CHAT – Church Hill Activities and Tutoring – making a difference at the community level

 

Church Hill Activities and Tutoring is a community development organization that is committed to helping the children in their neighborhood. I’ve been volunteering there for the past few years and, at the risk of sounding completely cliché, it has been one of the most impacting experiences of my college carrier. (here’s a link to their site http://www.chatrichmond.org/index.php) Volunteering has always been important to me, yet never have I felt the same connection with the people I’m working with than I have with the children at CHAT. CHAT is run by Percy and Angie Strickland; Percy is a minister and the CEO of their organization and Angie is in medical school. They live in Church Hill and apparently the organization just started by neighborhood children coming over to their home after school. It evolved into an after school tutoring program which many
UR students have become involved in. Actually, the first time I went was with a student who was in Service to Society (or Justice in Civil Society, whatever it’s called these days). Every Monday and Tuesday the neighborhood children come over to Percy and Angie’s home, hang out, have a snack and are then paired up with a tutor. Often there are not enough tutors so they’ll have two or three kids with one tutor but they try and keep you paired up with the same child so you can develop a relationship. I’ve been working with the same little girl since she was in 1^st grade.  She’s now in 4^th grade. Watching her learn to read and learn to love reading, and explaining math and seeing her get it has been an incredible experience. UR students make up for a lot of the tutors and are really making a difference in the lives of the children there.

CHAT has grown so much and recently purchased a building in Church Hill specifically for their activities. They have hired three recent UR graduates as full time staff and are starting a modified home school program for a few of the high school students who have worked with them for years to make sure they get a quality education. I have loved my time volunteering there. It truly is a unique organization and impacts the lives of everyone who comes into contact with them children and tutors alike.

Trying to save No Child Left Behind – most recent efforts are plans to triple the number of children allowed to take simpler versions of the evaluating tests

The Bush administration is advocating for the number of disability students allowed to take easier tests than the rest of the children be increased from 10% to 30%. These test scores would count towards the schools progress goals. (link to article More tests eased for special ed http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/search.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-04-04-0150.html)The deputy education secretary, Raymond Simon, claims “It’s an option for those children whose needs are not being met under the current system.” However, I’m not sure if I buy that.This is not an effort to better evaluate disability students. Rather it is a ploy to prop up schools’ progress goals. The No Child Left Behind law is a badly thought out piece of legislation that restricts funds from the schools who need it most. It is not logical. The No Child Left Behind law is up for renewal in congress this year and almost everyone affected by the law is pushing for changes. The Forum for Educational Accountability (FEA), including the Children’s Defense Fund, the NAACP, the PTA, FairTest, and many more, believe that the law needs to change its direction, claiming that “In every state, the greatest number of schools failing to make AYP are low-income, minority schools,” and that it is only the high-poverty schools that receive penalties (from http://www.connectforkids.org/node/5312). This proposed change is a band aid for a limb that needs to be amputated. In changing the tests for 20% of the disability students, school progress reports will jump and it will appear as if No Child Left Behind is being effective without any real change taking place. The reports will not represent the reality. The schools will not be improving at all and while perhaps the change would keep some high poverty schools from being penalized, it would not address the needs of children in any real way. The Bush administration needs to stop thinking about ways to rescue a piece of bad legislation and start thinking about how to actually rescue the low-income, minority children who currently abandoned in ineffective schools. 

Controversial war exhibit hosted at VCU earlier this year

Made up of 3,150 pairs of combat boots (representing U.S. military casualties), with more than 3,000 pairs of shoes (representing a fraction of the Iraqi civilians who have died in the war), and a Wall of Remembrance, the exhibit, called “Eyes Wide Open,”  has sparked controversy as to weather it is a tribute to fallen heroes or an antiwar statement.  

Some of the initial locations the international justice organization, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and creators of the display sought were Chesterfield Towne Center and Short Pump Town Center, however both locations refused. The American Friends Service Committee claims the exhibit is intended to honor those who have died in the conflict, however in some of the previous cities the display was hosted it was heckled.

Betsy Brinson, chairman of the planning committee for Richmond Peace Education said that she “hoped that people will walk through the display, it’s meant to be a meditative, reflective experience.”

“Eyes Wide Open Virginia” was on display at Virginia CommonwealthUniversity Student Commons Plaza and attracted students, faculty, and staff.  I can not help but be struck by the differences between UR and VCU. I somehow cannot imagine the University of
Richmond hosting such an exhibit. While perhaps activism on campus may be on the rise, there still seems to be a ceiling on how far things can go. There is a strong sense of conservative aversion to provoking controversy that permeates the University. I hope that in future years this subsides as it is limiting to possibilities, in both exhibits that could be displayed on campus and in limiting arenas of thought.

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