What happens at the Meadowbrook Community Center…
New to America, Hahn attends Targeted Services twice a week and is quickly learning English. Her parents arrive in time to take her with them to English as a Learned Language (ELL) classes through Community Education.
Born in Minnesota, Yosselyn comes from a family immersed in Mexican culture. She is rapidly learning English and good learning skills through the Targeted Services program. To the upper left of this photo is another immigrant student, Lioul.
Now in 5th grade, Lioul came to America from Ethiopia. To help him improve his own skills, Lioul is designated “teacher’s helper,” enabling him to feel empowered and confident by helping learners in younger students.
A lifelong Meadowbrook resident, Jubari is now in kindergarten and has 100% attendance in Targeted Services. He has two older siblings who have been involved in programming for the past 9 years. Housing stability is a great asset to youth, and more & more of Meadowbrook’s children are growing up with us.
Ninth grade Karen has been involved in the program for six years. Too old for Targeted Services, sh
e comes with her younger sister Yosselyn twice a week as a volunteer helping grades K-1. Karen is a role model to other Meadowbrook youth, and a reflection of her family’s strong shared values.
Targeted Services supports and strengthens academic and social skills. Bryan, in the broad striped shirt, has stronger academic ability than some of his classmates. To meet his needs, Bryan and other students are moved into other groups to enrich their learning.
Angel sits in the right hand corner of the above picture. Angel has been engaged in enrichment activities at Meadowbrook for the past 3 years. He has immersed well into the English language, and does very well in following direction and helping his classmates when they fall behind. Angel and his older brother Abraham are very fortunate to have strong family support. Their father stops by routinely to ask how his sons are performing and is engaged in their learning experiences.
Djwan is another student born into the Meadowbrook community. Each day at the end of programming, parents arrive to gather the youngest of our students to walk them home. When a parent isn’t available, another parent or volunteer walks them safely home.
A variety of learning tools keeps the older students engaged in learning, including teamwork, shared learning, and community service. Literacy is an important component of Targeted Services. Each student has a learning plan developed by classroom and TS teachers, parents and students. A curriculum supports those respective learning plans.
Volunteers are a huge part of our program, and many have been engaged at Meadowbrook for years. Most develop very special lifelong relationships with young people. A perfect example is volunteer Dave and sophomore DeAsija. They first met when DeAsija was in the fifth grade. Dave is a caring adult to whom this student can go when she needs support, whether with school work or her personal life. DeAsija’s mother has welcomed Dave’s care and concern for her family’s well-being. Such relationships are often the only lifeline some kids have during difficult times.