Program gives boost to at-risk children

By Maria Draper
Special to the Coastal Point

	Coastal Point • MARIA DRAPER Clockwise from left, Susan Kerwin, Joan Riddle and Gilda Nieves-Knight put a lot of effort into Project VILLAGE.

“VILLAGE” stands for Verbally Intensive Literacy and Learning Activities for Growth in Education. It is a comprehensive, early-childhood education program with five sites for at-risk children in the Selbyville, Frankford, Millsboro and Georgetown areas.

“Being economically disadvantaged hinders children because they develop less vocabulary, less social skills and less academic readiness skills exposure,” said the program’s passionate advocate and coordinator, Susan Kerwin.

“This is due to most parents being forced to focus nearly all their available time and attention into supporting their families,” she added.

Before the program began in 1997 with eight children, “these kids would often be put into ‘special needs’ classrooms,” explained Kerwin.

Today, the ethnically diverse program serves 200 kids and is filled to capacity with nearly indefinite waiting lists due to limited space.

Its long-term success, as evidenced by test results with up to 90 percent of its graduates meeting or exceeding elementary DSTP standards, according to figures provided by Kerwin, has led to national award recognition and continued district and community support.

“The difference is that unlike many pre-K programs, VILLAGE has an academic-based curriculum based on Indian River school pre-kindergarten standards and all instructors are required to be certified with a bachelor’s degree or higher in education,” said Kerwin.

“There are also role-model children placed in the classrooms, which the children emulate,” she added.

Principal Duncan Smith of Frankford Elementary, whose daughter is a role-model child in that school’s VILLAGE program, said “An extra year of school before they arrive makes it so much easier for them.”

The comprehensive nature of the program, with services such as the USDA nutrition program, childcare, healthcare, dental care, speech therapy, psychological testing and crisis intervention, seeks to ensure that families get the support they need for their children to succeed.

“However, parents must take responsibility for their children in order to stay in the program, “said Kerwin.

Parents in the program must sign and adhere to several formal “contracts,” with items such as mandatory classroom attendance for children and mandatory parent attendance for bi-annual home visits and parent-teacher conferences.

In addition, she added, parents must sign a “Family Partnership Agreement.” It lists classroom volunteer activities and each family’s personal goals for the year, such as childcare, housing, family literacy classes, counseling or other community resources.

Gilda Nieves-Knight, the program’s outreach worker, has seen first-hand the program’s positive impact on parents.

“Many families here are just seeking the American dream, but it’s harder for them,” she said. “[After we tell them how we can help] I see lots of smiles and faces full of hope.”

She has also seen the children in the classrooms getting along and learning about different cultures and said she thinks to herself, “The kids are teaching us how things could be.”

However, she admits that working with the children is bittersweet.

“While we surround them with love and encouragement … outside the center, things are often very different,” she said.

Many families struggle with discrimination, finding affordable housing, employment and transportation, she explained.

“Many of the Hispanic children live with the fear of sudden home invasions [INS raids] and their parents being deported.”

She said one Hispanic parent pleaded with her, “If anything happens to me, please take care of my daughter.”

In spite of moments of desperation such as those, Nieves-Knight said all the effort and struggles are worth it.

That was evident to her during a Policy Council meeting, where, she said, parents of all races, along with VILLAGE staff, approve and suggest changes to different areas of the program.

Nieves-Knight interprets at those meetings and said she has seen parents demonstrating “a willingness to understand each other and work together. It’s a beautiful thing to see, and you wish it would spread.”

The program was founded by a committee spearheaded by Dr. Susan Bunting and is funded by a mix of ECAP grants, Title 1 funds, purchase of care, parents’ fees, migrant funds and community sponsors, such as Mountaire, St. Anne’s, the Selbyville Library and Long Neck Methodist Church, among others.

Mountaire Public Relations Director Roger Merino said Mountaire recognized the program’s value to the community recently by donating $10,000.

He said, “The best thing about the program is that all the cultures are able to interact and come out with a better understanding of each other.”

For more information about the program, contact Susan Kerwin at (302) 436-1070, ext. 114.