-school tutor helps them with their reading, their math,” Ms. Johnson said. “She makes sure their homework is complete. If the children need more help than others, they get that special attention.”
Project Connect serves children ages 3-17 in Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont counties. The agency, supported by federal, local and private funding, was founded in 1996. It helps an average of 1,500 children a year.
“They went to after-school programs before, but this one comes to (the shelter) where I'm at,” Ms. Johnson said. “I don't have to worry about transportation. And the tutors work with the schools, so the kids can't get away with saying they don't have homework.”
All of the agency's eight tutors are certified teachers.
Ms. Johnson's children have been in the Project Connect program since they became homeless four weeks ago. She learned of the program through the Interfaith Hospitality Network shelter in Lower Price Hill. Ms. Johnson stays at the shelter with her 3-year-old daughter, Staish, during the day and travels with her four children at night to a church , where they sleep.
“Typically, homeless children represent the poorest of the poor and receive the least amount of services, recognition and support,” said Paul McDole Jr., school community coordinator for the agency. “Project Connect advocates on their behalf to change this oversight.”
The agency operates after-school tutoring programs at nine homeless shelters and one community center in Cincinnati.
The room out of which the tutoring program operates at the Lower Price Hill shelter where Ms. Johnson stays is called the “Project Connect room.” It has a small library of children's books, a set of encyclopedias and three computers.
“It's often very traumatic for the mother to end up here,” said Vernita Hill, the center's supervisor.
“But the children usually don't want to leave. They enjoy their time here with the tutors, and working on the computers.”
Among other services offered by Project Connect:
• Help in obtaining documents necessary for school enrollment, including birth certificates, transcripts and immunization records.
• Transportation to and from school.
• An eight-week summer camp that includes tutoring, field trips and swimming.
• Backpacks filled with school supplies.
“All (Project Connect) deals with is keeping homeless kids in their schools, keeping them updated on their homework, educating them,” said Lisa Siegel, a board member of Project Connect Homeless Children's Fund, which raises money for the agency.
“A lot of time the only way you are going to beat poverty is to have an education.”
IF YOU GO
• What: Third annual Children's Faces without Places Benefit, a Project Connect fund raiser featuring '50s and '60s music of Hoodoo Caminos and the Green Horns.
• When: 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday.
• Where: York Street Cafe, 738 York St., Newport.
›Tickets: $25 per person. There will be hors d'oeuvres, a cash bar and silent and live auctions.
• Information: 357-5720.
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