Student Volunteer Finds Meaning Through Work in Children's Program

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

December 02, 1999

SEARCH THE GAZETTE

HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

By Ken Gewertz
Gazette Staff

Gloria Bruce '00 (right), a volunteer with the Franklin After School Enrichment Program in Dorchester, works with Devon Whitley at the Lena Park Community Development Corp. Bruce says, "It's the most meaningful thing I've done at Harvard. It's made me realize that teaching and working with young children will be at least a part of my career." Photo by Marc Halevi

For the past four years, Gloria Bruce ’00 has spent one or two days a week tutoring children in the Franklin After School Enrichment Program (FASE) in Dorchester.

She and other volunteers work one-on-one with a group of 6- to 12-year-olds, helping them with homework, honing their math and reading skills, and leading them in creative learning projects. Three times a semester, the volunteers take the children on weekend field trips, exposing them to new sights and experiences around the city of Boston.

"I’ve seen kids grow up in the program, and I’ve seen how important it is to them. I think the fact that they come back semester after semester means they’re getting a lot out of it," Bruce said.

Bruce, a history major from the Washington, D.C., area, is now one of the program’s co-directors. For the past two years, she has also worked in the Franklin Summer Program, living in the community and working with the children every day.

"The program means a lot to me," she said. "It’s the most meaningful thing I’ve done at Harvard. It’s made me realize that teaching and working with young children will be at least a part of my career."

The Franklin After School Enrichment Program, based at Phillips Brooks House (PBH), is the result of a collaboration between PBH and the Lena Park Community Development Corporation (LPCDC), a full-service organization that has served people of Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan since 1968. The organization is one of 176 groups to receive a significant share of its funding from United Way of Massachusetts Bay.

"FASE is a very good collaboration," said Raymond Harris, director of school age programs for LPCDC. "We provide the space and facilities. The Harvard students provide the tutoring. They’re very committed and enthusiastic, and the kids do well in the program."

But important as it is to the children involved in its mentoring activities, FASE is only a small part of the full gamut of programs sponsored by LPCDC.

The organization runs a day care center for children age 2 years, 9 months, to age 6; the Reading Rainbow Club, an exchange program with the Jewish Community Center of Newton, serving youth and adolescents; an academic preparatory program for college-bound high school students called LEAP (Linking Educators, Achievers, and Parents); a youth recreation and athletics program; supervised residential housing for the mentally retarded; and economic and community development.

The organization has also established an alternative middle school for troubled youth, the Boston Public School Academy.

Harris is particularly proud of the program in youth development and recreation for children age 10 to 13, featuring the MetroBoston Basketball program. The program links academics and athletics, "so kids can’t just come here and play ball," Harris said. "They have to keep their grades up."

But LPCDC is more than the sum of its parts. Its most important quality is the fact that its activities are aimed at every age group in the community. "It’s a multi-faceted continuum of services," said Harris.