Spring Break
Chicago HOPES for a better future
Mary Ondrusek
Issue date: 1/31/07 Section: Closer Look
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With its brightly painted walls adorned in crayon and construction paper, the tutoring center at Cornerstone Community Outreach (CCO) shelter looks like the typical children's after-school program. Volunteer tutors, mostly college students, sit waiting at tables, and around 3 p.m. students start to trickle in. By 3:20 p.m., the kids are absorbed in puzzles, spelling lists and math games. Yet at 4:30 p.m., when the tutoring session ends, these students won't necessarily have a traditional home to return to. The majority of them will join their families at CCO or another city shelter for the disadvantaged, displaced and underprivileged.
Recognizing the educational achievement gap and the great disadvantage that homeless children in the Chicago Public School system face, AmeriCorps volunteers Jamie Hetherington, Stephanie Chacharon and Jennifer Fabbrini created the after-school tutoring program Chicago HOPES, which stands for Heightening Opportunity and Potential for Educational Success.
"Our mission was to start after-school sustainable tutoring programs in homeless shelters that would offer homework help, academic assistance and enrichment opportunities," Hetherington, 23, said.
HOPES offers tutoring on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at CCO, as well as at the Maria Shelter, located in Englewood. Hetherington, who works with the Chicago Public Schools Homeless Education Program, is exposed daily to realities of homelessness.
"Eighty percent of CPS kids are low income," Hetherington said. "And last year we had 10,500 homeless students enrolled in the Homeless Education Program. I don't think people are really aware of what a big problem it is."
These children have been dealt hands that often hinder their performances in school. According to Hetherington, their transient lifestyles often move them from school to school, sometimes more than a couple times every year. Statistics have shown that it can take anywhere from three to six months for a child to academically readjust after a transfer.
Recognizing the educational achievement gap and the great disadvantage that homeless children in the Chicago Public School system face, AmeriCorps volunteers Jamie Hetherington, Stephanie Chacharon and Jennifer Fabbrini created the after-school tutoring program Chicago HOPES, which stands for Heightening Opportunity and Potential for Educational Success.
"Our mission was to start after-school sustainable tutoring programs in homeless shelters that would offer homework help, academic assistance and enrichment opportunities," Hetherington, 23, said.
HOPES offers tutoring on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at CCO, as well as at the Maria Shelter, located in Englewood. Hetherington, who works with the Chicago Public Schools Homeless Education Program, is exposed daily to realities of homelessness.
"Eighty percent of CPS kids are low income," Hetherington said. "And last year we had 10,500 homeless students enrolled in the Homeless Education Program. I don't think people are really aware of what a big problem it is."
These children have been dealt hands that often hinder their performances in school. According to Hetherington, their transient lifestyles often move them from school to school, sometimes more than a couple times every year. Statistics have shown that it can take anywhere from three to six months for a child to academically readjust after a transfer.