Community Ministry Annual Report FY11

Rev. Cheryl Rubin Lloyd, Community Minister

Coordinator of Volunteers and Community Outreach at the Mather Elementary School in Dorchester.

Soon after our partnership ended with the Channing Elementary school, we were invited by the principal, Emily Cox to be in partnership with the Mather elementary school. Unfortunately almost half of the volunteers did not continue because the commute was almost an hour. It wasn’t easy starting at a new school that had 600 children. New relationships and a sense of trust needed to be established and that took a period of time to develop trust and adapt to all the new changes, Ninety percent of the children were from low-income families who spoke little or no English. There is a large student population of Vietnamese families where culture, language and alphabet are so different. The volunteer support has been especially important for these children to perform at grade level.

On the outside the school looks good. The leadership is excellent and there are many wonderful teachers. But the school lacks basic supplies and support for children who have so many human needs. Almost all the classroom assistants and tutors were from FUSN, although we did have financial contributions from other churches. Those who could not be in the classroom contributed warm clothing, school supplies, and books. There is a dress code/uniform for the children and financial contributions helped pay for children who could not afford to pay for them. Wearing a uniform made a substantial difference in behavior and they felt proud to wear them.

As coordinator of Volunteers and Community Outreach, I was invited to attend all parent council meetings. Thanks to volunteers most of the time we were able to provide child-care for parents, which apparently made a difference in attendance.

The most exciting thing to report is that the Boston Public School system has acknowledged the importance of faith based partnerships. Carol Johnson and the office of Community Engagement hosted a dinner meeting for principals, churches/temples seeking partnerships and for those of us who successfully developed partnerships with schools. The panel discussion included two representatives from the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO), two principals and two religious organizations that have had school partnerships for several years. Having the support of the BPS with these school partnerships is huge! It will give us more credibility and will hopefully make it easier to raise funds. Finally we all acknowledge that no one can do this alone and that we are all responsible for the well being of all our children.