Their mission: ‘to be a beacon of hope’ for students and families

Since 2006, Kent School Services Network has been helping students and families in Kent ISD with basic needs such as health care, housing and food: all key to students doing their best in school. In this episode of “Study Hall,” we talk to Keenan King, KSSN executive director, and Jose´ Rodriguez, community school coordinator at Godwin Heights Middle School, about the difference KSSN makes at Godwin and all 49 schools it serves in Kent County. 

For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at SNN@kentisd.org. Thanks for listening, and happy studying! 

Transcript

Welcome And Why KSSN Matters

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Well, hello everyone, and welcome to Study Hall from School News Network, your window into the public schools of Kent County, Michigan. I'm your host, Charlie Honey, along with our sound engineer and pretty much do everything guy, Max Whitland. Here today, we're at Godwin Heights Middle School in Wyoming to talk about an important but perhaps underrecognized organization that has been quietly delivering vital community resources to students and families for 20 years. Kent School Services Network is a 501c3 nonprofit serving 49 schools in six Kent County School Districts. Besides Godwin, those include Godfrey Lee, Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Kenowa Hills, and Sparta. Since 2006, KSSN has brought into schools services that help students do their best, things like health and mental health care, vision and dental services, and it connects families with community resources that provide necessities such as food, clothing, and tutoring. Kent School Services Network is part of a nationwide network of more than 5,000 community schools, which positions schools as not only places of learning, but hubs of services that help students learn their best. Today there are about 22,700 students that take part in the Kent School Services Network, 36% Hispanic, 29% African American, and 22% white, and about 76% are considered economically disadvantaged, 29% English learners, and 17% students with disabilities. I'm joined today by Dr. Keenan King, Executive Director of Kent School Services Network, and Jose Rodriguez, the community school coordinator for Godwin Heights Middle School. Dr. King has led KSSN since 2022, serving prior to that as director of Upward Bound at Western Michigan University. He is a board member of the Washington, D.C. based Institute for Educational Leadership. Mr. Rodriguez is one of four community school coordinators in Godwin Heights Public Schools and one of 50 in all 49 KSSN schools. He previously served as a youth advocate specialist for Grand Rapids Public Schools and as president of the GRPS School Board. Gentlemen, welcome to Study Hall and thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Thank you. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

Let's start with you, Dr. Keenan King. In your just kind of uh overall thought, uh what's KSSN all about? How does it work and how does it help students and their families?

SPEAKER_03 2:40

Yeah, so KSSN is a community school strategy, like you said, serving about 22,000 students annually across Kent County. We are a place-based initiative implementing community schools. So what we do is we partner with schools to place resource coordinators, so to speak, into the buildings full-time to address student needs. Like you said, it could be mental health services, housing needs, you name it. We do this through a needs assessment process, evaluation, and then kind of, you know, through a continuous improvement system, we try to, you know, increase the likelihood that students will be attending school and be academically successful while they're there.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

So it's it's it's bringing resources, community services to the schools.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Correct. Or it'll be referring out of the building.

How The Community Schools Model Works

SPEAKER_03 3:25

Uh that pretty much happens. It it really just depends on the needs of the building and the um assets and community. It might be better for students to meet outside of a building. There's also just that notion that sometimes schools are not always equipped to meet all the needs. So, like if you need to get a physical, you might need to go to a doctor's office where we would help with transportation in that case. So, yeah, it really runs the gamut. Um, and that's why, you know, I think we love what we do because it doesn't, it isn't so prescriptive that it's like, no, I can't serve you. We try to figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

So some services could be available on site at the school and other services you would connect into the community and help them get there.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

Absolutely. So for example, Godwin has uh Cherry Health Center, so we would just refer kind of across the street to where the health center is. We're in the middle school now, so the the health center's in the high school. And for the high school students, they would just be referred down the hall or you know, I think it's by the gym or something like that. Yeah. In other situations where the students are like maybe younger and there needs to be like more of a delicate situation, or you know, you you can do that stuff in the school, but maybe you want a parent there, so maybe that's after hours. So it really just depends. It really just depends on um what the needs of the student are and the nature of the referral. You know, housing referrals might need to be done by housing associations or in neighborhoods. Um most of our partners are okay with us bringing, you know, community partners and other resources into the building as long as it doesn't disrupt the learning environment.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Sure. Um so your KSSN is part of uh like a community school's movement, right? That goes back quite some time. Um kind of what does that mean philosophically and and how does that what's kind of the mission of that in terms of how it meets students' needs?

SPEAKER_03 4:58

If you talk to some of the earliest philosophers for community schools, this has been going on for about a hundred years. His name is John Dewey, I believe. Exactly. So it's about you know schoolhouses being more than just a place where students receive education, basic needs are met, connected to the community, things like that. Here in Kent County, I would say conversations probably started in 1996, is what I've heard. And then this organization, after getting the agency and building the awareness, uh 2006. So this movement has been, I mean, it's been going on for a long time. If you talk to anyone about you know, educators, you know, whether it's communities in schools, full service community schools, wraparound schools.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

So it's it's very important, right, to to kind of understand where we've been and where we need to get to, because this model is fluid and has evolved over time.

SPEAKER_04 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

And I guess what the second part of what you asked, what does that mean for the national movement? I I think it we we have some good energy now around what's best for students not being solely about getting a good grade, right? So we know that students come with a myriad of challenges. I mean, everything from hunger, mental health, immigration, law enforcement, like you name it. If educational systems are not equipped to address those situations by their standard definition, where do I guess nonprofits, community partners, and and others can you know step up to fill that gap? So yeah, it it's evolved over time. I think COVID did, for better or worse, a good job of opening the door, so to speak, to like we can't just do this without the help of others. Yeah. But I also think that COVID kind of exposes to like how deep some of these challenges can be.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

So um it's it's it sounds like you're a big part of this is keep students from falling through the cracks, right? Stuff that they need in their lives, in their families, to just be able to show up at school and do their math or do their reading or whatever it is, right? Stuff that gets in the way of their learning. Now, here, do I understand correctly? This kind of started like in former director Carol Payne McGovern's kitchen or something like that. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

I'll make a joke. Like we we started in the kitchen, basically. It's like kind of that like um humble beginnings, eight schools. Okay. Uh we became a nonprofit in about 2016. So you know, then that kind of changed our governance structure. We were able to expand a little bit more. So yeah, we're here now in 49 buildings, the most we've ever had.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

And uh, how is this funded? Where do you get your money?

SPEAKER_03 7:25

Yeah, so schools pay, it's a fee-for-service model. So schools pay into our budget, and then we fundraise from private and public sources. So the Kent County government is public, and we actually just got our first uh pot of money from the state of Michigan, like first ever. Million dollars, wasn't it? Million dollars. Yeah, it was awesome. Um, but yeah, so before that it's pretty much been philanthropy, which is private, and then Kent County, and then schools pay the uh match, basically, is what we call it.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

Okay, so each school that the participates puts something into it. They contribute, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

They have skin in the game, is what we call it. Um so over the last couple years, we've gone from about two million dollars, two point six million dollars to about four point eight this year is what we just approved yesterday.

SPEAKER_04 8:09

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 8:10

Um, and balancing that so schools that got pretty high on the you know, the percentage that they were paying in, we're moving that back. Okay because we know students or um schools are facing some you know budget challenges. Right. So just figuring out how to keep this thing moving forward and pay people livable wage and have the compensation package and benefit package at a at a rate that we you know want to make sure that coordinators don't have to navigate the same systems that you know some of these some of these families that they're working with have to.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

So Jose Rodriguez, we're here in your office at uh Godwin Heights Middle School. And yeah, uh you've been doing this uh how long, uh this role?

SPEAKER_01 8:47

I've been uh I've been a community school coordinator for three years. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

And and what is it exactly you do as a community school coordinator?

Where KSSN Came From And Grew

SPEAKER_01 8:56

You know, it's hard to uh fully encompass what we do, right? It it's it's so many things, right? And it that's what I love about my job is that we do something different almost every day that we come to school, but really it is focused around trying to meet the needs, and as you said earlier, right, fill the gaps for our students, for our families, for our community. So so the work always looks different, but it always has that theme around it.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

So are you kind of the manager, uh on-site manager, so to speak, of KSSN? Yeah, you could say that. Try to make sure everything gets done. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yep. So, you know, it's it's all in the title, right? We coordinate a lot of things, right? So whether it's coordinating, you know, food for for students to take home on the weekends, right, through our partner hand to hand, whether it's doing coordinating a food truck with Feeding America, West Michigan, or coordinating, you know, mental health services with families and with our uh mental health clinicians that are on site, it's it's all of those things.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Uh clinicians on site, who do you have, for instance, that comes to the school to help students?

SPEAKER_01 9:56

So currently at um Godwin Heights Middle School, we have two clinicians. We have one through Cherry Health and one through Family Outreach Center.

SPEAKER_04 10:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

And so we have two clinicians that are on site, so they work here at the school and can serve, you know, one can serve up to 50 students and the other one it's a little uh different, but they serve here right in-house. And so when kids need to see a clinician, they just go downstairs into our main office swing and go see them right there. For what, for instance?

SPEAKER_02 10:26

They might see them about.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

So they might see them if if a student is, you know, dealing with some some peer issues, right? And they don't know how to regulate their emotions, or if they don't, you know, if they have some stuff going on at home that they maybe don't feel comfortable talking to even a staff member about, they have a clinician there that they can rely on that's a lending ear for them to to talk about their issues, resolve their issues, and then be ready to learn when they go back to the classroom.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

So this is a mental health clinician?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

It's a mental health clinician, yep. So we we do have a lot of resources here at Godwin Heights. And as uh Dr. King mentioned, we have our Cherry Health Clinic at the high school as well in our physical physical education building.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

And did you say is it Family Outreach Center? Family Outreach Center is one of our partners. What do they do for the kids?

SPEAKER_01 11:10

So they're also part of uh our clinician team. Yeah. So they do higher levels of care, right? So that could be home based. So we do offer services where clinicians can go to to our students' homes and offer services there, but then we also have our our outpatient services where it's just you know, maybe less severe issues that they're dealing with, right? Not so so much trauma-based, and then they go and see them right downstairs. Yeah, yeah. You have about four hundred and some students here, is that yeah, about four hundred and fifteen, four hundred and twenty, give or take.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Now, Godwin is a district, if I have my numbers right, it has, you know, a high percentage of Latino and black students, uh high percentage of economically disadvantaged. So what what are some of the biggest needs that these students and their families have that you that you are trying to address? Some stuff that comes up a lot.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, so you hit the nail on the head. Um we serve a lot of historically disadvantaged and disinvested in communities. Yeah right. So a lot of it is looking at economic opportunity, right? Which, you know, right now I'll say Wyoming is, you know, we're we're trying as a city. They're trying to invest more. We have the Godwin Mercado just opened up, right? So we can have folks maybe have a little more access to to healthier foods. But then Corwell Health has got a project right across the street on 36th Street. Um and we're hoping that that economic investment can help kind of uplift some of our families out of poverty and give them an opportunity to help their students succeed in school as well, because we know that they're all connected.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Yeah,

Funding The Work And Paying Coordinators

SPEAKER_02 12:35

yeah, yeah. So it sounds like it get into the students' homes, into their lives, even to into some of the parental problems maybe that are going on or or family problems.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Yeah, absolutely. And and so something I want to mention as well is, you know, a a majority of the families, as you said, are, you know, maybe economically disadvantaged, right? So they do have, you know, they are on food stamps, they are on on Medicaid, maybe have a housing voucher, right? And so we know that those systems are really complex and difficult to to navigate at times. Yeah. And so we do have the opportunity to help families navigate those systems to have the best possible outcomes for themselves, for their children. Unfortunately, uh, we did have the pathways to potential program through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. And that is no longer something that we can offer. So as we see a lot of cuts in public education, we also see them, you know, cuts in other public services in the public, you know, sector. And so we have to just rely on the work of our uh our coordinators and our you know leaders in this work to say, okay, how can we fill in again those gaps that continue to be um put there due to lack of investment?

SPEAKER_02 13:45

So you mentioned pathways of potential, as I understand a statewide program, partially inspired by KSSN, correct? You guys were kind of a model for and they they're in a lot of schools or we're in a lot of schools. Yeah. Has that been shut down?

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Yeah. So we we recently, so back in December, we lost our pathways to potential coordinator. And so they did a lot of work through helping families navigate right their benefits from the state. And so now, again, as I mentioned, we we have to pick up the Slack. Um, because sometimes when you get on the phone and you're trying to figure out something, you might be on there for hours.

SPEAKER_04 14:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

But we had a direct line of communication. Someone who worked here in the building, um, and so as we no longer can offer that, we have to figure out what is the, you know, what is the easiest way or best way for us to help navigate those those tough situations.

unknown 14:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

Can I add to that? So the Pathways a Potential Program is funded by DHA or Department of Health and Human Services. Originally the model, the KSSN model in Kent County. So you have the community school model and you have the KSSN model.

SPEAKER_04 14:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:53

It was a site team clinician provided by a provider like FLC, DA, uh DA Blodgers St. Ja, or Arbor Circle. Okay. Pathways to Potential worker from Department of Health and Human Services, and then KSSN Community School Coordinator. These three individuals would form a team at each building. Okay.

Inside The Coordinator Role At Godwin

SPEAKER_03 15:10

That was like ideal state.

SPEAKER_04 15:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

Now, pathways to potential, maybe there wasn't, you know, enough individuals to go to all the buildings that we were partnering with, but it was still kind of piece wheeled together where it was like, okay, if you don't have a pathway to potential worker, this is how you work around that. So we've always kind of known that in certain spaces we had to work around. It didn't, you know, that change didn't drastically change how we operate. But again, I think to Jose's point, when your partners start to cease to exist, which we've seen in the past five years, like there are organizations that do not exist anymore, ones that have run out of funding, the state has not funded uh programs and you know, like they had in the past. We still exist because we've maintained that nimble spirit, that that flexible, that flexible note, you know. Hey, it's not that this person isn't here and it's not our job to figure it out. It's our job to help you get to where you you know need to be to figure this out. It's like one of the beautiful things about this organization is the fact that we have kind of stood a test of time.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Sure. Um it's hard to talk about a district with a high percentage of Latino students without talking about what's happening with the federal level and an im immigration uh crackdown. Um are your families feeling many of your families feeling that? And is that something you need to address?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Yeah, we yeah, thank you for asking that. We we absolutely have lost families um due to fear, right, of what might happen to them if they stay in this area, but also due to deportations from their own family. Um so we've had, you know, some some amazing students, amazing families that we've lost because while one of their family members, oftentimes it might be the breadwinner, right? It might be the husband of the family, um, was deported. And so they have to figure out either moving closer to to extended family or even moving closer down south to to Mexico or another place they might be deported to just to figure out how to keep that family unit together. And so it's been really frustrating to see. And we've had, as far as I know, right, a handful of families, but we don't often know everything that goes on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

So part of your work is to just try to support samp families everywhere any way you can in this situation. I notice too in your office there's a lot of you know, stuff. There's a lot of stuff that kids can use, right? Let some looks like it's got some snacks in there. And do kids come here and just, hey, you got any of this, or how does that work?

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Absolutely. Kids, kids know that, you know, I'm just uh a knockaway, right? Kids will come in here and either get uh toiletries, right? They'll get school supplies, they'll get snacks, backpacks. I even have from my wife, she donated a lot of her squishmallows. And so sometimes students just need something to something to hug, something to feel safe, right? It might be a testing day and they feel like they need to just have that extra comfort for the day. So we offer everything. Um and this is just you know, in my office, but we also have a a community clothing closet where we offer clothing, not just for, you know, if a student gets something on their shirt, but if a family needs clothing, right? Whether it's winter boots, right? Because we know winter lasts a long time here in Michigan, um, whether they need pants, socks, clothing, new shoes, all of that is available here as well. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

And and I'd like to ask both of you, what are some of the positive impacts you've seen KSSN have on your students and families and and and kind of how do you measure that, uh, Dr. King?

SPEAKER_03 18:31

You know, it you really can't measure that point at which you see a kid kind of get it or get what they need to be successful, that that notion that someone cares about them and that uh you know that that warm feeling you get, like, man, I help this family and I I feel really good about you know my purpose. So I think for for even our staff, it's just waking up every day having that purpose and in this world that is so much noise and just all these things happening. And then obviously supporting our community, supporting our families, you know, one of the things on my notes is like what are the qualifications of a of a good community school coordinator? And it's like honestly, they they gotta love their community. They gotta really want change and they gotta really know that you know every day they do the things that they're doing, it's not really, it's not in vain. It's it's really pushing our society, well, starting with the the individual, but pushing our society forward. So I think, yeah, like to be a beacon of hope out here with so much noise, so much negativity, well, whatever it is, politics, it could be the rising cost of everything. I can go to Mr. Rodriguez and I can go relax, I can get some food, I can touch some squishies or whatever it is, right? And I think that's that's really the power, like that human piece keeping us connected. So it's a beautiful thing. Of course, they get good grades, they go and be successful, they start families. Like that's great. Like I we obviously want all of that for you know our society to advance, but to really have people who feel supported and feel whole and feel loved, I think is really what why we do this.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

So Jose, what are some of the things you see here that make you feel like yeah, making a difference with these with these kids?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

So I want to start off by saying a a quote that I really love about John Dewey, right? So you you've mentioned John Dewey back, you know, right at the start of this. But a a quote that I love is um if education doesn't teach you to resist injustice, it has failed. And so I think that, you know, by doing this work, we we are we are fighting some injustices that we see in our communities. Um but yeah, I mean, there's a few things that come to mind when I think of the impact that we've had, right? Firstly, we we've taken some MyFi data as a district and we've said, what is this data telling us about what our students are? I'm sorry, what data did you refer to? My fi data?

SPEAKER_03 20:47

There's a data warehouse of the state of Michigan. So it has like student data.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Education outcomes. Okay, sure. Yeah, yeah. But the the the MyFi

Mental Health Support And Home-Based Care

SPEAKER_01 20:55

data has shown us, right, and this is students talking to us directly through this survey that they feel that they don't belong in their school communities. Now, this is a wider, you know, uh issue in our county, it's a wider issue in across districts. But what we said is we wanna we wanna address that. We want to make sure that again, you know, to the point I made earlier is that students feel like they are welcome in their school community, that they belong here. And so we did start a uh campaign to make students and families know that they belong with us, right? It's called I Belong, I matter at Godwin Heights Public Schools. And so we take a lot of our student leaders into other schools and say, hey, look, this is maybe some struggles that I've had feeling like I didn't belong in a certain space, but this is something that helped me. And oftentimes it's, you know, how do you connect with your peers? How do you seek help? How do you become an advocate for your own needs? I mean, we've had kids start to talk about some of the struggles that they have. Um, and out of this campaign was born, you know, even a student focused group that we have here at the middle school where kids are allowed to speak. Their mind, and we don't often give them the space to, but that's important to listen to students and then act on their needs.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Let me ask you this does any particular kid come to mind, student come to mind that you saw this made a difference for?

SPEAKER_01 22:13

So as a member of the Latino community, right, as a Latino man, I know that that sometimes it's hard within, especially, you know, in Mexican culture, to talk about mental health, to talk about the needs in that space. Um, but what comes to mind is this particular student, a seventh grader, right? So even at that age, it's hard to advocate for yourself. But it was the first year that we did our I Belong I Matter campaign. We had just talked to the middle school, I had a big assembly, and this was last year. And he comes into my office here, right? Very welcoming open space. So we we make it intentionally that way so kids feel comfortable and sharing things that they might not otherwise share. And he comes to me and I'm just sitting at my desk and he said, Hey, Mr. Rodriguez, you know that uh that assembly we had, I really liked it. It was fun. I said, Yeah, wasn't it? And he said, So I just wanted to ask you something about belonging. And I said, Yeah, go ahead. And he said, I just don't always feel like I belong. I don't feel like I belong within my friends. They don't always treat me the best. And I said, Man, what a revelation for a seventh grade, you know, young man, right? Um, to say, there there's there's a need that I have and I'm asking for help. Yeah. Um, and so I said, Man, like we've got we've got some small group, uh, small groups that we do. We've got gaming club, we've got all these other resources. So if you want to maybe see if if you can connect with other students, and maybe, you know, sometimes we grow out of out of you know, friendships, out of relationships, but I want to help you figure out where you do belong here in the school. Yeah. And he said, absolutely. And so then we partnered it up with him up with some small groups that we did, and he found his community, right? It was it was some different students, right? As we're all learning to find ourselves in middle school and high school, it's important to to know that we do belong. And so that was really powerful, and that's a story that I share all the time. And that was just one student out of many that have that have been impacted by this work. Yeah. And so that's why we continue the work that we do.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Yeah, that's huge, especially in middle school, like you say. You know, I I know I was pretty lost and I didn't feel okay belonged. So 20 years uh KSSN has been in uh business. Uh what what's uh what's in your future uh in regards to that uh that anniversary?

SPEAKER_03 24:23

So KSSN is coming

Benefits Navigation And Losing Pathways

SPEAKER_03 24:25

up on 20 years of existence, and we are having a celebration next spring. So stay tuned and and if you want to get involved, if you even if you want to volunteer or help out, uh please let us know. Again, fill out the inquiry form on our website, KentSSN.org, and we will get you connected.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Jose, do you uh have any programs that run before or after the school day that uh students can get involved with?

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Yeah, absolutely. We have uh team 21 is our partner for after school programming, and so they serve uh God freely and Godwin Heights school districts. And so we are lucky to have that program. We often have a waiting list because there's so many students that want to get involved in that. Um and so that's another opportunity to get involved. We're always looking to hire more Team 21 uh leaders because you know, if we don't have the the staff there, we can't have you know more students participate in after school programming. So that's something I would ask the community to get involved with as well. If you if you're looking for a rewarding opportunity to to give back to our children, that that's that's it. Uh it has been really great in helping our students uh just have something to do after school. Um, aside from the tutoring that we also offer here at Godwin Heights Middle School, we know that that's uh a huge need, um, and our staff provide that opportunity as well. So there's a lot of enriching things that happen after school.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Do uh do volunteers come in and tutor as well?

SPEAKER_01 25:51

We uh have that opportunity and I would love to be connected with uh with anyone that's interested in that. Right. Um, because of right now we just have our staff do it, but we're always looking for volunteers to help uh support our our student learning.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

So so lots of ways to get involved, lots of ways to help.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Community school, community getting into the school and helping out. And I just want to highlight, you know, not not that this is, you know, the the most important program, right? This is one of the programs too, um, just in the city of Grand Rapids, right? We we do service a lot of students within the Grand Rapids city proper, right? Grow 1000 is even an amazing program where kids can get partnered with uh through the city of Grand Rapids to find uh job opportunities over the summer. Um, and that also provides them some opportunity for leadership development along the way. And, you know, something that that is really great is that they're increasing their wages that they're paying uh youth. And so I think by 2027, they're trying to pay $15 an hour, which is pretty great for for some of our youth. And so that's another example of as Dr. King mentioned, right? Enrichment opportunities don't always have to come before or after school, but there's that huge, you know, chunk of summertime where kids just need something to do, something uh positive. Um, and they can also provide some some income for their families as well. So there's so many programs out there, and we're always ready to connect them with what's out there.

unknown 27:18

Great.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

Yep. And I'm sorry, we were in year-round. So, like you said, summertime, the meetup and eat up spaces we're in, and and all those uh meetup and eat up is like um summer meals. They go to either the school that they were enrolled in or maybe a community partner and make sure that they're getting those lunch. Because again, food insecurity. Some kids come to school and they that's their lunch, and when the summertime happens, they don't they don't have that.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Well that food insecurity is a big issue for a lot of these families, as good as I know. Um do you and you've got some do you have some like agencies, churches, whatever out in the community that are helping you out in this uh work?

SPEAKER_01 27:50

So we have what's called the C SLT, and that's our community school leadership team. And so

Immigration Fear And Emergency Student Needs

SPEAKER_01 27:55

once a month, our partners come together with uh Godwin Heights Public Schools community school coordinators, and we talk about some of the work that we've got going on, how they can get plugged in, but also what is what are some of the things that they've got going on so we can support them as well. One of the things that we do uh is Rivertown Credit Union has a has a summer bash, right? And so we always go and support them, give out backpacks to the students. Uh last year I was able to do some live screen printing with some with some tote bags. And so, you know, it's it's not a transactional relationship, right? We we support one another in every way that we can. And so in that way, we just continue to support each other and support the work of um you know elevating students to success and whatever that looks like for them.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

Yeah, and uh any churches involved? Sometimes that's a yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

And so I'll say right now, uh actually Godwin Heights Public Schools was the first pilot school to implement what's called Care Portal. And so this is one huge way that churches really help uh the community school model. So Care Portal uh works through a mutual aid model. And I'm not sure if folks are familiar with that, but you know, mutual aid, uh there's a a great book called Mutual Aid by Dean Spade. Uh go read that if you if you're able to. But so what it is is is giving without condition, right? Is giving without necessarily saying this is, you know, you know, prescriptive gift, right? So we we go to Care Portal, which is connected through a lot of churches in the area, and say, here's a need for a family. They're behind on a bill and they need to, you know, get $100 to pay a light bill. And so a church partner sees the need, meets it, and says, Hey, we can, you know, send us the bill so we can pay it, or here we can write a cut you a check and make that make that you know be taken care of. And so then that family doesn't have to worry about their basic needs. They they have the lights taken care of and they can send their kid to school and help them succeed in in their academics. But uh we have so many churches that are involved with that, and I'm grateful that Godwin Heights has been the pilot school

Belonging Data And A Student Story

SPEAKER_01 30:05

for that. Now we're actually implementing it at at different schools as well, and Dr. King can speak a little to that as well.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

Yeah, I would say, I mean, Careport is one example, awesome, phenomenal service that we um help schools kind of subscribe to. And again, like Jose said, it's uh like I guess faith-friendly businesses, faith, faith-friendly churches, things like that. But yeah, at one point we ran data, I think that was two years ago, and the faith community was our largest partner by how do you say by industry. Just because there's, I mean, we can county, Grand Rapids, there's a lot of churches, a lot of, you know, uh institutions, so to speak, around uh whether it's even, I mean, mental health services, foster care, housing, uh tutoring, I mean, even like child care. I've seen, I mean, it get a car, you know, a guy to come in and help you with installate your your trailer, you know, it's a guy in a church. Um, I've seen people struggle with addiction issues, they find sponsors through church-sponsored programs. I mean, you name it. Like, so it's supporting that whole family, regardless of your your needs and things like that. But again, like trying to make sure that it's not a situation where people feel like they're being talked to or uh indoctrined or anything like that. So we do a good job of just making sure that we understand like some of the assumptions or bias that may be embedded in there. Um, culturally responsive pedagogies, things like that. But yeah, the faith community has always stepped up, I think, in Kent County to support you know our most vulnerable you know populations. It's just making sure they know how to and when to and what the needs of the building are because the last thing you want to do is be saying, oh, we got this great service, and then nobody is showing up. So, you know, even if you're speaking Spanish, having people that look like them, it it makes a big difference. But yeah, I would say Care Porto has been a game changer. It's a service that where they put in this like needs. So we need a mattress. And if uh Jose only knows four churches, then if that they don't have a mattress, because it we work in a neighborhood, but this actually expands our reach all the way to I think the lake shore. So they can, you know, churches all the way to in Holland or like can respond to these like requests. Um some of them are for like washers and dryers, but other ones are just for like school supplies or just like basic like kitchen supplies or whatever. They they kind of start with the churches and then they look at like how churches can kind of like hey, we got this need, we put it in there. Who in this church ecosystem or this faith-friendly ecosystem can respond to that need? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

So okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Great service.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

And then anybody hearing this, a parent, whoever say this sounds good, are they are there volunteer opportunities of uh available with KSN?

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Yeah, with KSSN. Absolutely. And and so we are always reaching out to families, we're always reaching out to community partners to to come and be involved in the learning environment with their students. Because I think when we grow together, that's when we really find success. When we see what's happening in our schools and not just, okay, well, teachers are doing it and students are are you know participating, but let's get the families involved. Let's get the partners involved so they can see the impact of, you know, not just our work in the in the

Volunteers Partnerships Care Portal And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 33:15

classroom or in the school building, but what are you providing that is helping aid in this success as well?

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Is there a website or address that we can direct people, listeners to if they want to pitch in?

SPEAKER_03 33:26

Well, you can always go to our website, uh KentSSN.org. Okay. And SSN.org. Just get to go to an inquiry form. All right. And you just fill that out. That'll come directly to our office and then you go, hey, I really want to get involved, and I'm looking at these. We can get you a name. The are the names of our coordinators are also on our website. So even if you call the building, hey, let me talk to Jose Rodriguez, I really want to volunteer. If you want to get involved, there's plenty of opportunities. We got food trucks going on at like the Hispanic Center, those happen once a month. There's plenty of opportunities. Plenty of ways to help. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

Well, gentlemen, it's great the work you're doing for 22,000 plus students, and uh, I really appreciate your taking the time to talk with us today. Um, and thanks to our listeners for joining us once again on Study Hall. Special shout out today to Malik Harvey, who recorded and helped compose our groovy study hall theme music. I hope you'll join us on our next episode of Study Hall, everyone. Until then, keep studying and keep those pencils nice and sharp.