CORE | Coalition for Residential Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Celebrating Alternative Education Settings Serving At-Risk Youth

Washington, DC – Approximately 40 boarding schools and children’s homes for over 10,000 socially and economically disadvantaged youth across the United States will celebrate next Wednesday the third-ever National Residential Education Day. The celebration is part of a national effort to increase public awareness of “residential education” as a crucial option for at-risk youth.

Residential education (RE) programs are community-like settings where children severely challenged by homelessness, abuse, neglect, the child welfare system, and low-income, high-crime neighborhoods live and learn together, outside of their homes, within stable, supportive environments. The majority of children live on a campus, in single-family homes with a married couple and seven to ten other boys or girls. Other children, mostly in urban areas, live in boarding school-style dormitories with trained adult mentors. Whether called a preparatory program, children’s home, boarding or residential charter program, RE is a viable and important option for thousands of children nationwide, particularly teenagers who are often difficult to place in stable and nurturing foster care settings. In 2010, 79% of CORE-member residential education program graduates went on to attend two- and four-year colleges.

With an average length of stay of two years and funded privately or through a public-private partnership, residential education is a growing trend that transforms the lives of children on the margins.

Positioned within National Foster Care Month, National Residential Education Day seeks to increase recognition and understanding of the approximately 150 programs across the country that provide at-risk youth chances to live safe, productive, and meaningful lives. September 2006 federal foster care legislation was passed adding residential education as a valid placement option for children in the child welfare system, and as a viable alternative to traditional foster care homes.

“Kids need physical and emotional safety, and they need a quality education. They need the feeling of belonging to a nurturing community, a belief in self, and a structure to grow in,” says Heidi Goldsmith, executive director of Washington, DC-based CORE: the Coalition for Residential Education, the organization spearheading National Residential Education Day. “Ideally, that structure is a good family. But if that is not possible, kids need not what looks like a family, but what behaves like a healthy family.”

Programs in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and beyond are hosting open house events and on-campus parades and celebrations, instituting Advocacy Days to bring youth and alumni to speak with state policymakers, implementing letter-writing campaigns to state legislators, planning lecture series that further educate participants about residential education, reaching out to local media, and making “A Day in the Life of…” films to spread awareness of this valuable education alternative.

Milton Hershey School student, Arman Asemani says he made many mistakes as a 13-year old, but “then I got a second chance.” Hershey School was the first place where his classmates didn’t know how “messed up my parents were.” For the first time the parents of his classmates were not urging their children to avoid him. “I got a chance to reinvent myself,” said Asemani, a confident, bespectacled honor student. While he has detailed the burdens of his unstable life before he arrived at Milton Hershey School, Asemani says that they were nothing compared to what they would be “if residential education had not saved me from self-destruction.” Residential education is a great equalizer and when young people are in a group situation where “everyone is disadvantaged, suddenly no one has an excuse” to fail.

For more information on residential education and specific events occurring around the country, contact Aviva Braun at CORE: the Coalition for Residential Education, 301-656-6101 or visit www.residentialeducation.org.

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On April 1, 2011, 7 alumni of CORE member programs, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actress Sela Ward, and CORE’s Founder/ Executive Director Heidi Goldsmith, urged policymakers at the House of Representatives and the Senate to “Ensure Options for At-risk Youth: Preserving the “Residential Education as one ‘Tool in the Toolbox’ for youth in foster care, and other.

The message clear, and succinct, and almost anyone hearing the alumni’s superb and varied testimonies would agree with our premise: Youth need more, not fewer, options, as different solutions work for different youth. As the very gracious and beautiful Actress Sela Ward, the final panelist at our event at the US House of Representatives, said, “Why are we even having to ASK for permission to serve youth in this way? Of COURSE more options, including residential education programs, are needed!”

Presenters included 7 alumni ranging in age from 18 – 34, Sela Ward (and spontaneously her venture capital husband, “Pay now or pay even more later!” Howard), and Heidi Goldsmith. Two Congressmen showed up in person (we are told this rarely happens), and we are told that most of the staff on the relevant House subcommittee of Ways and Means came, despite it being very busy on the Hill that day, especially with budget negotiations.

Before and after the House panel, the delegation met with Senate staff.

From Place to Place and Waiting for Superman shed light on America’s broken child welfare and education systems – and as a result, how children are struggling profoundly and getting lost in “foster care drift,” “drop-out factories,” and “academic sinkholes.” Residential education – where at-risk youth live and learn in safe, stable, and education-focused settings – is one viable alternative to foster care and ineffective school systems.

Directed by Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim (also of An Inconvenient Truth), Waiting for Superman follows five promising students through our country’s education system that inhibits – rather than encourages – academic growth. The documentary provides an exhaustive review of public education. One of the five students hopes to attend residential education program The SEED School of Washington, DC, and illustrates the high stakes for families without many options.

Waiting for Superman will be released this fall and is the recipient of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award for Best U.S. Documentary.

From Place to Place spends two years in the lives of six youth who recently aged out of Montana’s foster care system. At 18 years old, they are forced to leave the system without the skills or support they need to be successful. They struggle immensely to make the transition from foster care to independence. Their stories of trauma, abandonment, multiple placements, and aging out can argue the need for nurturing residential education programs, many of which also have transitional independent living programs where graduates can continue to reside and learn life skills as they transition to adulthood. The film will be released in December.

- Trailer for Waiting for Superman – Official Movie Web Site 6/3/10
- Trailer for From Place to Place – Official Movie Web Site 6/3/10

May 6 marked the second annual National Residential Education Day – a day to celebrate the many opportunities residential education programs provide for children while increasing understanding of residential education at national and local levels. Students, alumnae, staff, and supporters introduced, reminded, and served as “voices” of residential education to media, referral sources, donors, policymakers, and child welfare professionals through a variety of activities across the country.

CORE member programs tailored events to fit their individual program’s needs and strengths.
A sampling of events include:

Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children instituted their second annual Advocacy Day, where youth success stories were delivered to each state representative, and youth met with policymakers to share how residential education has impacted their lives.

Boys’ Home, Inc. in Virginia instituted their second annual “Heads and Shoulders” open house event, inviting community members to learn about their program. Youth showcased the array of services offered. Allegheny County author Josh Hagy also spoke to youth about the importance of literature and writing.

Methodist Children’s Home in Texas used the Willson-Johnson Lecture Series for social workers, teachers, and counselors in Central Texas as an opportunity to educate child welfare professionals on the residential education option. The guest speaker was Frank Kros, president of The Upside Down Organization and executive vice president of The Children’s Guild in Maryland.

Crossnore School in North Carolina organized an open house event for the local community and a campus-wide assembly where NASCAR Hall of Famer and Crossnore alumnus Waddell Wilson inspired youth and staff with his personal story of determination,
overcoming hardships, and achieving success with the help of Crossnore support and relationships.

Milton Hershey School (MHS) in Pennsylvania implemented activities that further integrate the academic and residential components of their home and school. In addition to the Houseparent-Teacher Alliance hosting two open forums for staff, houseparents accompanied students to school while teachers and staff ate, toured, and had social time in student homes. A parade showcasing student homes was held. Additionally, MHS alumna and current houseparent Deanna Slamans ’91 held an assembly and book signing of Faith’s Pursuit, her memoir of growing up at MHS.

Some programs celebrated the day internally while many programs reached out to local media using common language – CORE’s “branding” language that defines and distinguishes residential education.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Celebrating Alternative Education Settings Serving At-Risk Youth

Washington, DC – Approximately 40 boarding schools and children’s homes for over 10,000 socially and economically disadvantaged youth across the United States will celebrate next Wednesday the second-ever National Residential Education Day. The celebration is part of a national effort to increase public awareness of “residential education” as a crucial option for at-risk youth.

Residential education programs are community-like settings where children severely challenged by homelessness, abuse, neglect, the child welfare system, and low-income, high-crime neighborhoods live and learn together, outside of their homes, within stable, supportive environments. The majority of children live on a campus, in single-family homes with a married couple and seven to ten other boys or girls. Other children, mostly in urban areas, live in boarding school-style dormitories with trained adult mentors. In 2009, 79% of CORE-member residential education program graduates went on to attend two- and four-year colleges.

With an average length of stay of two years and funded privately or through a public-private partnership, residential education is a growing trend that transforms the lives of children on the margins.

Positioned within National Foster Care Month, National Residential Education Day seeks to increase recognition and understanding of the approximately 150 programs across the country that provide at-risk youth chances to live safe, productive, and meaningful lives. September 2006 federal foster care legislation was passed adding residential education as a valid placement option for children in the child welfare system, and as a viable alternative to traditional foster care homes.

“Kids need physical and emotional safety, and they need a quality education. They need the feeling of belonging to a nurturing community, a belief in self, and a structure to grow in,” says Heidi Goldsmith, executive director of Washington, DC-based CORE: the Coalition for Residential Education, the organization spearheading National Residential Education Day. “Ideally, that structure is a good family. But if that is not possible, kids need not what looks like a family, but what behaves like a healthy family.”

Programs in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and beyond are hosting open house events and on-campus parades and celebrations, instituting Advocacy Days to bring youth and alumni to speak with state policymakers, implementing letter-writing campaigns to state legislators, planning lecture series that further educate participants about residential education, reaching out to local media, and making “A Day in the Life of…” films to spread awareness of this valuable education alternative. Additionally, Florida Governor Crist has proclaimed May 6 as Florida Residential Education Day.

Crossnore School alumnus Michael Jones says, “I would not be where I am today without the help and influence of the caring staff, teachers, and houseparents at Crossnore. What is so amazing is that for any other person, there are roadblocks to the things I have done and want to do. For me, these roadblocks just kind of disappeared and I am free to go where I want to go. Crossnore gave me these opportunities.” Enrolling in Crossnore School in 2004 after his family faced financial crisis and his once stable home unraveled, Michael graduated from Crossnore School in 2007 and, after working on the presidential campaign, is now a freshman at New York University.

For more information on residential education and specific events occurring around the country, contact Maya Aguilar at CORE: the Coalition for Residential Education.

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Governor Crist of Florida has signed a proclamation declaring May 6, 2010 Florida Residential Education Day!

Thank you to Bill Frye of CORE-member Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches for attaining this great success!

In addition to residential education programs in Florida, programs nationwide will celebrate the second annual National Residential Education Day on May 6. This day-long public awareness event is an opportunity for residential education programs to reach out to policymakers, decision-makers within the child welfare and education fields, funders, and the community at large to better share with them the invaluable services residential education provides youth from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

CORE envisions May 6 as a powerful platform upon which residential education programs can increase recognition and understanding of their value.

Through relationships with local media, policymakers, and supporters, programs will concentrate their awareness-building efforts on one specific day to enhance visibility. CORE encourages programs across the country to get involved – highlighting their services and accomplishments within this national context, and having fun while doing so!

A new study by Duke University of approximately 3,000 orphans ages 6-12 in Africa and Asia suggests that institutional care for orphans produces no less happy and healthy children, and outcomes are in fact “generally better” for orphans and abandoned children raised in orphanages than with kin or in foster care. It is one of the most comprehensive studies of orphans ever conducted, and looks at the health, behavior, physical growth, intellectual functioning, and emotional state of orphans – 1,357 of whom grew up in small and large orphanages, and 1,480 in kinship and foster care programs.

“We are seeing children thriving in institutions…What people don’t understand is that, in many cases, the institutions are the community’s response to caring for orphaned and abandoned children,” says study leader Kathryn Whetten, director of the Center for Health Policy at the Duke Global Health Institute.

“These communities love kids and as parents die, children are left behind. So, the individuals who love children most and want to care for them build a building and that becomes an institution. These institutions do not look or feel like the images that many in this country have of eastern bloc orphanages, they are mostly places where kids are being loved and cared for and have stable environments.”

“This is not the time to be creating policies that shut down good options for kids. We need to have as many options as possible,” says Whetten. “Our research just says ‘slow down and let’s look at the facts.’ It’s assumed that the quality of care-giving is a function of being institutionalized, but you can change the care-giving without changing the physical building.”

“Let’s get beyond labeling an institution as good or bad,” she says. “What is the quality of care inside that building, and how can we help the community identify cost-feasible solutions that can be delivered in small group homes, large group homes, and family homes?”

The New York Times reviewed the Duke study: “One [orphanage] in Battambang, Cambodia had 252 children living in 27 traditional Khmer homes inside a ‘large, airy, well-maintained gated compound’ with gardens, a basketball court, a playground, and plenty of open space. The people caring for the children had been orphans themselves or were widows, and the orphanage tried to make sure each child had at least one ‘parent and sibling.’”

The Duke study also prompted a Wall Street Journal editorial by orphanage alumnus Dr. Richard McKenzie, who attests to the positive impact the experience had on his and other alumni’s lives. CORE encourages you to also join the conversation by following the link below to comment on his editorial and share your thoughts about giving destitute children the chance to grow up in a larger (compared to a traditional family) residential, education-focused setting!

- “A Comparison of the Wellbeing of Orphans and Abandoned Children Ages 6–12 in Institutional and Community-Based Care Settings in 5 Less Wealthy Nations” – Duke University 12/18/09
- “The Best Thing About Orphanages” – Richard McKenzie in The Wall Street Journal 1/14/10
- “Study Suggests Orphanages Are Not So Bad” – New York Times 12/17/09

Heidi Goldsmith, profiled in Washington Jewish Week, speaks about CORE, residential education, community-organizing, and life.

- “Heidi Goldsmith” – Washington Jewish Week 12/10/09 (pdf)

The outstanding student, staff, and supporters who won the 2009 Catherine Hershey National Residential Education Awards – the only national awards specifically for the residential education field – are recognized in the June edition of Youth Today, the newspaper on youth work.

View Article (pdf)

To learn more about the 2009 winners and the awards, visit “2009 Catherine Hershey Award Winners”