‘Linkages' helps students overcome barriers to success - Gazette

Program offers support for low-income pupils and their parents

by Amber Parcher | Staff Writer | Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008

A county program that helps eliminate non-academic barriers to students' success will open its doors again this year to children who have difficulty concentrating on schoolwork for reasons outside of the classroom.

Linkages to Learning, a county-funded initiative, helps impoverished children and their families address the social, economic, health and emotional issues that interfere with a child's education through mental health services, parenting workshops, social services and charity.

Available in 35 Montgomery County Public Schools with a large number of children who receive reduced-rate or free lunches, indicators of poverty, Linkages to Learning provides the support many low-income families may not have, said Ebony Davis, the site coordinator and case manager at Greencastle Elementary School and Benjamin Banneker Middle School in Burtonsville.

"We're here to meet the needs of the community," Davis said.

Nicki Sanders, the assistant director of Linkages to Learning, said the pitfalls of poverty can affect a student's learning ability in many ways.

"If the kids are coming to school hungry, if they're going home and they don't have the basic necessities — then all of those non-academic things impact the children when they get to school," she said.

The program combats those problems however it can, whether it's as simple as giving a child a snack, or as complicated as helping families steer through immigration laws.

"So we're kind of here to eliminate all of those non-academic barriers that will prevent a child from being successful," Sanders said.

The program runs out of the schools, which makes it more accessible for participants, Sanders said. A case manager, therapist and site coordinator are assigned to each site. (In some schools, people like Davis double up on roles.)

To get kids and their families ready for the beginning of the school year, Davis organized a school supply drive through local donors and handed out brand new backpacks filled with supplies last week to 25 of her clients.

"To help them start off on the right foot," she said.

Linkages to Learning is vital at the start of the school year because it makes the hallways a little more secure for troubled and at-risk youth, said Monica Martin, the county Department of Health and Human Services' representative to the program's oversight committee.

"There are friendly faces kids can connect to," she said.

Peggy Salazar, the principal at Oak View Elementary in Silver Spring, said the program has long-term benefits for her students and their families.

"They stick with the families for however long they need them before they exit the program," she said. "Rarely is it a one-shot deal."

Martin said the countywide program costs about $4 million annually. Each site receives a $180,000 grant from the county's Department of Health and Human Services and partners with a nonprofit in the community (in Davis' case it's the YMCA) for resources and staff.

But Sanders said the program relies on donations from the across the county that add up to $1 million more in funding every year.

"It just continues to amaze me that Montgomery County is fortunate enough to have such a great collaboration to make this happen," she said.

Through collaboration, Davis said she will plan many more parenting and family workshops throughout the school year at Greencastle Elementary and Banneker Middle School.

To donate or volunteer with Linkages to Learning, call Ebony Davis at 301-572-7001 or 301-476-7672.