THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 17, 1994 TAG: 9410170055
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: United Way
Part of a series profiling agencies
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
The two women had a quick strategy session concerning the latest challenge: a girl who was barely able to readhad slipped halfway through elementary school.
The results were evident. Her latest progress report was punctuated with dismal grades. A teacher noted that the girl routinely missed school or came without her homework or even supplies.
Winnifred R. Tate, director of the Urban League's education section, and Darlene Kinchen, coordinator of the league's after-school tutorial program, concluded that the girl was in the academic equivalent of critical condition.
They decided a big dose of individual instruction was needed a.s.a.p. - as well as some legwork to find out whether everything was all right in the girl's family.
For some of the city's most disadvantaged children, the league's Community Mobilization for Education Project is a refuge of last resort.
The project encompasses the tutorial program at the Blyden library branch.
``Somebody has to stick with these kids and try to hang in there with them,'' Tate said.
In 1986 - the same year Norfolk stopped busing elementary school kids for desegregation purposes - the national Urban League launched its Education Initiative to help improve academic performance among disadvantaged inner-city children.
The free tutorial program is a key part of the league's bigger effort to uplift needy families by showing them how to tap into personal, community and school resources to reverse students' low achievement.
``If you don't have a holistic program,'' Tate said, ``you're defeating your whole purpose.''
The league, a United Way agency, has established two tutorial programs in Portsmouth and one in Virginia Beach in addition to the Norfolk site.
Of the 66 Norfolk students from the program's pilot year, 56 are still affiliated with the league or are now enrolled in college, she said. Last school year, she said, 22 of 26 students in the Virginia Beach program made the honor roll.
``I just think it's a good thing that they can come here and get some extra help,'' said Peggy Milton, who has two of her children in the Norfolk program.
Organizers emphasize bringing all parts of the community together to solve a common problem: Children for whom simply going to school isn't enough to keep them on track.
Tutors, most of whom are in college, work with students in kindergarten through grade 12 four days each week - in two-hour sessions - in the library's rear room.
Nearly 30 students - some led by adults, others showing up with their buddies and colorful backpacks - made their way to the Blyden branch one recent afternoon. Seven-year-old Ashley Brooks successfully zipped through her writing assignment with a little help from tutor Erica Moore, a Norfolk State University senior majoring in business.
``I like coming here because I can do my work and learn and have fun,'' Brooks said while trying to piece together a puzzle of the African continent.
The program also has a summer component and offers workshops that span topics from developing self-esteem, self-discipline and good study habits to teaching parents how to deal with a school district's bureaucracy.
Kevin Corprew, a 14-year-old sophomore at Booker T. Washington High, frequently stops by the library to assist younger students with their studies. ``Helping them out gives me a good feeling because when they do something good, I'll feel like I did something good, too,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: [Color] MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
Ashley Brooks, 7, a second-grader, works on an assignment with Erica
Moore at the Blyden library branch in Norfolk.
KEYWORDS: UNITED WAY by CNB