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Cedar Rapids families could get more support from schools with ‘community’ label
Resume help, job searches, homebuyer education could be possible through grant funding
Jun. 26, 2023 5:00 am
CEDAR RAPIDS — Families can access immigration services, learn how to write resumes and search for jobs, get help applying for health insurance, find out what they need to be a first-time homebuyer, and learn how to better support their child’s learning at Hoover Community School in Cedar Rapids.
Similar services could soon be available to more families as the Cedar Rapids Community School District applies for a national grant to expand the community school model to Jefferson High School and Roosevelt Creative Corridor Business Academy, which Hoover elementary feeds in to.
Community schools are public schools that provide services and support that fit each neighborhood’s needs, created and run by educators, community partners and social services agencies, according to the National Education Association. The model goes above and beyond what traditional schools can offer. Services not only are available to families but to anyone in the school’s neighborhood.
“It feels exciting because Jefferson already has the infrastructure and mindset to be a community school,” said Jessica Luna, who will be the interim principal at Jefferson High this fall and is helping the district apply for the grant. “It’s a group of highly educated, passionate, driven people who want to ensure they’re supporting the whole child, which includes their family.”
The grant is called the Full-Service Community Schools Program through the Department of Education. About 45 school districts across the country will receive a part of the $73.8 million available, according to the department.
It would help fund staff positions like community school coordinator at Jefferson and Roosevelt, a position required to carry out the community school model.
Hoover Community School, 4141 Johnson Ave. NW, is an elementary school with around 420 pre-K through fifth-graders, many from refugee and immigrant families. The community school model was first adopted by the school in 2018.
More than 22 languages are spoken and 20 countries represented at Hoover. The number of historically marginalized students enrolled is about 76 percent and 80 percent of students are economically disadvantaged, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Minouche Bandubuila, the community school coordinator at Hoover, said expanding the model could make a “huge impact” on families within the next few years. Bandubuila oversees many of the programs available to families, including parenting classes, running a soccer club for kids and operating the school’s food pantry.
This year, Bandubuila started a new program that teaches families how they can better support their child’s learning at home. A staff member can do a home visit to families with a child struggling in reading or math, and help them establish a homework routine, including reading with their child every night.
“We noticed a lot of improvement,” said Bandubuila, adding there were 125 home visits done during the 2022-23 school year.
Bandubuila — who speaks five languages — also was a parent to a Hoover student. Her daughter is now a rising freshman at Linn-Mar High School. She knows firsthand what it’s like to be an immigrant in the U.S., having moved from the Congo about 14 years ago while she was pregnant with her daughter.
Bandubuila recalled leaving the hospital after giving birth with no translator, not understanding English and no one to teach her how to pay her bills. She wants to help families like her.
Hoover Principal Clint Stone said the community school model is not “one size fits all.” Schools have to explore for themselves the resources families and community members need.
Stone said another example of the community school model in action is how the school has diversified its library. A library audit in the 2019-20 school year found only 3 percent of the school’s library books had a diverse character.
That’s changed over the last three years with $15,000 worth of new books being added with help from the district and grants, Stone said. “Our kids are loving it and reading books that reflect who they are,” he said.
The number of historically marginalized students enrolled at Jefferson High is 44 percent, and 60 percent of students are economically disadvantaged, according to U.S. News & World Report. About 1,400 students attend Jefferson High.
At Roosevelt, the number of historically marginalized students enrolled is 56 percent and 72 percent of students are economically disadvantaged, according to U.S. News & World Report. The school has about 550 6-8th graders.
Hoover food pantry
The Hoover Community School food pantry is open on the first and third Fridays of the month from 3-5 p.m. Bandubuila said while she tries to keep it stocked with culturally relevant food, it’s a challenge because grants often don’t include the kind of food families need.
Donations to the Hoover school’s food pantry can be made at the school. Bandubuila said they would accept financial donations or donations of food. Some examples of the cultural food needed — which can be purchased at the African Food Market, 2210 Edgewood Rd. SW, Suite 300 — are cassava leaves, cassava flour and Carotino cooking oil.
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com
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