Fall River
SOWMA identified a need to provide educational support services for children living in shelter in Fall River and secured grant funding that allowed expansion to this new community. Fall River is among cities with the highest number of students impacted by homelessness in the state. After researching possibilities and developing a relationship with the Justice Resource Institute, SOWMA determined that tutoring in a shelter-based site provides the best opportunity to reach more students. School-aged kids who live at the Roy Street Shelter, which is run by JRI, now receive one-on-one tutoring.
"I have a set of very dedicated and flexible volunteers," says SOWMA Site Coordinator, Kelly Ochoa. "Despite the rapid turnover of families in the shelter, the volunteer tutors come each week and work with any student who arrives, because they are so concerned about the academic needs of the students."
STARR Transition House
The Old Colony Y Transition House/Brockton STARR, is a longtime program partner of School on Wheels that provides a temporary home and stability for youths age 12 to 18 who are transitioning from one living situation to another. So, when they reached out last spring and asked SOWMA to provide educational support services to the children they serve at the STARR Transition House, it was a natural step to take.
“School on Wheels has opened up a vast amount of resources that were previously not available to the youth we serve. We are chronically struggling with barriers to youths’ education and partnering with SOWMA has worked to start breaking these barriers,” says Allison Tyler, Lead Clinician at STARR. A youth that had been struggling in school has recently begun meeting with a SOWMA tutor and made the following statement: “He talks to me, he talks my ear off and then the next thing I know my homework is done; it’s like magic.”
As the number of homeless families in Massachusetts continues to rise, so does the need for academic support for the children who are impacted. The support of businesses and donors in our communities coupled with the dedication of our tutors and volunteers allows School on Wheels to provide stability, consistency and encouragement to students who face the many challenges of being homeless.
