originally published in the Observer Magazine, June 2002 Volume 28, Number 4

Hartford's Educational Main Street
by Michelle Godin '01

The University's model community program, Educational Main Street, this year boasts an all-time high of 312 student volunteers representing the University's nine schools and colleges. Once located in South Cottage as a small program with a lot of promise, Educational Main Street has grown into a significant community operation. The new headquarters, a suite of offices, is centered at the hub of the University in Gengras Student Union where it can better serve the growing number of students involved in the program.

Student tutors for Educational Main Street work approximately three hours a week for 13 weeks, or a total of almost 8,000 hours in six partner schools in Hartford, including Annie Fisher Elementary, Martin Luther King Elementary, Sarah Rawson Elementary, Fox Middle School, Weaver High School, and the new University of Hartford Magnet School.

Educational Main Street began in 1990 with former University President Humphrey Tonkin's vision to create a community of learners that linked the University to its surrounding neighborhood schools. Today, the program is an integral part of the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions, offering an array of activities and programs designed to enhance children's school performance, prevent dropouts, and prepare students for postsecondary education.

Affirming the University's commitment to serving the surrounding urban school system and improving educational opportunities and resources available to Hartford's children, Educational Main Street has five major umbrella programs: the tutoring program, an affiliate faculty program for teachers from the partner schools, a parent education program, academic alliances, and a transitions program. The cultural diversity of the staff reflects the program's mission to bridge the gap between black and white, old and young, public school teachers and University faculty, a private institution of higher education and its neighboring community schools.

"Tutoring for Educational Main Street has been one of the best decisions I've made this year," says Shekya Watkins '03. "I work with a great group of kids who love to see my face every time I walk through the door." Watkins tutors in a kindergarten classroom at Martin Luther King Elementary School. Of her own growth, she comments, "The children anticipate my arrival, and, in knowing this, tutoring has made me a much more responsible person and also a dedicated tutor. Every day that I enter the building, I know that I'm making a difference in a child's life, and to me, this is one of the greatest feelings in the world."

Six former tutors are now tutor coordinators who work in the Educational Main Street office coordinating schedules and overseeing and recruiting tutors for each of their respective schools. Emmett C. Goods, a senior in the African-American music department, has served the program for three years and is now head tutor coordinator. He is active in all of the program's initiatives and is vital in recruiting student volunteers.

Educational Main Street provides incentives to those who share their talents with the community. Each semester, coordinators select two tutors to receive $100 gift certificates to the University bookstore as a reward for outstanding work. Hartford public school teachers who are involved in the programs are offered affiliate faculty status. Hartford teachers from the partner schools are given access to many of the University's resources.

The academic alliances and transitions program joins key players from the University and the public schools who address both creative and practical student needs. The English, art, and music alliances provide outlets for creative talent. This year, Hartford student writing will be showcased in the English alliance's literary magazine, American Dreams: One Nation, Many Voices. The art alliance is promoting a mural at Fox Middle School that will combine the talents of students at the Hartford Art School and Fox. The music alliance program is working with music teachers from the partner schools to establish scholarships and provide instruments for children who want to take music lessons. The academic alliances and transitions program also publishes a transitions handbook, distributed to more than 1,500 Weaver High School freshmen and students at Fox Middle School. The handbook contains school rules, calendars, and course information to ease the transition from middle to high school.

The parent education program offers a variety of informative workshops. The annual "ABCs of College Financing" workshop helps prepare parents for their children's postsecondary education. The annual community health fair, which provides information on pregnancy, smoking prevention, nutrition, and other health issues, has been a major success, drawing more than 500 visitors to its various booths.

The academic alliances encourage Hartford teachers from the six partner schools and all of the University's schools to share ideas on a wide range of topics that result in student projects. One of the innovative partnerships being formed is the literacy alliance between the University's library director, three partner elementary school librarians, and public library staff. The group is working to establish bookstores in each of the partner schools. Students earn bookstore dollars on the basis of school-selected criteria-improved test scores, attendance, number of books read, or good behavior-dollars that enable them to buy books at the bookstore.

Looking to the future of the initiative, Educational Main Street's director, Mary Botticelli Christensen, and Ergie Bodie, program coordinator, want to increase the number of student volunteers, to include more Hartford partner schools, and to incorporate more technology into the programs. Christensen and Bodie pride themselves on the relationships they continue to build. Bodie is an essential liaison between the community and the University. The "How to Build a Community" poster on the office wall describes the philosophy and practices of the program.

"Know that no one is silent, though many are not heard. Work to change this" is one of Christensen's favorite quotes from the poster. She has taken on the task of helping students, faculty, and staff to realize their gifts and share them with the community. "Everyone has a gift to give," she says. "They just don't always know it. Everyone wants to be a part of the community, everyone wants to feel appreciated."

Educational Main Street's mission has inspired financial support from public and private sources. Contributions have come from such federal government programs as America Reads and the departments of Housing and Urban Development, and Labor. Private donors and corporations, including United Technologies Corporation, also contribute. In 1999, EMS received a $300,000, three-year grant from the Coca-Cola Foundation. This grant allowed for a significant expansion of the Educational Main Street program and the number of students it served. The progam is currently working on a strategic plan for establishing major funding sources to meet the growing needs of the community.

Students majoring in virtually every field offered at the University have benefited from the collaboration and interaction with the University's neighboring community. The Educational Main Street initiative has improved the lives of countless Hartford and University students in its 12 years on campus. Educational Main Street is a treasure to Hartford, the University, and the community that it has built from both worlds.