THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607280085
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 132 lines
The subject for Suzette Clark's class of second- and third-graders was quilt-making.
She read the nine youngsters ``The Patchwork Quilt,'' about a grandmother's unwavering mission to make a quilt, in a classroom at Young Park Elementary School last week.
After a few asides - ``Katrina is not talking, Sharron is not talking, Justin is in his seat and not talking'' - she finished. Then Clark, an education major at Old Dominion University, gave the children pieces of construction paper and an assignment: ``I want you to draw pictures on the paper. And we're all going to paste them together and make one fat quilt.''
The students got to work, drawing a house, a multicolored checkerboard, a heart with ``Mom'' in the middle.
But while the children put together a quilt in Norfolk, politicians in Washington have been debating whether to tear apart the funding for the program that sponsors the Young Park class - AmeriCorps, President Clinton's project to encourage college students to take up public service.
Earlier this year, AmeriCorps supporters in Congress beat back efforts by Republicans in the House to eliminate the federal program, which has more than 20,000 participants. Instead, Congress agreed to cut the program by about 15 percent - to $400 million for the 1996-97 fiscal year.
Undeterred, the House voted last month to cut off all funding for next year. Earlier this month, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to hold AmeriCorps funding steady for 1997-98. The two houses of Congress have yet to decide on a final budget, so the issue is still unresolved.
Opponents say the program is another example of wasteful spending in Washington. But at Young Park - which has been part of AmeriCorps since last fall - parents, students and administrators say the program has been a big help.
Clark, a 27-year-old from Suffolk, said: ``If we can get them on the right track now, we won't have problems with them later. It's a good program, and it should be funded.''
Said Ruby Greer, the principal: ``It supports what we're all about - increasing the basic reading and writing and math skills of the students. And the college students find that they really want to work in an urban community.''
Clark's class is part of the only AmeriCorps program in the region.
Begun by the Urban League of Hampton Roads in September, the program operates at two sites in Norfolk - Young Park and the Hunton YMCA - to help low-income minority youngsters.
During the school year, 38 college students from ODU, Norfolk State University and Tidewater Community College run afterschool programs where they help about 50 children with homework at each location.
``We don't try to take their parents' place or make them finish it,'' said Darlene Kinchen, a 42-year-old engineering student at Tidewater Community College who helps administer the Young Park program. ``But we want to make sure they understand what they have to do.''
During the year, the college students also discussed topics such as hygiene and self-esteem with the children, said Winnifred Tate, education director at the Urban League. For parents, they held workshops on ``how to be a better tutor'' and how to read a report card.
Clinton's goal is to encourage civic-mindedness while helping participants pay for college, so all of them get stipends. They received a $3,820 living allowance, and after 900 hours of service get an additional $2,363, Tate said.
This summer, AmeriCorps is running an eight-week enrichment program at both the elementary school and the Y. There is no tuition for the program, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays.
Students are drilled in phonics, math and reading comprehension; they write in journals. On Fridays, they go on field trips to places such as the Virginia Marine Science Museum and Chrysler Museum.
While Clark's students were fashioning a quilt, Latonya Spivey, 18, a Mary Washington College student back in Chesapeake for the summer, oversaw a dozen kindergartners and first-graders molding clay shapes.
In a third classroom, Preston Miller, an ODU senior majoring in electrical engineering technology, had the oldest children - 10 fourth- and fifth-graders. They had reviewed their multiplication tables and reading exercises. They had done a science exercise: shining a flashlight onto a prism and seeing the light separated into colors on a sheet of white paper.
Now they were playing chess. ``They've got most of the moves down,'' said Miller, 23, of Roanoke. ``Hopefully next week we'll get into strategy.''
Miller, who's worked at Young Park since last fall, knows he's made a difference with at least one child, a shy boy who wouldn't say a word to anyone. Miller repeatedly would talk to him, ask him to read aloud. Now, Miller said, the boy is ``real cool; he opens up to everybody.''
Clark, an AmeriCorps participant since January, said she's seen ``a change as far as following directions and willingness to do work. They're a little bit more excited: `What are we going to do today?' ''
Parents, too, say it's helped. Lorenzo Thomas, whose 10-year-old stepson Leander attends Miller's class, says he's become more responsible.
Critics have charged that the program subverts the spirit of voluntarism by paying college students and has encouraged projects of questionable value. A General Accounting Office report last August showing that AmeriCorps spent $26,000 a year on each participant, including stipends and training and administrative expenses, fueled claims of wasteful spendng.
``I don't believe we have a dime to spare for a feel-good program,'' Rep. Jon Christensen, R-Neb, told his colleagues last month.
Observers see other factors propelling AmeriCorps into the budget tug-of-war.
Elsie M. Barnes, a political scientist who is dean of Norfolk State's School of Social Sciences, said, ``When you get to programs like AmeriCorps that help disadvantaged citizens, they almost always don't have a very strong and well-orchestrated network of advocates. It's easy to cut those programs that benefit individuals who don't give in large amounts to political campaigns.''
David Merkowitz, spokesman for the American Council on Education, which supports AmeriCorps, believes it is being targeted because it is one of Clinton's pet projects: ``In the political environment we've had here for the last year and a half, anything identified as a Clinton initiative, the Congress, particularly the House of Representatives, is going to try to kill.''
Clinton has repeatedly threatened to veto budget bills that include massive cuts to AmeriCorps. Because of that, Merkowitz said, he doubts the program will be hit with anything more than a small reduction next year.
At Young Park, the day ended with an exercise in good manners. Students from Clark's and Spivey's classes filed into the gymnasium, the boys taking turns holding open the door for the girls.
Once they were inside, it was time to unwind. They batted around a beach ball almost as large as they are.
Even in the gym, there are rules. Clark halted the game to discipline a rambunctious child.
``Troy in timeout,'' she said. A pause. ``We're waiting.''
Finally, he sat down on the floor next to her. She threw the ball up in the air. The play resumed. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Preston Miller, center, a senior at Old Dominion University,
supervises chess games as Otis Cox, 9, right, ponders his next move.
Miller, 23, has worked at Young Park since last fall.
TO JOIN
To join the AmeriCorps program, call the Urban League at
627-0864. You must be at least 17 and have a high school diploma or
general equivalency degree.
KEYWORDS: AMERICORPS by CNB