Mapping Community Assets in East Tampa Schools
A university and community partnership is identifying assets, resources, and strategies provided by schools in the East Tampa community to meet the needs of families and children.
Description:
Through an action research project, a university and community partnership is identifying assets, resources, and strategies provided by schools in the East Tampa community to meet the needs of families and children. This partnership includes Harold Keller, professor and chair of the Department of Psychological & Social Foundations in the College of Education at USF; Richard Briscoe, professor in the Department of Child & Family Studies at the Florida Mental Health Institute, Evangeline Best, East Tampa Community Leader and retired Team Leader, Social Services for Head Start and Danielle Cicetti, doctoral student at the University of South Florida.
Assets within three identified schools, Middleton High School, Franklin Middle School, and Oak Park Elementary are being recorded, along with the schools’ awareness and usage of community resources. Three overriding themes emerged from the assets mapped at Middleton High School: tangible resources, community products, and climate of caring.
Examples of the tangible resources at Middleton include physical resources and programs either on site or in the local community. The Parent Liaison, Guidance Counselors, and Administrators all referenced the FOCUS Parent Guide as a valuable resource when in search of community resources for students and families. Similarly, the school personnel frequently utilize The Florida Sentinel, a local community newspaper, to publicize school events to the local community. Middleton has a computer laboratory called the Success Center, which is staffed by volunteers, for students to utilize in their search for and application to scholarships and colleges. In addition, through the school-wide mentorship program, each student at Middleton is assigned a faculty mentor and meets with the mentor 30 minutes each week to discuss school, achievement, goals, and personal interests.
Community products between the school and the local community also were identified. For example, the Parent Liaison is actively pursuing interpreters for the families that speak languages other than English and is reaching out to many cultural communities that also belong to Middleton. A multitude of formal business partnerships and informal collaborations bring money, supplies, expertise, and opportunities to students.
It is clear that Middleton has created a distinct climate of caring for its students. The staff exudes a positive and dedicated attitude to do “whatever the kids need,” to ensure their personal and academic success. On several occasions the staff talked about making sure the students ate breakfast, even if they arrived at school after breakfast had ended, driving students to get bus passes so they would have dependable transportation to school, or making home visits if other means of communication with families were not available.
Future research for this project will include the completion of interviews at Franklin Middle, Oak Park Elementary, Edison Elementary, and Lockhart Elementary. In addition, research will delve deeper into how resources are accessed successfully, as well as what barriers may be encountered.
Contact Person: Harold Keller
Funding for Academic Year: 2003-04