Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Families connect to success with an 'even start'

Photos and story by James Hill

by Mark Kirchmeier This summer, more than 30 families are benefiting from a comprehensive program that tackles literacy issues facing adults and their young children.The road to a better life for Eva Rodriguez leads through a snug classroom in a Southeast Portland church basement. "When my seven-year-old daughter, Lilibeth, does her homework, I want to speak English well enough to help her,"says Rodriguez, who has two other young children and a husband who cannot find work.Rodriguez then stops talking for a moment to listen to her Portland Community College English instructor Sharon Hennessy. She writes in her notebook, and then adds, "I work as a restaurant cook, but my dream is to learn English well enough to get a better paying job as an office secretary."More than 30 immigrant families like Rodriguez’s are benefiting from Even Start, a comprehensive program PCC and partners have implemented that tackles literacy issues facing adults and their young children."We discovered that no comprehensive family literacy service existed in outer Southeast Portland, even though 21 percent of the families live in poverty and many early grade school students weren’t reading at their class level,"explains Sharon Hennessy, who chairs the Southeast Center’s English as a second language (ESL) program. Hennessy knew that families needed English assistance for both the parents and children, and many could not obtain existing services without child care. So she successfully obtained a $130,000 federal grant for staffing, and persuaded Portland Public Schools (PPS) and the United Methodist Tongan Fellowship Church to provide class and child care rooms. Lents principal Paul Stegner was "indispensable in putting resources together,"Hennessy says. Portland Public Schools Head Start staffer Wilma Godby, Lutheran Community Services and Mary Logan, a PCC adult basic skills instructor, also gave instrumental support. "We’re giving families intensive instruction to raise parents’ literacy and their children’s academic achievement,"says Hennessy. "We’re also developing parenting skills and getting parents involved in nearby Lents and Atkinson elementary schools,"she adds. PPS is helping with early childhood education, parent education and bringing Oregon Public Broadcasting trainers to show parents how to use public television programs. The program is also simultaneously working to connect parents to the wide array of community resources. It helps parents become regular PPS classroom volunteers and works with Lents Head Start to organize a weekly family literacy night at Lents Elementary School. Plus, it provides evening classes in adult basic education, GED and ESL tutoring at Lents elementary for family members unable to attend day classes. Michelle Anderson, an ESL instructor in the program, is noticing a difference. "When we first began classes, the body language spoke volumes as parents sat in the back with their arms folded,"Anderson says. "Not anymore,"she smiles during a break, pointing out the cacophony of parents discussing assignments, asking questions and filling up their notebooks. One of them is Elva Cacho, whose 6-year-old son, Millicem, is happily playing with other children down the Tongan church hallway. "I couldn’t take these classes myself, if it weren’t for the child care,"says Cacho, whose dream is to become a Portland Public Schools teacher’s aide. "Now, I think I reach I can reach that goal."More than 100 individuals like Cacho have benefited from the Even Start innovation, but Hennessy says that more families remain on the waiting list. That list might get longer. "Ours is multi-year grant, but the funding declines by 10 percent every year. The challenge will be to pick up other funding resources while we can still help these families,"she says.