Head Start is not just for kids anymore.
Of course, it never was, although that has been the popular image of the highly successful early childhood education program.
Now a new pilot program, humorously self-dubbed by Head Start parents as “No Parent Left Behind,” has given a new lease on life to seven participants. They learned employability training skills practically in the classroom next door to where their kids are building with blocks and learning to play as members of a group.
The seven graduated in a moving ceremony on Friday at the Helene Grant School. Three already have jobs.
It seemed like a no-brainer — to bring job-training skills right to where parents already spend lots of time with their kids. But until Keith Young, a longtime Head Start administrator at the Helene Grant School on Goffe Street, talked to STRIVE-New Haven, an eight-year-old workforce development non-profit, which does the training, it simply didn’t exist.
Young, Head Start’s male involvement coordinator, is pictured kneeling on the left with STRIVE’s Andy Orefice). “We hope to expand the program in the fall to maybe 30 parents,” he said.
Take Cory Strickland (below, in the middle), the only father in the pilot graduating class. He was volunteering in the classroom of his son’s Head Start teacher, Michael Ellison (at Strickland’s right), when Young asked him to participate.
“I didn’t like to get up in the morning,” Strickland said, “or dress in anything but jeans, or follow through on things. All that’s changed now,” he said. “Now I wear a suit everyday. I love it.”
He’s also bound for Gateway Community College to begin the coursework so he can be a professional early childhood educator, like his male model, Michael Ellison, to complement his female role model, his mom.
“My mother ran a day care center in Hamden,” Strickland said, while he waited for his “graduation” ceremony to begin. “I helped her out for nine years.”
Strickland, like all students in the first pilot class, according to Young, fell somewhat off the regular employability path. After stints working in a warehouse and in a hair salon, and in retail — and without a seriousness of purpose — Strickland seems to have found and accepted his calling, thanks to male models like Young, teacher Ellison, and, now the opportunity provided by STRIVE-New Haven.
STRIVE’s figured out, it appears, how to teach “soft skills” with tough-love training classes on self-esteem, communication skills, and self-marketing
If job-ready clothing is an issue, STRIVE has a clothing bank where students can go and select what’s appropriate. All this seems to have turned Strickland and the other graduates onto a new chapter in their lives.
The class ran for three weeks, from 8:30 to 11:30 right at the school. Thirteen started the class. Six dropped out, including two of the other males.
“We ask people to leave,” said Orefice, who is director of programs for STRIVE, “if they don’t live up to the attendance, punctuality, or appearance standards that will be asked of them in the business world. There’s nothing punitive about it. The people can and do come back for a different class, when they are ready — and we help them find what they need to be ready.”
In Strickland’s case, said Young, it was a struggle. “When he was late and then skipped a class, I called him and, you know, I read the riot act to him. I told him to set that alarm clock, no excuses. After that, he was on time and he learned a lot. He’s really transformed.”
A fourth week of training included attending computer skills classes at STRIVE headquarters at 904 Howard Ave. STRIVE provided the staff, time, and materials to Head Start all for free. “We gladly did it,” said Orefice, “in the spirit of ‘if you build it, they will come.’”
He’s likely right as Helene Grant is the city’s largest Head Start site by far, with 400 kids and 700-plus parents. In addition to more STRIVE classes, Young said he’s almost closed the deal for the Board of Ed to bring G.E.D. classes to the Helene Grant campus as well.
“[Superintendent] Dr. [Reggie] Mayo likes that idea too,” Young said. “Look, we are between Dixwell and Whalley Avenue here, and we have a lot of people who need the services. We hear too often that they don’t want to go to the boulevard for G.E.D. or over to another neighborhood. Yes, sometimes transportation is an issue. However, when STRIVE came here, there were no more excuses.”
One of the reasons the program works, said Young, is that trainers such as Tirzah Kemp and Yolanda Ecton (on the left and right in the second picture from the top of the story) speak in what he called a “real style” to the trainees. “That means there’s truth-telling and self-criticism, and what’s called ‘getting out of the box,’ and all done with love. These people need to know what they have to overcome, and they do.”
At 21 and 48, Sardea Borrero (on the left in photo) and Davida Wilson were the youngest and the oldest in the group. Borrero, a certified nurse practitioner, is five months pregnant. She overcame a period of homelessness during the month-long STRIVE pilot, Ecton said. She was regularly in touch with the STRIVE staff, which found her a place that offered stability. She received a special award for her achievement.
STRIVE distinguishes itself from similar training organizations, Orefice said, by high standards and follow-up of up to two years after the finishing of a course. “These people,” said Young, “did not know each other before they took the class.
“Now look,” he said, with eyes glistening with tears of pride. “They’re family now. Their own family, and ours as well.”
The hugs and expressions of support and gratitude were, he said, “better than the Oscars,” precisely because they were genuine.
Joy Quickeys, one of three graduates who already have a job lined up, said, “I’ve learned so much about myself. And this is the first time I put my full focus into something.” And it has paid off. She soon starts working at IKEA, as does another graduate.
STRIVE has placed its graduates, according to Orefice, in more than 1,000 jobs since it began eight years ago. The little self-hug pillow was provided by IKEA, which Orefice said, is one of the most forward-looking of the city’s employers, hiring at least 80 STRIVE graduates.
For more information, contact Andy Orefice by email or phone: (777-1720).
Previous installments in the Independent’s series on parental involvement in local schools:
Moonlight Readers in West Rock
Joshua’s Parents Take Him To “Foie Gras” Service
Parents Question Skittles Suspension
Parents Want Say On Suspensions
Son Gets Pills; Suspension Policy Targeted
Dad Goes To The Top, Gets Results
Parents, M&Ms Join In Math Lesson
Brandon Aims For The Blue Shirt
Night-Shift Waitress Hangs Up Apron
Dad Meets The Teachers. All Of ‘Em
Ms. Lopez Moves Brandon’s Seat
Night-Shift Waitress Gets Xena To Class On Time
Fifth-Graders Get “Amistadized”
Board of Ed To Parents: Get Involved!
Being a soon to be father (5 Wks) there are many questions that my wife and I have. Having experienced individuals to bounce those off of his huge for us. We are in a new area with out much time to attend physical get togathers such as those put on by hospitals.
However there is a large amount of online support that you can find. We have signed up for several websites focused on sharing experiences. Our favorite right now is www.ourbabysteps.com because it is not focused on just mothers but fathers as well. Being a new dad I have a lot of questions I want answered and its good to be able to get the perspectives of both fathers and mothers. The internet is a great resource and it is helping us a lot in this area.