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Hope Floats

By Daily Bruin Staff

May 28, 2001 9:00 p.m.

  NICHOLAS SANCHEZ Teacher Joe Meza
watches over students Albert (left) and
Ronaldo (right) at one of the UCLA Hope Street
Center’s programs.

By Carolina Reyes
Daily Bruin Contributor

Often separated from relatives, recent immigrants may find
themselves living in an unfamiliar setting with limited
resources.

For one immigrant, the Hope Street Family Center helped her
overcome financial obstacles and establish herself as part of a
community.

“Before coming to the center she didn’t have a place
to live, her husband had just passed away and she had a child to
take care of ““ she was very close to being homeless,”
said Cecilia Samartin, mental health coordinator at HSFC.

As a result of the programs at HSFC the woman obtained
subsidized childcare, housing and a job.

Currently she is part of a council of parents helping others who
may be in situations similar to her own, according to Samartin.

But success stories such as this are only part of the story.

Established in 1992, the center initially served as a home
visitation project to help parents develop a meaningful
relationship with their children.

“The center is very respectful not only of ethnic culture
but of family culture as well,” Samartin said.

Today, the home visitation program continues to focus on
building a relationship between parent and child.

“Family service coordinators work with families from
wherever the parent is coming from and do not hold them to
unrealistic expectations,” Samartin said.

Currently, HSFC is one of five community centers in low-income
areas ““ partnered under a new initiative called Community
Education Resource Center.

CERC is part of Chancellor Albert Carnesale’s effort to
renew and redefine the university’s public service and
outreach to the community, according to Neal Halfon, Director of
the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and
Communities.

The center is located in an area where 89 percent of the
students read below grade level and where 42 percent of the
population makes less than $1,500 a year, according to the Fall
2000 UCLA Magazine.

Many of the programs offered through the center aim at improving
the well being of children and parents alike.

Early Head Start, a program for pregnant women and their
children, from birth to 3-years-of-age, focuses on early
development and involvement.

Family coordinators work with parents to create a lesson plan
tailored to each family’s individual needs, according to
Samartin.

“We have many parents who believe that playing with their
children is a waste of time,” Samartin said. “We try to
expose them to the philosophy that playing with their children is
how they learn.”

Parents learn to observe their children and to understand the
goals of development their children strive for.

“The program tries to identify problems that could
adversely affect a child later in life,” Samartin said.

Such problems include learning disabilities, psycho-social
family disturbances like domestic violence, child abuse and
potential health risks, she continued.

Although early childhood intervention is important, HSFC also
provides services for young adults.

  Illustration by EDWARD OYAMA HSFC houses the Los Angeles
Unified School District Central High School, a continuation
program. Teachers work with teen-agers that haven’t been able
to stay in their home schools because of behavioral or personal
problems, according to Samartin.

“The emphasis is on socialization and self-esteem,”
she said.

Because students are exposed to learning material in a creative
way, they feel motivated to challenge themselves, Samartin
continued.

Students not only studied Shakespeare this year, but rewrote
“King Lear” into a modern-day version and will perform
the play, according to Patricia Butler, a teacher at the Central
High School.

“Students discussed family values, sibling rivalry and
wrote their own rendition of the play while community members
helped out,” Butler said.

HOSTS, another mentoring program, has increased reading levels
by one grade for each six-month involvement in the program,
according to Xochitl Alviso, a teacher at the HSFC Youth
Center.

What distinguishes HOSTS from other reading programs is its
ability to individually tailor a lesson plan for each student.

“We assess a students reading and writing abilities
through a series of tests which are then entered into a
computer,”Alviso said.

“The computer will then point out the areas the student
needs work with, will suggest reading and writing assignments that
are then given to a tutor,”she continued.

The HSCF Youth Center ““ an after-school program ““ is
an alternative to streets, Samartin said. But this may not always
mean success.

“Programs can get out of control if they’re not well
planned, so one of the things we strive to do is to keep this a
safe environment,” she said.

Promoting community building has also been one of Hope
Street’s missions.

Elected parent and community representatives form part of a
policy council that make decisions, approves budgets and plans
programs at HSFC, according to Samartin.

HSFC has also fostered community empowerment by assisting
members in establishing day care centers within their
communities.

“We’re helping parents develop both a professional
as well as leadership role,” Samartin said.

The center provides participants with books, supplies, training
and support, according to the Fall 2000 UCLA Magazine.

HSFC also offers English as a Second Language classes,
vocational and training programs for adults.

Even Start, a family literacy program funded by the California
Department of Education, continues to develop and stimulate those
who have graduated from Early Head Start.

“Parents attend school with their children every day and
participate in joint activities with their children focusing on
child development and on strengthening the parent-child
relationship,” Samartin said.

To keep programs such as the Even Start program running, HSCF
depends primarily on federal and state funding.

Since its passage in 1988, Proposition 10 has allowed HSCF to
train childcare providers and to expand the network of providers
within the downtown community.

Proposition 10, which levies a 50-cent-per-pack tax on
cigarettes, provides funding for health, education and support
services for pre-school children.

As a result, HSCF hopes to extend services for family members in
the future.

“We want to help parents develop strategies that will lead
to a more balanced approach between parent and child,”
Samartin said.

“The hope is that families will grow and incorporate new
information and understanding into their family culture.”

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