Last year, Wallace Elementary did not have an Early Bird Reading Program. It did not have a Math Club or Spanish for Fun classes. The Dallas Children’s Theater was not coming to the school two days a week.
Matter of fact, Wallace didn’t have much in the area of extracurricular enrichment programs. But, all that changed this fall thanks to the new Neighborhood Action Teams of RISD’s Youth Services Council.
The Youth Services Council is an umbrella group made up of local service agencies and neighborhood residents who are striving to improve community schools. Members of the Council have been working to create Neighborhood Action Teams since last February. The teams are volunteer organizations at individual elementary schools that create and support enrichment programs for students to increase enthusiasm for learning and boost community involvement in education
Several neighborhood schools – Aikin, Lake Highlands, Northlake, Skyview, Wallace and White Rock – have attended council meetings concerning Action Teams. Northlake and Wallace have taken the lead and have the two best organized teams, council members say. Other schools are at different stages of developing their teams.
“We found community volunteers and contacted local agencies,” says team member Donna Washburn, a parent of a Wallace sixth grader and secretary at the school. “It’s had a positive impact on the school. A lot of parents want enrichment programs, and we want Wallace to be a school where people feel we are trying to meet their needs.”
The Neighborhood Action Team concept comes from the Council’s stability committee, which works to reduce student mobility in RISD schools, says Committee Chairman Tim James. Moving around and switching schools can negatively impact a child’s education, James explains.
“There are certain reasons people stay in a community,” James says. “One is what you call an equity stake. If everyone can’t have a financial stake in the community, then we try to find what kind of stake they can have.”
“We want to create a sense of community that is so strong and powerful that parents don’t want to move their children away.”
Members of the committee and the team hope that before and after school programming, which is the focus of the Action Teams who will reduce mobility. They are banking on the concept that parents will not want to move out of a neighborhood that provides beneficial programs to their children.
Currently the teams are concentrating on finding volunteers for extracurricular programming, says Martha Horan, director of the Youth Services Council. People with special interests who want to help out children are encouraged to share their knowledge with students.
The philosophy behind the volunteer search is that people will be more willing to give their time if they can do something they already like to do, Horan says.
All types of talent are welcome. At Wallace, volunteers are teaching everything from percussion lessons to a safe baby-sitting course offered by a member of the American Red Cross.
Anyone can join an Action Team. In addition to the parents and faculty who participate on Wallace’s team, the school has drawn members from home owners associations, local businesses, the clergy and the Dallas Police Department. To get involved or to volunteer, call Martha Horan at 503-2496.
