MoCo Black Coffee Podcast

MoCo Black Coffee Podcast - Supervisor, Office of Community Schools, MCPS

• Frederick Hawkins • Season 1 • Episode 5

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This episode we discuss MCPS Community Schools, barriers, strategy, and next steps to support our youth, with the very insightful Hope L. McGuire, Supervisor, Office of Community Schools.

MoCo Black Coffee is a platform for intentional dialogue about the Black/African American community in Montgomery County, Maryland. Hosted by African American Community Liaison, Frederick Hawkins, we bring together visionary community and government leaders, dynamic entrepreneurs and cultural champions to build understanding, awareness and strengthen the community. Each episode is brewed strong with insight, intelligence, and intention, centering the strategies, stories and systems that sustain the Black/African American community.

Frederick Hawkins:

All right, my name is Frederick Hawkins, and this is Black Coffee. And today we have a special episode with one of my favorite people in the county. Uh, since starting, she's been very active, vocal, proactive, solution-oriented. But we have the community school supervisor for MCPS, Hope McGuire.

Hope L. McGuire:

Thank you. It's nice to be here today. Yeah, yeah, good to have you. I'm so excited to talk about community schools.

Frederick Hawkins:

You're so funny. Even when you're serious, you're funny. So tell me about community schools. What is a community school here at MCPS?

Hope L. McGuire:

So community schools is really set up as a state initiative. Um, it's through the blueprint for Maryland's future. And so they identify schools based off of many factors, poverty being one, but it's actually neighborhood poverty indicators. And so, because of that, since 2019, we've been identifying schools by the state. And so we have gone from having six schools to now this school year, we'll have 77. And so a lot of that is tied into how can we take the 13 wraparound services that are requirements of us to look at and support those schools that are identified with building capacity. Um, so our focus is the wraparound services pieces, and because of those 13 wraparound services, we're trying to address the barriers that might hinder the families from actually engaging with the academics and well-being of their students.

Frederick Hawkins:

Wow. 13? Yeah. And it went from six community schools to 77? Yes. Based on the statistics to the requirements. Yeah.

Hope L. McGuire:

That says a lot. So our requirements started at 80% rate for the three-year average, and now it's down to 55%, which will be the final number for right now until it's reevaluated through the blueprint and AIB, which is the accountability implementation board. So what we're really looking at right now is strong concentration of poverty areas. And the maps that I can show you definitely have the concentration in upcounting, downcounty, and then we have a small pocket now that are in Rockville itself.

Frederick Hawkins:

Yeah, yeah. I've heard about those pockets and some stories and went to some uh cluster meetings with parents and things. So there's a lot, and you guys do a lot of good work. What do you think is the largest barrier around implementing this strategy for community schools, uh the community school strategy and the blueprint?

Hope L. McGuire:

I think the biggest um barrier right now, honestly, is three areas. The first one is when you say community schools, people just think of extracurricular activities. They're just thinking of fun activities to give a student the opportunity to stay after school. And it's way bigger than that. So getting people to understand a true community school strategy provides transformation within the school and then also within the community.

Frederick Hawkins:

Yeah.

Hope L. McGuire:

So community schools should not only impact the students but the families in the community that that school sits in. So that will be one barrier. Just getting people to understand what the strategy can do and that it is national. Many um places use it. California, um, Virginia, DC has a lot of the communities and schools, certain supports with that strategy. Number two, I would say, is um everyone thinking they have the answers, but never talking to the people to find out what the question was they had in the first place. And so I feel that is one of our biggest issues that we have to address is actually canvassing and speaking more to families and students about what they need. For instance, in our 77 schools, seven are high schools. I've already told those community school liaisons, get students on your steering committees. Get their voices in the room because they can tell you what has happened that they have a need for. And so I think getting the actual voices and then hearing the questions before we um create an answer would make a world of a difference. And then I think lastly, the one thing that we really have to do is um repair harm.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Hope L. McGuire:

Um I'm real big on restorative approaches, and one of the things I think we have not done a good job of um across the nation, definitely in every area, and Montgomery County is no different, is we haven't apologized for things that we've done. And sometimes an authentic apology means the world. And so I would say the next thing is to apologize that we haven't um provided you what you needed, listen to you more, um, and not just take your time, tell you we're listening to your feedback, but you don't see us execute anything that will address what you gave us feedback on. So I would say that will be some of the barriers.

Frederick Hawkins:

Yeah, that repair harm. Do you think the repair harm component should be first? Yes. Before we move, yeah.

Hope L. McGuire:

So um this year for my team of staff that are in those 77 schools, we're changing some of the ways that we're working. So um one of their professional learning days is actually to stay in their cluster and do some of that canvassing, do some of that work across what is actually happening in their cluster and getting their face out more in their area geographically for people to understand that we are here and have this support for the students in the school.

Frederick Hawkins:

Yeah, that's good. I could feel it. I feel the energy. Yeah. How how do you how do you make sure or support um the community school liaison and you know ensuring that the engagements are not performative but authentic?

Hope L. McGuire:

So we first start with who we hire.

Frederick Hawkins:

Yeah.

Hope L. McGuire:

Um we need to have people who understand we're not looking for saviors. We're looking for people who want to build capacity, who have authentic understanding and relationships to the things that have happened to them and want to show how someone supported them and give back. So we do a very strong screening process to make sure that who are hiring is who reflects the population of our schools. And so we have a wealth of people who are bilingual across all languages. Um we also have those that um connect to their communities, have a background. Um we actually have former students who are now working back at CSLs, and they have come through MCPS. And so I think that is making a world of difference for us for this upcoming school year. I would say um what also repairing the harm is we had to be authentic about what was uh uh a mindset that usually comes with people who work in education. And I can say this as someone who has been in education for 26 years. There was a time where we thought we had all the answers, and so we shut out all the people who really might have had the answers. And so when you have that moment to self-reflect, which I push a lot, um, and I do it through my authentic, just telling of my own journey, that I think helps people to understand. We do have to pull back and understand we might have been there and we're not there, but now we need to listen to those that are dealing with it right now. And how can we help them build their capacity to break generational traumas of poverty, mental health, financial gains? Um, we might not be able to make you a millionaire, but we won't put anything in place that will hinder you from being one.

Frederick Hawkins:

Yeah, I like that. I like that. Woo! Listen, come on now. All right, she came to represent the day, boy. All right, so how do we re-invent what sectors need to be involved, more involved with this effort that you have with you and your community school liaisons to to bridge those gaps, to support our community, our young people. Is there anything, any sectors, industries, agencies missing from the table right now that need to be at the table?

Hope L. McGuire:

Um I would say for us, yes. Um I sit here as a black woman from the South, and I would say that I've done a job of hiring um bilingual staff that are instructional specialists who can support our Spanish-speaking population. But I plan to be speaking more for our black community that I think that we've missed out on. Um and so one of the things I would say is we definitely have to get more faith-based organizations involved. They already do a lot for us with food distributions, but I also want them as a former, as someone who was a preacher's kid, whose mom was a church secretary, there's so much power in that area for us to go back to what I'm used to, where the church actually guided parents on how to engage the education system. And I feel that's an area that we're missing. And so that would be one area. Um, I also feel that we have a lot of advocates within the community already, but we have almost put walls up because we want people to show up the way we want them to show up and not in their authentic selves. And so I am used to meeting people where they're at and how they feel. And so I hope to do more of that for our community to make sure that they understand that we apologize that we didn't embrace you before, but we are definitely embracing you with 77 schools and me being in my second year now officially as the supervisor of community schools. Love it.

Frederick Hawkins:

Yeah, yeah, I wish you more. I wish you 10, 20 more.

Hope L. McGuire:

I said 26 years in education. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just work on this, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Frederick Hawkins:

Well, here's two of great two. Um, any community school liaisons you would like to shout out, or are there any examples of like the just doing the work the right way, bridging the gap the right way? Uh particularly with our youth, with black and African American youth.

Hope L. McGuire:

Oh, that's so hard. Um, yeah, no. It's a lot of them that do that work, but if I want to do shout-outs, um, I just actually hired um Dr. Ramona Johnson. She just got her doctorate in December as an instructional specialist. She as the CSL at Cresthaven Elementary. Okay. And so a lot of times we don't think of a school that has um, you know, just a few grades in it, the impact that someone can have. But she sees the vision of what we're trying to do with the foundation. She has that background for early childhood. Um, and so I think that is one person I definitely would shout out. Um, I would also shout out the new team that we've hired recently.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Hope L. McGuire:

So I'm gonna give a shout out to um Kalicia Beatty, Jamila Gates, Elijah Ray, um, Gerald Eugene who are new to MCPS for this year, but some of them have connections already with Montgomery County. They were students here, they um have family here, and so the fact that they um wanted to be a part of the community school liaison, I definitely have to give them a shout out. They're in um a mix of two are in high school, one is in a middle school, one will be at an elementary school. And just uh as someone who had a black male kindergarten teacher, it's always good to see black men going back into education and you know, showing the students that actually could be a way for them to have life and still give back to the community at the same time.

Frederick Hawkins:

Yeah, nah, you're right, you're right. Growing up, seeing a black man in those spaces, spaces that you don't traditionally see that I wasn't used to seeing, uh, it changed my life. Letting to know that I can't that might be how I want to look when I'm older, you know. Um so you know, I appreciate that. Wow. Um you said so much. Uh this is one I was gonna save this question for later, but I I guess I'll ask it now. But how has the community school liaisons responded and yourself? The team responded to the national news and changes and policies nationally. How has it affected them, particularly the black students, black liaisons? How have they been feeling? How have they come to you since?

Hope L. McGuire:

So um I make sure everyone sees my authentic self when we do professional learning. So I give us room to discuss it. And so that we had some heavy moments in all transparency. We had to have some moments where we did breathing exercises and mindfulness just to center ourselves. And then we had to take moments to um somewhat pause the noise.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Hope L. McGuire:

Um, because we realize, and as someone um who also has a political science degree, I know um there's a lot that's out in the media to scare us. Yeah. That's not even factual. Uh reading comprehension, we have lost a lot of. And so because people don't read for themselves as much in certain spaces, people are trying to take advantage of that. So for the team, what we have decided to do is if we hear something before we take it to elevation of anxiety, think about what greatness has already attributed and fought through that, how our resiliency has already taken us through tough times. And so we've been really focusing on that. One of the things that we really did at the end of the year was we went into sending the staff into the resource hubs within the county for them to visually see what those subs look like, those service hubs and what they do, what we can use them for, how we can advocate and get our families connected to them. When we watch the news now, um I watch it with the eye of how is this going to impact our our black youth. Um, because um one of the things, and that's um I am, as I said, authentically sitting here as a black woman, but I have three black young adult children. And so everything in some form is going to impact me. So I have to show my team how we have to listen, but also know everything does not impact us. Some things people want to bring us into because we have solutions to it, but it's not our impact in certain places. So right now our big push has been how can we support our youth in using their voices if they want to use social media in a way to learn civics with in a way that can help them monetize without being performative and not living authentically. Um lot of the people that they respond to and highlight are are living false lives. And then after you know, six months, a year, something happens, and then that person drops off, and then we move on to the next person. So how can you live your authentic life and have joy in your life? Um, I read a book, um, Unearthing Joy by Goldie Muhammad. Dr. Mohammed always talks about how we need to remain and find in the center of our joy and what we read and what we do. And so that will be some of the things that we're actually embedding in community schools this year. So the CSLs will be learning to do more of that authentically, and then we will be bringing in um people to talk to them through the affinity group mindset. Yeah. Um, a lot of times we'll talk general because you know, it's a general all students, but there are certain things for every culture and um even geographic area of Montgomery County that we really just need to focus on in a different light.

Frederick Hawkins:

Yeah, no, I agree. And it's interesting that, you know, all this work with the youth and some of the training and steps to sustain the good work is turning inward. Yes. Building from the inside out and and focusing on focusing on our strength to survive what's happening today. That's uh that's interesting. It's almost like making us responsible to to stay alive and and keep doing the work. Yeah. And it's something that we've done repeatedly.

Hope L. McGuire:

And it's something we have conquered on a regular basis, so it's nothing to shy away from. I would also say that um we probably are are missing out on so many assets within our community, within the county, because they just feel like they've never they haven't been heard, so they're gonna stop talking. And I just ask people to don't please, this is not the time to stop talking. If anything, our youth have so many more um opportunities to match to their potential now that we need to make sure that they know here are the opportunities that are available to you. Don't let anyone tell you you don't have these opportunities.

Frederick Hawkins:

Absolutely. What can the county do, County Exec, County Council? What can they do to let the parents feel heard? Not just feel, but show the parents that they are heard. What can our electeds do to support you guys?

Hope L. McGuire:

I would say our electors, it would be great to have them be uh more informal with their listening sessions. Um sometimes it doesn't have to be any event, but go to a laundromat and meet the people doing their laundry. When I was a fourth and fifth grade teacher, I would go into the community where the apartment complex was, or I would go to the flag football game. Everybody would be at the different sports events. And just talk to the parents. Like literally just spend time talking to someone, um going into communities and letting them show you, express them, feel them, understand them. Um, because I think so many times we have it in these formal formats that they that's just not what they want to do. They don't want to participate in that. Um it's so many things that could be why. And so I think just meeting people where they're at, some of that means you gotta put, you gotta dress down, you gotta put on your sneakers, you gotta you gotta go out in the community. And so I think that would be one I would say. Um I would also say just continue to fund Montgomery County Public Schools for and DHHS and all the resources because all of those are those integrated supports that support community schools so well. We have so many schools that have linkages to learning, bridge to wellness, wellness centers, school-based health centers, which is a part of the community school structure. So we constantly need that funding to be there for that. And then I would say also, um, in a great world, we would just have mutual accountability on both sides. Um, as a mom of the young adults, I tell them, like, okay, so you're telling me this person's side, but what part do we have in how something happened? It does not mean that you are a terrible person, but we have to be authentic and like I said earlier, apologize for what we've done that might have caused harm. Intent is one thing, impact is another, and so our whole focus this year is having positive impact within community schools.

Frederick Hawkins:

I love that. I love that. If uh any last words, calls to action to the parents, young people, even your community school liaisons that you wish to leave with the audience listening today?

Hope L. McGuire:

I would say I would leave you with three things. One, parents, it's easier to loosen up than tighten up. So if you have a child in middle school or high school, this is not the time to give them as much independence as you think that they you want them to have. This is the time to really stay with them and help them through their identity. Yeah. Help them through understanding what is their future, um, help them maintain their innocence as long as they can before we put them in adult spaces. They're not adults yet. That would be the first one. The second one I would tell people is please reach out to your community school liaisons. If you want to be a part of the steering committees, they are a requirement for them. We want parents on there. We can make arrangements for you to do it virtually. We could try to do uh recordings, we could send you the information ahead of time. But if you want to be active and maybe you can't get to that actual building, but you still want to have your voice, join the steering committee and we can help you find a way. Um, and then uh also with that, I'm having a district one. So I offer anybody who would like to be a part of that to please reach out to me because I want them to be there to support that. And then lastly, I will say we're in a time in our county that there is so much happening around us that this is the time for us to actually come together to get this work done. And so to do that, we are gonna have to be honest about what are our weaknesses and be open and transparent about I need you to help build my capacity. And so if we can do that, and both sides, um, whether we work for county government or the school system and families or um advocates, everybody has a side that needs their capacity to be built, and so we need to be more open and honest about what that is and not shameful to have it be built.

Frederick Hawkins:

Thank you. Listen, listen. MCPS is lucky to have you. Thank you. All right, so keep up the great work. Um from the first day we spoke, I felt it. So appreciate it. You represent it. Well, you came fully loaded today. I'm sure yeah, we want to support you and we're gonna wish you the best. Please, uh, if you ever need to come back on, if you need uh things being announced, et cetera, et cetera, to support the uh year initiative, the community school leader.

Hope L. McGuire:

We'll come back.

Frederick Hawkins:

Yeah, send them in. Send them in. Um, all right, so thank you. This was Hope McGuire, director of the community schools at MCPS. My name is Frederick Hawkins, and that's Black Coffee.