| Welcome
to the July-August issue of Provplan’s e-newsletter. A
major theme in this issue is “rites of passage,”
with summer graduations at YouthBuild and Ready to Learn. It
really is wonderful to see families and friends gather to celebrate
the accomplishments of the YouthBuild trainees and the Americorps
and professional development graduates at R2LP.
The program will be funded through R2LP’s U.S. Department of Education Early Reading First (ERF) grant and will be offered at no cost to Providence families who qualify. As a demonstration space for “best practices” in early childhood education, the classroom will serve as a dynamic professional development resource for ERF teaching staff, CCRI students and faculty, and early childhood educators throughout the city. Susan Zoll, who most recently served as director of R2LP’s first ERF program, will bring more than 20 years of experience as an early-care educator and administrator to her role as lead teacher. An R2LP AmeriCorps member will be assigned to the classroom full time, and R2LP coaches will provide additional support. The R2LP classroom helps to address the impact of the child-care subsidy cuts on families as well as on R2LP’s ERF program. Those cuts caused sharp declines in enrollment in most of the ERF child-care centers.
‘Definitions
belong to the definer,’ keynote speaker tells YouthBuild
graduates While in prison for more than six years for selling drugs, Idarraga became a voracious reader and began to think, for the first time, about what he wanted out of life. In May the 30-year-old graduated from Brown University with a degree in literature and economics, and this fall he is headed to the Yale Law School.
“YouthBuild has laid the foundation,” Idarraga said, “but it is just the beginning. It begins by taking small purposeful steps to take control of our families and our communities. Let us define and set our own specific goals. Definitions belong to the definer, not the defined.” Cesar Ramirez, one of the 16 graduates, told the audience that filled the Columbus Theater that YouthBuild had served as his “wake-up call.” Having sold drugs and failed at various GED programs, “I felt like I hit bottom,” he said. The small class size and the individual attention and support he received at YouthBuild made an enormous difference, he explained. “Nothing in life is easy, but you are not a product of your environment.” Stephanie Federico, Providence’s chief of education policy,
applauded the parents, friends and others in the room who have
supported the graduates. “You have helped make all this
possible,” she noted. [more on YouthBuild
Graduation...] “For 30 weeks you came to Ready to Learn Providence to learn how children read and write,” Leslie continued. “Then you went back to your settings and transformed the way your children learn.” Participants in the ECEPD program, which is funded with federal dollars, complete two college-level courses in early literacy and receive intensive support from course facilitators and mentors in their settings. A rigorous external evaluation will measure the effects of this intervention on some 850 children.
The celebration was held on June 13 at the Providence Academy of International Studies. Families and friends filled the large auditorium to applaud the accomplishments of the providers. “The children you care for will be more ready to learn
because of you,” predicted Jerry Hatfield, chair of the
Department of Human Services at Community College of Rhode Island.
“The children you teach are going to improve the world
and that’s in large part because of the work you do. There’s
no work that’s more important.” [more
on Providers Honored...] R2LP’s AmeriCorps
program seen as the ‘ideal’ “There is no more important thing you can do than to give to a young person and make them ready for the world,” added Bernie Boudreau, who now heads the R.I. Service Alliance. Bernie previously served as director of the R.I. Food Bank.
“For me, this is the most important program we have at R2LP,” Joyce Butler told the graduates on her final day as R2LP’s director. “I could not be prouder of anything I’ve ever done.” [more on R2LP AmeriCorps...]
Leslie Gell to head
Ready to Learn Providence The announcement was greeted with a hearty round of applause from her colleagues at R2LP, where Leslie has served as director of professional development since 2006. In that role, she has been responsible for the day-to-day management of the $3 million Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Grant as well as R2LP’s many other professional development initiatives. Leslie succeeds Joyce Butler, who served as director of R2LP
since its inception in 2002.“I’ve got some tough
shoes to fill,” says Leslie, “but Joyce has created
an extraordinary foundation upon which to build, and build we
will! Collectively, we’re an incredibly strong organization,
and R2LP will continue our work towards realizing the vision
that all children will enter school and healthy and ready to
learn." Anthony Hubbard to
lead programming at YouthBuild Providence Anthony earned a degree in business management and finance from Johnson and Wales University in 1996. He joined YouthBuild after working as an administrator in the financial and health-care sectors for nearly a decade. During this time he also served as a volunteer after-school program coordinator for the John Hope Settlement House where he organized programming, assisted in event planning, and taught the hip hop dance/step team. Anthony says no job has been more rewarding than those he has
held at YouthBuild. “Seeing the sustainable changes in
the students’ lives is a lot more meaningful to me than
my previous work,” he says. [top] In September 2007, the state eliminated child-care subsidies for families who fell above 180 percent of the federal poverty level, disqualifying about 1,900 children statewide. If demand for the R2LP classroom exceeds the number of available slots, enrollment will be based on a lottery of children who meet all of the criteria.
Parents of children admitted to the program will be required to sign a participation agreement requiring attendance, child assessments and at-home activities. The program will run 11 months a year from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. R2LP is about to enter the second year of its second ERF program, which seeks to create “centers of educational excellence” through various forms of professional development and support. [top]
“You made a decision to make your lives better,” Daryl Wright of YouthBuild USA told the graduates. The staff, program and students at YouthBuild Providence, he added, “are among the best in the nation.” The graduates were members of YouthBuild Providence’s 11th class. In addition to classroom instruction, GED preparation and community service, the students built a house for a low-income family at 74 Appleton Street in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood. The graduates were: Providers
Honored , cont. The early-care educators in this professional development program work in a wide array of settings – center-based child care, Head Start, and family child-care homes – in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls. A second group of about 150 providers will begin their coursework in September.
“If I hadn’t taken these classes, I would never have been able to do what I’m doing now for my children and my children’s parents,” said Miosotis Rodriguez, a teacher at McMichael Head Start Center. R2LP’s ECEPD grant for $3.2 million was one of just three awarded in 2006. It represents a partnership with CCRI, the Providence Public Library and Wheelock College. Speakers at the celebration were: Joyce Butler, Leslie Gell, Jerry Hatfield, Catherine Grundy and Miosotis Rodriguez, both teachers at McMichael Head Start, and three family child-care providers: Celeste Thomason, who was acknowledged as the first person to complete the new early childhood certificate program at CCRI, Adriana Muñoz and Delba Nuñez. [top] R2LP
AmeriCorps , cont. “When this program began three years ago,” noted Pat McGuigan, ProvPlan’s executive director, “I didn’t know what to expect. Now I can’t imagine R2LP without AmeriCorps. You are one of the key ways we unite the work we do with the people of Providence.”
This year’s team was the third in R2LP’s first three-year contract with AmeriCorps. A second contract will fund an even larger program – 35 members – for an additional three years. Eight members of this year’s team are returning for a second year of service. That program gets under way August 1 with a month of training before the members begin their assignments. [top]
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This
fall, pending approval from the R.I. Department of Children,
Youth and Families, Ready to Learn Providence will open a small
preschool program on the Liston Campus of the Community College
of Rhode Island in South Providence. The classroom will serve
up to 18 three- to five-year-olds who no longer qualify for
child-care subsidies because of the state’s new eligibility
requirements.
“If you don’t define your own future, it will be
defined for you,” Andrés Idarraga warned the YouthBuild
graduates at their graduation ceremony on June 20. “I
let my environment mold me and what was expected of me, and
I ended up in prison as a result,” the keynote speaker
added.
After
an extensive four-month search, Pat McGuigan announced on July
23 that Leslie Gell has been asked to serve as director of Ready
to Learn Providence.
Andrew
Cortés of ProvPlan announced in June that Anthony Hubbard
has been promoted to program director of YouthBuild Providence.
This move allows Andrew to focus on the external work of YouthBuild
Providence, while devoting more of his time to leading Building
Futures, ProvPlan’s newest initiative. “If we didn't
have Anthony’s talent and dedication, this restructuring
wouldn’t have been possible,” said Cortés.
“I have complete confidence that our young adults will
thrive under his leadership.” 
