Northwestern’s 15-year partnership with AmeriCorps’ early education program, Jumpstart, came to an end in May because of federal budget cuts.
The Jumpstart program partnered with universities across the country, bringing university students into local preschools in underserved communities to implement literacy curricula. NU students who are Federal Work-Study eligible worked with preschoolers to improve their literacy skills and foster supportive relationships.
But after the program ended, NU’s Center for Civic Engagement chose to carry on Jumpstart’s mission, initiating Community Connect Schools this fall. CCS aims to connect NU work-study students back to the preschools in the area.
Part of the larger framework of Community Connect, CCS adopted Jumpstart’s model by starting the Early Childhood Team, intended to target literacy and social skills for 2 to 5-year-olds.
Weinberg senior Narmeen Chahal and SESP senior Sara Peña Figueroa are two of the many students who have been involved with Jumpstart. Chahal, Peña Figueroa and other veterans of the program came to CCS to further the cause, taking on leadership positions and guiding the transition, Peña Figueroa said.
“How can we … also give people who have been in Jumpstart, that have this experience, the opportunity to help build the program based on the experience that we already have,” Chahal said. “That’s how an Early Childhood Team took shape.”
Throughout the transition, CCS has found opportunities to incorporate more flexibility into the curriculum, student commitment and schools’ involvement because they were no longer bound by the federal regulations placed on Jumpstart, Peña Figueroa said.
Chahal specified that fixed guidelines on literacy efforts hindered some preschools from participating as they marginally exceeded the maximum median income or did not align with Jumpstart’s curated curriculum.
Without these restrictions, CCS can now provide support to a broader range of schools. This includes the recently incorporated Robert Crown Community Center, where Weinberg senior Branden Chen is now a site leader.
“It’s just way more flexible now,” Chen said. “Which I think is great, because realistically, I think any younger education program should be allowed to partake in programs like this (where) college students can come in, help out and nurture their learning, experience and development.”
Chen was involved in Jumpstart during his sophomore year but took a step back from the program because of another regulation: Jumpstart’s yearly 300-hour-commitment for University students.
He added that the struggle to balance academics with the Jumpstart time commitment was an obstacle for many who supported the organization’s cause, but that CCS’s “bigger emphasis on students being students first” encouraged him and others to join.
New and returning members have been training for the past two months and plan to resume in-person teaching in November, said Peña Figueroa, who is a Curriculum Resource Specialist for CCS.
She is also optimistic about implementing curricula and activities that offer assistance more tailored to classroom needs.
As CCS works toward reconnecting with preschools, Chahal said that the program also plans to expand its scope to more schools in the Chicago area, as well as branch out to upper grades.
“If you’re interested in working with different grade levels, that’s something that you’ll get to do under the program,” Chahal said. “Having that flexibility is something that is going to be really cool as the program develops more.”
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Email: [email protected]
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