You Are Not Alone

PARTNERS AGAINST CRIME INITIATIVES (District One and Four)

Eli Jones is just getting home from school and he over hears his mother Mary Jones on the back porch talking to a neighbor about what they can spare for them to eat. It’s the middle of the month and they have more month than money. The best meal the children receive is at school. Eli has an older brother and two younger sisters. He is ten years old and reading at the third grade level. His younger sisters are having problems in school, and Eli wants to help them with their homework, but doesn’t know how.

His older brother dropped out of school in the ninth grade at the age of Seventeen. He is a gang member and has gone to jail several times. Eli's father was killed by a stray bullet two years ago.
With tears in his eyes Eli prays secretly that someone will help him and his sisters with their homework and a good meal before bedtime. For entertainment they take turns listening to rap music.

There are a lot of adults coming in and out of his house but no one will stop to help them. The children are told to stay out of the way of adults. The adults curse a lot and often threaten each other. Crime is everywhere and anything can happen. Eli must keep his eyes on his sisters to keep them safe. Eli can’t do or say anything about the things that are allowed at home while he’s at his school but he does feels safer at school. Young Eli feels helpless hopeless and alone.

His mother is a single parent that dropped out of school at sixteen to have Eli’s older brother. She is 33 living in a rental house with poor plumbing, electricity, rats and roaches. There are rags patching the holes in the walls and the floors. The landlord refuses to fix anything but always manages to ask for the rent when it’s due. Mary often looks at her children and wishes that she could do more for them. She wants to live somewhere else but this is all she can afford. She wants to take her children to other places but has no money to make it happen. She spends the little extra money that she does have on keeping her children clean and groomed. Mary feels hopeless, helpless and alone.

I want to tell you that this story is unique, but it's not. This story is enacted in many homes in poor neighborhoods day after day. We can show them that they are not alone. Where do we start, and how can we help?

Teaching parents to help children with their homework - We have asked NCCU Education Department to help set up a pilot program that will teach parents to help children with their homework. These parents will come from two targeted neighborhoods, East Durham in PAC 1, and Southside in PAC 4. This program will be located at the East Durham Recreation Center and the Southside Outreach Center and open to all public school students and parents living in that area.

Program Objectives:
Homework assistance program:

1. Alleviate the sense of alienation in our community by creating a structured outreach program, centered on improving student classroom performance that brings together adult caregivers, students, representatives from NCCU’s School of Education, representatives from the Southside and East Durham Outreach Centers.
2. Improve student participants in school performance.

Expected Benefits to Family:

1. Improved student performance.
2. Family exposure to other services offered by each of the outreach centers.
3. Family exposure to other services that may be offered by NCCU's School of Education or its other collaborative partners that support improved educational outcomes for families.
4. Increase sense of community as a result of this collaborative effort.

Expected Benefit to Outreach Centers:

1. Additional program to offer members of this community that clearly improves the lives of community members.
2. Increases interaction with community and allows for additional outreach.

Expected Benefit to NCCU volunteers:

1. Assuming that a viable program is developed, we will seek volunteers from the NCCU School of Education that have an interest in teaching in disadvantaged neighborhoods. This program will provide such individuals with experience working with the families similar to those of the families of the students they wish to instruct. We believe that this experience will add value to the individual volunteers in their teaching careers by better preparing them to teach in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Needs from the NCCU School of Education

We are seeking technical assistance in developing a viable program as described above.

Technical assistance will include:

1. Researching similar programs that may exist and identifying best practices.


2. Developing a sound program for delivery with clear outcome measures for our participants.


3. Technical assistance in identifying grant opportunities for the program.


4. Use of student volunteers in delivery of the program.


5. We will need a bus to transport parents, NCCU students and children to different events. Transportation is important for the success of the initiative.

Student Drama Club - We have also asked NCCU Education Department to help with writing three Plays for children 10 to 17 years old. The plays will incorporate hip/hop and poverty issues to enable students to vent feelings and learn to be excited about using their imagination. Students will be divided by age groups and recruited from the East Durham and Southside community. Holton Career and Resource Center has agreed to host the drama club. Y.E. Smith Elementary School, East Durham recreation Center and Southside Outreach Center will also aid us in the recruitment. We hope to have field trips where students will go to see plays and attend Friday night movies. Afterwords the students will analyze acting styles. Each Drama Club member will be required to read books for their membership in the Drama Club. Our goal is to improve students reading scores. We hope to make learning interesting and fun.

Rev. Melvin Whitey
PAC 1 Office Coordinator
(919) 560-1291

Harold Chestnut
PAC 4 Office Coordinator
(919) 598-5398