As we appear to be running short on funding - individual giving has nearly stopped and schools just don't have any money - I discussed with the coordinators the future plans for our two Berkeley schools. I thought they would be sad, if in fact we can't return, but I didn't expect the overwhelming response from them regarding their feelings of our success.
At each of the two schools, the coordinators said they saw a growth in the number of participants in our program (our weekly meetings are optional for their students) and those students who participated absolutely caused less trouble at school (one coordinator sited an example given by a janitor about students in our program causing less destruction to the campus). Funny... this had always been my hypothesis, though it had never been so clearly stated by our school partners without prompting.
The coordinators actually said that they were willing to renew our contract for this coming year, during a time when they are cutting others (unfortunately, they still would not be covering all of our costs). They said kids were engaged and eager to start our meetings every week, and this is the key to success for a program like ours. They said that, if in fact we don't return next year if we need to shrink to weather this storm, they aren't sure how they will fill the hole we will have left by a program that has lifted off the ground and is creating a community in the student body.
We are trying so hard to pull through this tough economy. We are learning to focus, improve our program, and raise money in more creative ways. We don't know what is going to happen, but we are trying our hardest to make a difference, and clearly we have...
