Initiative focuses on education to improve community
Classrooms of Wyman and Dunbar Elementary School may have been quieted during a late afternoon recently, but echoes of enthusiastic children could be heard throughout the building as the Vashon/JeffVanderLou Initiative held its annual holiday program for students, faculty, staff and parents in collaboration with Hot 104.1 FM of Radio One-St. Louis.
The students, faculty, staff and parents of Wyman and Dunbar Elementary schools celebrated the afternoon with a holiday display in the building’s gymnasium, a visit and music from Hot 104.1 FM’s radio personality Young Dip, and gift bags to take home.
Special recognition was also given to students for academic achievement. Attendance prizes distributed at the event included toys, games, bicycles, stuffed animals, movies, gift cards and a Sony Playstation 2.
The JeffVanderLou community is located north of the Fox Theatre, tracking to St. Louis Avenue. Established in 1998, the Vashon/JeffVanderLou Initiative is intended to bring sustained improvement to the JeffVanderLou community and its surrounding neighborhoods, which have been historically underdeveloped and under-served.
“Our guiding principles are to ensure economic empowerment, improve housing and infrastructure, work toward the improvement of health and human services and invest in our youth by means of celebrating education and giving appropriate recognition to students who display leadership skills in our community,” said Sam Coleman, president and CEO of the foundation.
“Our holiday program is another way to demonstrate our commitment.”
“The Vashon/JeffVanderLou Initiative remains committed to building the capacity of our youth’s achievement in education,” said City License Collector Michael McMillan, chairman of the Board of Directors for the Vashon/JeffVanderLou Initiative.
“Not only does the foundation reach into the community, but it also celebrates academic achievement with the allocation of scholarships for students attending Harris-Stowe State University, Forest Park Community College, Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory and several other institutions.”
The foundation also works to instill the value of civic engagement and community service by coordinating community improvement projects in which youth take the lead on implementing. This past October, more than 100 students partnered with the foundation to clean-up and beautify Martin Luther King Boulevard.
For more information, visit the foundation’s office at 3026 Locust or call (314) 371-8585.
Urban Alliance partners with SLPS
The St. Louis Public School District is teaming up with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA) to close the achievement gap and help children at all levels reach their full potential. Beginning in January, 11 schools will participate in the program.
The partnership is supported by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
As part of the SLPS initiative, NUA will coach teachers in specific instructional strategies that build on students’ strengths and knowledge in ways that connect them to the ideas and skills of the curriculum. NUA mentors will go into the schools to assess how each one is organized for instruction, examining the building’s educational environment and how resources are used for student instruction.
“These mentors will work with the school district to provide ongoing professional development for teachers and administrators,” said SLPS Superintendent Diana Bourisaw. “The mentors will emphasize instructional strategies based upon research-based models and best practices.”
Much of the focus will be on concept and cognitive development, reasoning, thinking and higher-order comprehension skills.
NUA has worked successfully in more than 20 cities across the country, including Albany, Birmingham, New York City, Minneapolis and Seattle.
Eric Cooper, founder and president of NUA, said, “Our proven techniques will boost the strengths of educators and students to close the achievement gap – not only between black and white students, but also between every student’s current performance and their potential for excellence.”
The NUA was founded in 1989 with a vision of school reform based upon three beliefs: all children are capable of attaining high educational standards; intelligence is modifiable, not fixed; and all stakeholders in the community must be involved in addressing the social, cultural, and intellectual needs of our youth.
For more information on NUA, contact Stacy Kourlis at (202) 387.8550 or sk@mcopr.com.