School on Wheels of Massachusetts

ORGANIZATION:

100 Laurel Street, Suite 121

East Bridgewater, MA 02333

Founder & Executive Director: Cheryl Opper

Phone: 508/587-9091 Email:

About School on Wheels of Massachusetts

“School on Wheels of Massachusetts’ (SOWMA) mission is to educate children impacted by homelessness by providing academic support and one-on-one mentoring so children can reach their full potential.” Our vision is that all homeless children in Massachusetts will have the academic support services they need to break the cycle of poverty through a quality education. No other organization in Massachusetts provides customized educational services and mentoring exclusively for homeless students in grades kindergarten through college at multiple sitesin Southeastern Massachusetts.

School on Wheels of Massachusetts (SOWMA) was founded in April 2004 by Cheryl Opper, a teacher and child advocate, who started the program out of her home in Easton after reading about a similar program in California. Cheryl has served as the Executive Director for the past 12 years. SOWMA began tutoring 20 children a week at two family shelters—one in Stoughton and one in Brockton. Since 2004, SOWMA has served 2,200 students; trained over 1,800 volunteer tutors; recorded 33,000 tutoring hours; distributed 7,300 backpacks; and has celebrated eight college graduations.

Initially, SOWMA was an academic support program for students in grades K-12. In 2009, the High School Plus program was added to focus on homeless youth and post-secondary education. SOWMA currently supports 35 students at 12 different colleges.

Goals

SOWMA’s primary goal is for each student to stay engaged in their education, move forward to the next grade-level, graduate high school and go onto college or a vocational training program. Our ultimate goal is for our students to become self-sufficient who are engaged in their communities. School on Wheels not only provides backpacks, books, college assistance, tutors and strong mentors for our kids, we provide hope and opportunities to help them reach their full potential in life.

As an organization, we are at an important inflection point. In order to grow our service model and help more students move beyond poverty through their education, we must create a long term strategic business plan that will help us chart our course for future success and ensure sustainability. SOWMA’s goals for FY17 includes developing a three-year strategic plan to address:

•Depth and scope of future programming services

•Replication/expansion opportunities

•Financial sustainability

Funding:

With the exception of one State grant for $20,000 from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for after-school programming, SOWMA is entirely dependent on philanthropic support from corporations, foundations and individuals. Fundraisers such as the Outrunning Homelessness Road Race, a Basketball Tournament, the Rodman Ride for Kids and our Annual Gala help raise annual revenue.

School on Wheels of Massachusetts

Grants Received as of 3/10/16

* BOLD denotes new funders or prospects.

3M Foundation* $4,000

Adelard & Leah Roy $3,000

Foundation

Agnes Lindsay Trust $5,100

After School Out of School Time $20,000

(Massachusetts Dept. Elementary & Secondary Ed.)

BJ's Charitable Foundation $5,000

Boston Bruins $7,500

Columbia Gas $2,500

Clipper Ship Foundation $10,000

Goddard Health $10,000

Harold Brooks Foundation $20,000

Island Foundation $20,000

Laura Niles Foundation $5,000

Lego Children's Fund $1,000

Mansfield Bank $1,000

Charitable Foundation

Matthew Greer Foundation $2,500

Pilgrim Foundation $3,000

Philanthropy Connection $30,000

Randolph Savings $6,000

The Salah Foundation $30,000

Frederick Weber Charities $5,000

TOTAL Grants Received: $191,000

Pending

Amelia Peabody $45,000

BB Lederer & Sons $7,500

Charles E Harwood Trust $5,000

Harvard U. Harbus Foundation $20,000

Mabel Horne $20,000

NiSource/Columbia Gas $7,500

Rockland Trust $5,000

Charitable Foundation

South Shore Bank $5,000

Charitable Foundation

TJX Foundation $5,000

TOTAL Grants Pending: $120,000

School on Wheels of Massachusetts

Staff Overview:

School on Wheels employs 7 full-time staff which include: The Executive Director, Director of Operations, Director of Education & Systems, Student Advocate, Program Assistant, Volunteer and School Supply Coordinator, and a Director of Development. Part-time staff include Director of Finance & Administration, Grants Director, Marketing Director and 10 Site Coordinators (trained educators who manage our tutoring program sites.) School on Wheels of Massachusetts serves a diverse population as described in our narrative. Our staff includes one male; 70% of the staff are Caucasian and 30% self-identify as persons of color; 76% of our students self-identify as persons of color.

Over 350 people volunteer as tutors and mentors for our students each year, and an additional 600 volunteers help to pack backpacks, assist at our annual road race and other community events.

School on Wheels of Massachusetts

Project Description:

This grant request is for program support for SOWMA’s CUSTOMIZED ONE-ON-ONE TUTORING PROGRAM and our HIGH SCHOOL PLUS PROGRAM. A grant from Framingham State University Non-Profit Giving Course would enhance the high-quality academic support services and mentoring we provide to children and youth impacted by homelessness in Massachusetts.

A $10,000 grant from the Framingham State University Non-Profit GivingCourse would help SOWMA to:

• Provide weekly one-on-one tutoring to over 300 students in K-12

• Recruit and train over 300 volunteer tutors

• Support middle and high school students with college readiness skills

• Assist high school students with MCAS support, college search, SATs, financial aid forms

• Provide direct support and mentoring services for 35 college students in our High School Plus Program

School on Wheels of Massachusetts has three core programs to meet the educational needs of our students impacted by homelessness.

CUSTOMIZED ACADEMIC SUPPORT AND ONE-ON-ONE WEEKLY TUTORING is provided to

students impacted by homelessness in grades K-12 at 15 program sites in 7 communities: Brockton, Fall River, New Bedford, Randolph, Stoughton, Norwell and Weymouth. Students meet weekly with their volunteer tutor to work on: homework, school projects, reading, writing and math, as well as organizational and critical thinking skills. As a result, students gain confidence in the classroom and an understanding of the importance of their education. Trained educators serve as Site Coordinators and are responsible for supervising the tutoring sessions at each site and registering the children for the program. Our Site Coordinators also ensure the children have the school project materials they need throughout the year and help parents with school advocacy.

HIGH SCHOOL PLUS (HSP) is a personalized effort designed to help homeless youth stay engaged with their education throughout high school and beyond. The program focuses on higher education access, college readiness and success. We place special emphasis on working with unaccompanied youth who are on their own without the support of a parent or guardian. Currently 35 students are enrolled in college. High School Plus provides: tutoring, mentoring, MCAS support, backpacks, school supplies, transportation passes, SAT prep, college access, assistance with campus tours, housing deposits, dorm supplies and other fees not covered by financial aid.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES AND ACTIVITIES: This school year SOWMA has provided 300 fully stocked

backpacks for students in our tutoring program, as well as an additional 1,000 backpacks for other children throughout the state impacted by poverty and homelessness. For students in our tutoring program, we also provide classroom project supplies, and new books, and assist with school activity fees such as: school pictures, sports, field trips, prom tickets and yearbooks. We want our students to have the same resources and opportunities to reach their full potentialas their classmates.

Metrics/Evaluating Success

SOWMA defines success as students having the support and resources they need to reach their full potential in school despite the trauma of homelessness. We want our students to be prepared to move on to their next grade level, graduate from high school, pursue a college degree or vocational certification and become self-sufficient adults.

Tools we use to demonstrate the effectiveness of our services include:

School on Wheels of Massachusetts

•Student Literacy and Math Skill Evaluations • Tutor surveys

• Report Cards • Mentor surveys

• Grade reports for college students • Mentee surveys

SOWMA uses the Blackbaud e-Tapestry software system to collect and analyze quantitative data for students enrolled in our tutoring program: number of students served, graduation rates, tutoring sessions provided, volunteer tutors trained, and backpacks and school supplies distributed. Using the new system, tutors and staff can track the information collected from literacy and math assessment tools to gain more specific knowledge of their students' academic levels and help measure student progress more effectively.

The success of the High School Plus program is monitored by charting student progress through report cards and graduation for high school students and semester grades for college students. The Student Advocate meets with high school students and their guidance counselors as needed, as well as with tutors to help ensure students are on track to graduate. It is estimated that only 25% of homeless youth will graduate high school. SOWMA’s high school graduation rate is 93%, with 83% pursuing college.Working with college mentors, the Student Advocate monitors the progress and persistence of each college student.

For SOWMA it is often the individual achievements of our students that serve as the best metric of our impact.

Jackie, a middle school student, began working with SOWMA in February 2016. Last term, she was close to failing most classes. Now after working with her tutor weekly, she is engaged in her learning and excited about her progress: A’s, B’s and one C.

This past fall, Peter, a high school student in Fall River, worked with his tutor to prepare an anti-bullying presentation for school assembly at a school where his sister was a victim of bullying.

Mandy, an 8th grader who lives at a Brockton shelter with her brother and mother, comes to tutoring every week, enthusiastic to work with her tutor. Last spring, Mandy was nominated for and attended a 6-day leadership conference in Washington, D.C. In addition to her studies, she is now organizing a group for SOWMA’s Outrunning Homelessness Road Race in April.

School on Wheels of Massachusetts

Grant Application March 2014

Motivation

For SOWMA and our hundreds of volunteer tutors/mentors, the motivation initially stems from the need created by the crisis of homelessness in our communities. Once our volunteer tutors/mentors understand that in our state over 37,000 children are impacted by homelessness each year, They are willing to invest their time to change a young person’s life. Education is a student’s calling card in life. It equalizes the playing field and allows children to reach their full potential in school and beyond. Volunteers are drawn to the mission of empowering children through education and mentoring.

In Massachusetts where the average age of a homeless person is 8 years old, approximately 10,500 families become homeless each year. Over the course of a single year, 97% of homeless children move, many up to 3 to 5 times a year. Half of the children in our state experiencing homelessness attend 3 different schools in one year. Educational research suggests it takes a child 4 to 6 months to recover academically after changing schools. It is not surprising that homeless children experience 4 times the rate of developmental delays and are twice more likely to repeat a grade than students who have not lost their homes. In Brockton alone, where SOWMA has 8 program sites, family shelters are at full capacity, over 100 homeless families are living in 3 area motels. Currently, the number of homeless students in Brockton Public Schools is 380 with an additional 489 students who are living in Brockton shelters and motels and are transported to their schools of origin in other school districts.

According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, only 21.5% of homeless elementary school students are proficient in math and 24.4% are proficient in reading. The data for high school students is even more dismal with only 11.4% proficient in math and 14.6% proficient in reading.

The high school students we serve include teens living with their parents (90% single mothers) and unaccompanied youth; runaways, youth abandoned by parents and guardians, youth who have fled unsafe home situations, and youth who have aged out of the foster care system. The National Center on Family Homelessness estimates only 1 out of 4 homeless teens will graduate high school. As reported above, 93% of our students graduate from high school and 83% go on to college.

Funding from FSU would support the following new initiatives for September 2017:

•Develop online training opportunities for tutors to make trainings more accessible to recruit more

volunteers to tutor more children

•Provide training specifically for volunteers interested in working with middle school and high school

students on collegereadiness, study and life skills, along with SAT and MCAS prep. This will help

increase high school graduation rates and help students pursue a post-secondary education.

•Creation of a College Toolkit to help college students with identifying resources in their communities

and college campuses that will assist them on their journey towards independence and self-sufficiency.

•Addition of an Educational IT Coordinator to enhancewaysthat SOWMA can connect technology and

education for our students living in family shelters and motels

•Enhance the technology resources at all of our tutoring sites

•Launch a second tutoring program site in Fall River

REQUEST:

School on Wheels welcomes your consideration of a $10,000 grant for academicprogram services and resources for students impacted by homelessness. A grant from the Nonprofit Giving Course at Framingham State University would be an investment in our students’ education and their future.