Hunting Park: Education Works

https://vimeo.com/29373057]

EducationWorks is a non-profit organization with a strong educational focus helping the impoverished neighborhoods of Philadelphia and Chester, Pa.; and Camden and Trenton, N.J.

“You’ll never find EducationWorks in Chestnut Hill or Society Hill. That isn’t to say that they don’t need our services or could not benefit, but that’s just not a part of our mission,” said Yvette Fuller, senior administrator at EducationWorks.

EducationWorks works very closely with the School District of Philadelphia. Various studies have shown students who participate in EducationWorks have increased attendance at their school as a result.

“You know, this is a very hard economic time, especially for the school district, and for principals to bring back our programs, and having to find money in their operational budgets… you know, it speaks volumes about the work that we do,” Fuller said.

Brandi Jeter, the education program development manager at EducationWorks, has seen first hand the great things EducationWorks provides its students.

“One of the things that I think we do very well is provide opportunities for the students to experience things that they have never experienced before, or that they might not ever experience if it weren’t for our program,” Jeter said

Students are able to participate in a variety of programs. There are academic programs, social development programs, early learning programs and even college preparation programs.

There is a great presence of AmeriCorps, a federal program that President Bill Clinton created during his tenure. The workers from AmeriCorps help out at EducationWorks, and more often than not they learn a thing or two as well.

Kim Glodek has been the training director at EducationWorks for the past 18 years. She has seen many staff members who progress and extend their service beyond EducationWorks.

“The members who serve, the experience is also for them. They continue to serve in schools or in other non-profits. We hear often times that when members finish their service, they get a lot more out of it than they gave, and they only see that in hindsight,” Glodek said.

“The students witness that. The students are much more perceptive to that than we give them credit for,” Jeter said. “So we’ll have students in the program who desire to be youth workers, and then the youth workers want to sign up to be AmeriCorps members and to serve.”