Angie: Poverty plays a huge role in education. We at Educare believe that it’s our purpose– it’s not our job, it’s our purpose to support the families and provide what’s needed to help them overcome that so that they can focus on their child’s education.

Angie: Our two-gen program means the two-generational approach. It’s not just the child; it’s the family as a whole.

Thomas: From the moment our family decides to enroll in our school, we really work with the family one-on-one to show that we care, to show that we’re not trying to do for them, but we’re trying to do with them. That we want them to grow to find out what their desires are, what are their goals, how do they want to develop in life?

Angie: Our family support team provides different trainings and focus groups, webinars and supports around financial fitness, health and wellness, and literacy.

Thomas: We’re always trying to help families break their cycle of poverty to help our families kind of work through those obstacles and go to another level or find some sense of stability.

Teacher: Hey. Good morning, Jade. How are you? Good morning. You ready for school this morning?

Troy: Great?

Angie: Troy is a parent that we’ve had for three years now. His daughter Jade is here. Troy is a single father. In the beginning, Troy was reserved. Once we continued to reach out and made that connection, you saw a change in Troy. He began to open up about what was needed and what his struggle was. And he didn’t just want a handout. He wanted a path.

Troy: Anything I need, Ms. Angie, she’s always there for me. Ms. Angie kind of leaned in my direction towards giving me support, giving me that extra, okay, are you okay, Troy? You sure? Whatever you need, I got you, I’m here for you. So that love and that warm feeling of just being included is just deeper than just school. They care about you.

Carolyn: What we’re going to do is have you at one of the stations. One of us will be there to help assist you, to support you.

Angie: We have parent engagement monthly in our classrooms.

Thomas: We encourage our teachers to develop a parent engagement activity calendar. And they can be different activities that directly correlate to what’s going on in the classroom and what’s being learned in the classroom. The idea is to pull them in and not just leave them with the mindset that, hey, you’re at school. Let school do all the work. No. We want to involve you parents to come into the classroom and see what we’re doing.

Carolyn: So that’s another thing. We’re always encouraging our parents and the children to use those calming methods.

Thomas: They can hear the teachers use that dialogue and use those techniques that they may have heard about.

Carolyn: It’s important for us to be able to help the parents to know how they can teach their child at home. Troy has been a very attentive father. I think he see those strategies and those things that we do with her here and he does his best to do them with her.

Troy: I’m calm already. Oh my God. Thank you all so much.

Carolyn: When we give them the methods or the strategies on how to do it, well, they take it and they’re, like, oh. And they see it working and they’re, like, I get it. I can do this. But they need the guidance and they need the support.

Angie: Our families are loving. Our families want the best for their kids and for themselves. Sometimes, they don’t know how to get to that point and so, that’s why we’re here, to help them. And oftentimes, our families will say I want better for my child than what I have. And that’s what we’re doing every day.

Schools That Work

Educare New Orleans