UUCA'S HOPE PARTNERSHIP

For over a decade UUCA has worked in partnership with the John Hope Elementary School in an all-congregation direct service ministry. Our aim is to improve educational achievements of the students at John Hope Elementary School, both through direct involvement with the students, the school, and the community and by helping to create an environment that supports educational achievement and general well-being. We have undertaken this mission to:

• promote social justice and to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of the students of John Hope Elementary School and the members of the community it serves,
• promote interfaith cooperation—and to show the kinds of results that such cooperation can bring about, and
• support our own spiritual development, recognizing that it is in giving that we receive.

THE SCHOOL

Located in downtown Atlanta, in the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic District, the school serves mostly African-American and Hispanic students. Almost all the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. The school serves four homeless shelters; for that reason and others, student turnover is a serious problem.

Despite these many challenges, the school made Acceptable Yearly Progress in academic achievement and attendance for the 2004-05 school year. The credit goes to the principal, faculty, and staff. We are happy to have had a role in this success story.

UUCA'S ACTIVITIES

A large proportion of the congregation is involved, one way or another, in this effort. Our members and friends

• work directly with students in a wide variety of contexts, including tutoring, offering after-school enrichment programs, reading stories, speaking on our careers or other topics of interest to students, giving holiday and Kindergarten graduation parties, organizing field trips, and sending birthday cards,
• provide financial resources for student summer enrichment programs,
• provide needed tangible resources, including maps, library books, and classroom supplies for teachers and students,
• provide books that the students can own and exchange, through the Reading is Fundamental program,
• assist the school's administrators and teachers in a variety of other ways, providing both funding (e.g., for teacher training and support) and volunteer services (e.g., working with the media specialist to classify and shelve books),
• provide funding, translation services, and other support to the school's Parent Teacher Association, and
• provide or facilitate needed community programs related to the Coalition's mission, including instruction in English as a second language and parenting classes.

EXPANDING OUR ROLE

During the 2005-06 school year we will expand our outreach to the community served by Hope School by establishing English and Spanish speaking parenting circles, led by our coordinator. We hope to better identify—and, in some cases, help to meet—the needs of parents through this initiative, which should also contribute to greater and more effective parental involvement in their children’s education.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

The work of the UUCA Hope Partnership is supported by the time and labor of many volunteers, by financial support from the congregation’s budget, by individual financial contributions, and, currently, by a social justice grant from the Unitarian Universalist Association.

CONTACT

To join in this effort, or to learn more, write to hopecoordinator@earthlink.net.