Hey, all! As you probably know, my wife and I just welcomed our newest little baller to the family. And as any new parent will tell you, once you become a parent you appreciate the role of grandparents more than ever.
So as we prepare to play New York this weekend, I’ve been thinking about how great it is that Philly has the oldest — and one of the largest — Foster Grandparent Programs in the country.
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The program is a part of our country’s government-funded Senior Corps, and exists nationwide; here in Philly, where it began more than 40 years ago, it’s run through the Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service.
It places seniors — who’ve gone through a rigorous orientation and training—in schools, Head Start, and Pre-K programs around the city. Right now, the program has about 100 seniors who work with around 350 students a year in about 50 early-education institutions citywide: School District sites, charter schools, Head Start, Pre-K locations and also nonprofit education programs.
Amanda Gamble and Kenny Luu in the Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service report that last year alone, the corps collectively served over 100,000 hours at schools and after-school programming citywide!
“The beauty of this programming is that it’s intergenerational, so we’re connecting these young kids with grandparents who they might not have in their life. It’s also connecting low-income seniors to meaningful service that enriches their lives. And it helps the school and the community,” Gamble says, invoking that triple-bottom line so many mission-driven programs strive to address.
Some of the seniors work one-on-one with students who need academic or behavioral support, some of them work with small groups; all of them become a part of the classroom family, giving students — and teachers — the kind of meaningful attention and TLC only a grandparent can.
Next week we head to Minneapolis, and I’ll tell you about a Philly principal working to make life better for his refugee students.