During the swirling controversy surrounding what I called “The Miracle at Lakewood Elementary,” I have been asked numerous times: Who is Phyllis Wheatley, and what is the Phyllis Wheatley Rise to Read Campaign? In no small way, the question is an indictment of the Pinellas School district’s failure to provide an adequate inclusive education for its scholars.

Phyllis Wheatley was a prominent Black poet, brought to American colonies at age 6-7 from the Senegal/Gambia region of West Africa and sold to the John Wheatley family in Boston. Within 16 months of her arrival, she could read the bible and the Greek and Latin classics.  She was the best-known poet of the 19th century and the first published Black female in America.

The Phyllis Wheatley Rise to Read Campaign is an initiative named in honor of the distinguished scholar in recognition of her laudable accomplishments as a student and poet.  A slave at age 6-7 from the African Continent reading Greek and Latin classics is not just inspirational but a testament to what is possible if the will, determination, commitment and focus are present.

The Rise to Read Campaign is not a new reading method or technique. Instead, it is a deliberate, coordinated community initiative designed to bring a strategic laser community focus to the issue of African American literacy. It is a response to the negotiated Bridging the Gap plan developed by the Pinellas School District in concert with the Bradley and Crowley defense teams.

It is rooted in the African proverb “It takes a village” and the movie “Akeelah and the Bee,” starring St. Pete’s own Angela Bassett.

During Maria Scruggs’ tenure as president of the St. Petersburg Branch of the NAACP, a comprehensive assessment of the Pinellas District FSA literacy scores was made and revealed only 25 percent of our more than 10,000 scholars were reading on grade level.  Based upon this finding and the 50 plus years of district failure, the question was asked: What can the African-American community do to improve the performance of Black scholars?

The answer was, develop a literacy campaign utilizing a collective impact strategy to coordinate community resources and programs to focus on improving the literacy of African-American scholars specifically and community literacy in general.

The approach was modeled in Akeelah and the Bee when the student preparing for the spelling bee lost her coach and teacher, and her mother (Angela Bassett) encouraged her, noting she had an entire community’s support. Consequently, everyone from business persons to the man on the street answered the call and assisted with her training.

The Phyllis Wheatley Rise to Read Campaign epitomizes “it takes a village.”  Utilizing the collective impact strategy, it provides the total community with a deliberate, effective approach to supplement district efforts and does not require anyone to abandon existing programs. Rather, the objective is to partner with established literacy initiatives to heighten the awareness of the importance of literacy to achievement and prosperity.

It is a comprehensive, collaborative campaign that identifies any and all existing programs, provides opportunities to network and observe best practices, modify and improve practices based upon collaborative observations and discussions, and infuses literacy throughout the community — sports programs, cheerleader camps, barbershops, and beauty parlors, etc.

The Phyllis Wheatley Campaign is not designed to compete with any existing approach. Its focus is to amplify literacy and all who are committed to improving it for the ultimate benefit of black and brown scholars. It is a facilitative initiative for the explicit purpose of ensuring our African-American scholars can do what Phyllis Wheatley did — master literacy and read and comprehend the Latin and Greek classics.

To view the full article, visit https://theweeklychallenger.com/phyllis-wheatley-rise-to-read-campaign-2/

The YMCA of Greater St. Petersburg’s collaboration with local educators, volunteers and donors to address the issue of childhood literacy through the YReads! program has been growing for more than a decade. The success of the program is an example of the significant impact community response can have in meeting a societal need.

Reading is an essential part of childhood development, and one in three American children start kindergarten without the language skills they need to learn to read. Reading proficiency by the third grade is the most important predictor of high school graduation and career success. Approximately two-thirds of children each year in the United States, and 80% of those living below the poverty threshold, fail to develop reading proficiency by the end of the third grade.

The YReads! program in our community started with one school location and has now grown to cover 14 Pinellas County schools. The mission of this free program is to enable at-risk and disadvantaged children, regardless of their race, economic status or capabilities, to increase their reading skills through structured after-school reading instruction and mentoring. This early intervention program improves students’ reading skills through the use of a research-based, data-driven curriculum. It also helps students achieve or maintain satisfactory school attendance and behavior, both essential ingredients to school success.

Typically, students between Kindergarten and eighth grade scoring in the bottom 25% of Florida Standards Assessment (FSA)/English Language Arts (ELA) scores are referred by teachers to work with the YMCA team in small groups or one-on-one during two-hour sessions once per week. The program centers around phonemic awareness, sight word recognition, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary expansion. Most of all, it focuses on making reading fun to inspire learning and help students grow.

One measurement of program success is attendance, and last school year (2020-2021) 97% of students attended YReads! regularly. Additionally, the latest YMCA diagnostic testing and curriculum assessments conducted prior to the Covid-19 pandemic showed that more than 90% of program participants improved their reading skills.

This level of impact has only been possible thanks to the investment of community conscious organizations, including the Juvenile Welfare Board (JWB) and the Florida State Alliance of YMCAs. The Raymond James Foundation, Jabil, the Lightning Foundation and the Lightning Community Heroes program have also added their support to the program within the past year.

With such philanthropic support, the goal is to help more than 550 students advance this academic year. A critical piece to achieving that – and rounding out the community collaboration aspect of YReads! – is the important role volunteers play in the program. Volunteers are needed, for as little as two hours a week, to serve as reading mentors. Y staff provide all training and continuous support to help volunteers play a hands-on role in developing students’ positive self-esteem and improving their academic performance. It’s an opportunity to give a child access to the world of possibilities that reading provides.

Click here to volunteer and help children in your community learn to read. Or, contact Michelle Curtis, Chief Development Office at the YMCA of Greater St. Petersburg to learn how you can help support YReads!

To view the full news article, visit https://stpetecatalyst.com/community-voices-research-based-yreads-curriculum-boosts-pinellas-school-success/

Across the nation, people in arrears on their rent are savoring a brief and last-minute reprieve granted by the federal government’s decision to extend its moratorium on evictions.

Locally, as the end of the moratorium approached, the Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas found itself inundated by apprehensive renters.

“We started getting about 30 emails a day as people were in sheer panic,” chief executive officer Amy Foster said.

According to the organization, about 13,140 Pinellas County households are behind in their rent. 

“There is a lot of despair we’re hearing directly from families every day. These are not people who are not working. They are people who are working and can’t figure out how to make ends meet. We do not have a single bed available for families right now,” Foster told me this week.

“There are 60 families that we know of sleeping in their cars and in the street.”

It’s a situation that portends disaster for thousands on the brink of eviction. Without financial help, some may be fortunate to be allowed to squeeze in with family and friends, but others might be forced to sleep in their cars, a surreptitious presence in a Walmart parking lot, or find a spot on the periphery of a city park. Surely you have seen the vehicles, windows covered with black garbage bags or bedding and parked in the same place day after day?

For some, this week’s 60-day eviction reprieve, ordered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, could simply be postponement of the inevitable. At present, according to information compiled by the Homeless Leadership Alliance as the end of the moratorium approached, about 2,100 evictions were near the final stage in the court system. In an ominous warning, it added, “When the moratorium expires, tenants will be served with writs that give them just 24 hours to vacate their homes.”

And go where, is the question. There are, the agency said, just 28 available and affordable units for every 100 low-income families in Pinellas County.

“Clearly, we are in a system that would not be able to handle that influx of evictions overnight,” Michael Raposa, CEO of St. Vincent de Paul CARES, said Wednesday.

An overwhelmed system will mean many people will end up without a roof over their heads, joining, the Homeless Leadership Alliance said, the 1,970 individuals and 2,760 children who are already without homes.

Surprisingly, Raposa offers a note of optimism. His agency has not seen a “dramatic increase” in requests for rental help, neither at its St. Petersburg facility, nor at the parish level.

“The thing that I do know is being homeless is not easy and getting out of it is even harder,” Raposa said. “A household that has been stable for a longer time, they’re probably going to fight to find another roof over their heads, or work it out with a network they have in place.”

What’s exasperating is that there’s plenty of federal money available to help keep people in their homes, but only a smattering has been distributed.

“It makes you wonder if people don’t know those resources are there,” Raposa said.

“I just think that government regulations got in the way,” Foster said of the slow disbursement, explaining that there is a sensitivity to preventing fraud.

“It slows the process, but it’s absolutely necessary. With this temporary reprieve, now is the time to look at what other communities have done” to speed up the process, she added.

And here’s the thing. Foster, who also sits on the St. Petersburg City Council, brought up something that has bothered me in recent years. There is an online application to get rental assistance funds, as it was to get the initial coronavirus vaccine appointments. I think it’s a format that shows little regard for segments of the population that may lack the devices, WIFI or the technological skills to get the money they so desperately need.

“It makes it super inaccessible to them,” said Karla Correa, an organizer with the St. Petersburg Tenants Union with colleagues William Kilgore and David Decorte.

 The grassroots organization has been spreading word about rental assistance money available from the county. “We want to make sure that people know about this,” said Correa, a political science major at University of South Florida.

There’s some urgency to their mission. About one in 20 households faced eviction before the pandemic, according to the Homeless Leadership Alliance, which added that it’s difficult “to predict what post-pandemic rates will look like, since landlords are likely waiting for the end of the moratorium to file.”

Again, the question is, where will the displaced go? Rents are already high in St. Petersburg, said Correa, who lives downtown. “Once the rent goes up, it will be difficult for me to stay. Many people are constantly leaving. People have to find new places. Those places that working class people can live in are becoming few and far between.”

The 21-year-old noted that the county’s eviction crisis is most severe in St. Petersburg, in the 33705 and 33712 zip codes, where the majority of the city’s Black residents live. “The Black community is getting hit by the eviction crisis and by the pandemic. People are getting sick. People are losing their jobs. People are losing other types of income. People are suffering left and right and having to pay medical bills. And rents are going up.”

The Rev. Watson Haynes, president and CEO of the Pinellas County Urban League, agrees that Black people are bearing a disproportionate share of the pandemic-wrought crisis. “We always have a hammer without the nail,” he said. “While other races have been able to handle this, African Americans, we are the last in the barrel.”

Correa and members of the Tenants Union welcome the new eviction moratorium. “It definitely couldn’t have been won without pushback from the people,” she said, praising Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo. – who had once been homeless as a young mother – for her well-publicized protest on behalf of the new moratorium.

“It’s really great to see people fighting back and it needs to be a mass movement,” she said. “We need back rent to be cancelled. Overall, though, it is a major victory in the fight for housing for all.”

Meanwhile, the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg is dispatching people door-to-door to help tenants apply for the important rent assistance funds, Foster said. And last week, the Juvenile Welfare Board launched an effort to help families navigate the process, she said.

Maneuvering the system apparently requires skill and patience. Alex O’Connell, who is studying for a master’s degree in public health at USF, rents in the Old Northeast. She applied for the county’s emergency rental assistance in April and did not receive it until last week. That, she said, was after many phone calls and emails over the course of several months.

It was a frustrating experience. “They did not have locals working on it (and) not even in the same time zone,” she said. “I would prefer local people working on local issues. I would prefer those jobs are here … It was so excruciating.“

Frustration is not limited to tenants. Apartment associations and landlords, also facing pandemic-related financial burdens, are just as upset with the slow pace of rental assistance payments from Pinellas County.  They’ve reported that the state’s OUR Florida system is faster, Foster said. “We are six to 10 weeks for payment and landlords are getting frustrated and don’t want to wait that long,” she said.

Still, some money is getting out. “We just need that to happen faster,” Foster said. So far, Pinellas County has distributed $6.8 million to 958 households from the $21.4 million it received to establish its Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program, Foster said. And the City of St. Petersburg has disbursed $3.8 million of its approximately $8 million to 397 households.   

It’s certainly good news that the pace of disbursements might be picking up. The new moratorium against evictions will not go on forever. Landlords have mounted legal challenges. Regardless, in coming weeks, thousands of families could be scrambling for a new place to live, or somewhere to take temporary shelter.

To view the full article, visit https://stpetecatalyst.com/a-moratorium-from-evictions-solves-some-problems-and-highlights-others/

Six years ago, the Tampa Bay Times published a Pulitzer prize-winning series entitled “Failure Factories,” exposing how elementary schools in south St. Petersburg were failing area children, and that’s when Bridgette Heller decided to do something about it.

Heller founded the Shirley Proctor Puller Foundation (SPFF) in honor of her late mother — a lifelong educator who implored those around her to “do something” to help improve education outcomes for children in the community.

In 2015, before the Times exposé, Heller started a pilot program with Girls Incorporated in the hopes of narrowing the achievement gap. After conducting focus groups and gathering data, she realized her mother’s hypothesis that African-American students in south St. Pete were falling far behind was correct.

Based on community feedback, Heller decided to start a summer program that focused on preventing the “summer slide.” As the program ended, the Times article was released. Heller said that justified and validated the data driving the concept. She said she realized they were on to something and providing an unmet need for an academically-based summer development program.

“There was just a lot of evidence coming out that summer that adding an academic core skills component was just huge in terms of need,” said Heller. “We had a unique sort of positioning in the community, and we felt like the need was really critical.”

Heller learned a lot from the pilot, and the Math-Art-Science-Technology-Reading (M.A.S.T.R) Kids summer program was born in 2016. After great success and a positive response from the community, the afterschool M.A.S.T.R. program launched in 2020.

Heller believed in the program so much that she and her husband funded it themselves for the first few years. After collecting enough data to show that the concept was viable and was improving learning deficiencies, they began to apply for funding.

The Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County is now their primary funder, responsible for 70 percent of the services they provide, while the United Way has been responsible for another 12 percent. The rest comes from smaller grants, and Heller credits the Pinellas Community Foundation and the City of St. Pete for helping when they were first getting started. She also praises Duke Energy and the Tampa Bay Rays – who recently presented SPPF with an equity award totaling $25,000.

“It’s just been terrific,” said Heller. “The momentum that we’ve built in the last year has been great.”

The momentum has been building because it is clear that M.A.S.T.R. Kids impacts children in the community. Academic Director Keisha Snead said that students’ progress is measured using interactive assessment and the instructional software i-Ready. More than that, she can see the progress every day.

Snead said the first thing she notices is the relationships students build with their teachers, allowing them to advocate for themselves when they get back into the traditional classroom. All the teachers at M.A.S.T.R. are certified through the county and lead small classes of between 12-14 kids with the aid of an assistant or two.

Educators design their literacy lesson plans with guidance from a well-researched, evidence-based core curriculum. They then incorporate science, technology, engineering, art, and math lessons (STEAM) to engage students while also enhancing and reinforcing skill development.

The next thing that Snead sees is the confidence level in students rising. Children are encouraged to ask questions, and with the small class sizes, more individual attention is given. Snead fondly recalls a child that came in as a non-reader. He applied himself through the program, and with the help of his parents, who are heavily involved, he has recently tested for the gifted program at his school.

“So, I’ve seen that it is truly making an impact,” said Snead emphatically.

Snead also proudly tells the story of a young lady going into the fourth grade who was a very limited reader. After working with her teachers, she wrote an essay completely by herself for the first time ever this summer.

“You can just see the growth,” said Snead. “We track and monitor their growth. We actually have data to back up what we’re doing.”

In addition to their core curriculum, M.A.S.T.R. Kids also incorporates extracurricular activities designed to foster personal growth and teach things not usually learned in a classroom. Considering last year’s civil unrest and with cases of police brutality dominating headlines, they designed classes meant to teach civics and social justice. Guest speakers came in to teach them about everything from civil rights to the proper way to handle encounters with the police.

Snead said the plan is to continue the classes throughout the school year, culminating in a field trip to Alabama over spring break. The idea is to see and experience historical sites from the Civil Rights Movement firsthand. Stops include the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and the nearby museums. At the end of next summer, the goal is to take students to Washington, D.C.

“So, take it full circle,” said Snead, “where they see both aspects of what we’ve been teaching them.”

Every Friday over the summer, they also went on a local field trip. The James Museum for the Reverberations exhibit, a mural tour of downtown St. Pete, the Museum of Science and Industry, bowling, and skating are just some of the fun activities that children were able to experience.

While the M.A.S.T.R. Kids program has already been so successful that they now have two locations in south St. Petersburg, Snead would like to see further expansion into another facility. They currently serve 160 kids, from entering kindergarten to entering the ninth grade.

While the focus is on improving educational outcomes in Black students, the program is open to all. Unfortunately, keeping class sizes small is imperative, and they currently have a waiting list – another indicator of their success.

Heller and the M.A.S.T.R. Kids program looked beyond the “Failure Factory” statistics to the potential of the community, parents, and most importantly – the students. They are helping to close the achievement gap and are focused on academic enrichment that nurtures tomorrow’s leaders. They decided to “do something.”

“This program is not only teaching our children how to build character, but it’s building on the legacy of someone that who taught in the St. Petersburg school system,” said Snead. “She’s still impacting our children to this day.”

To view the full article, visit https://theweeklychallenger.com/success-factory-m-a-s-t-r-kids-programs-bring-potential-out-of-children/

As many of you know, being a parent is tough, especially after going through a pandemic for over a year and a half. The isolation alone can be quite overwhelming.

But a local organization can help if you have a small child acting out, and the services are free of charge and available throughout the summer.

“For us to remain calm with our children really helps to calm them down. So we really need to work on calming ourselves down before we can help our children calm down,” said Emily Chavie, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Supervisor of the Children’s Home Society of Florida’s Early Learning Center Support Team.

It’s a place that provides free, on-site counseling at 10 local daycares in Pinellas County, specifically for the early intervention of babies and toddlers.

“A lot of the counseling for the real young children looks more like play therapy techniques, engaging in social stories, helping them identify and express their feelings,” Chavie explained.

And just like the pandemic has affected parents, it’s also impacted little ones.

Even babies and toddlers can start to exhibit signs of stress, including biting, excessive tantrums, difficulty with attachment and more.

“Withdrawing behaviors, hitting their peers, screaming, yelling, not listening to their parents, not listening to their teachers, things like that,” explained Chavie.

So Chavie’s team of mental health professionals provides hope with free counseling and support to navigate the challenges of parenthood, especially if families are going through transitions.

“If there’s a death in the family, divorce, separation, even new teachers, like those things are really stressful for kids,” she said.

And Chavie recommends to all parents that you must put self-care at the top of your list, take deep breaths, go for a walk, and stay calm to be present and ultimately a better parent.

“You can’t do it if you’re not taking care of yourself. You just can’t be an effective parent. So that’s my biggest advice is it’s not selfish to take care of yourself,” she explained.

If you’re interested in enrolling your child in the free Early Learning Program, call 727-953-3354.

And if you need help right away, you can call or text The Family Support Warm Line at 1-888-SEE-ME-03 or 1-888-733-6303. From 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., all texts are free and confidential.

For more information about the Juvenile Welfare Board, which funds the program, visit www.CHSFL.ORG or http://chsfl.org/support/.

To view the full article, visit https://www.abcactionnews.com/rebound/coronavirus-stress/local-organization-offers-free-early-intervention-services-for-children-in-need

Beth Houghton has blazed a trail for women leaders in St. Petersburg, while leading programs that have changed lives for families and children throughout the community.

Her accomplishments were recognized Thursday, when Mayor Rick Kriseman presented Houghton with the key to the city, an honor reserved for those who have had a tremendous impact in the community.

Houghton is CEO of the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County, former CEO of the St. Petersburg Free Clinic and former chief financial officer and general counsel at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. She is vice chairman of the Moffitt Cancer Center institute board of director, and chairs the Moffitt hospital board.

She is former chairman of the board of Great Explorations, the Houghton-Wagman Children’s Museum in St. Petersburg, which is named in honor of a $1 million gift from Houghton and her husband, Scott Wagman.

“Her dedication to families, to children, to healthcare in general is truly unrivaled,” Kriseman said during a City Council meeting. “No list of super citizens would be complete without Miss Beth Houghton.”

Houghton was named CEO of the Juvenile Welfare Board in 2019.

“Beth has been a strong advocate for children’s issues and underserved families, creating strategic partnerships and overseeing the funding of high quality programs that benefit hundreds of children and families in St. Petersburg,” Kriseman said. “Last year the city and JWB collectively invested $4.2 million into our teen programs. This investment allowed us to hire certified teachers and behavioral specialists to assist program participants in homework and  tutoring, academic goal setting, school projects, youth development activities and enrichment overlay programs during non-school hours and offer employment opportunities to high school youth. As a result of this partnership we have seen a consistent improvement in teen’s FSA Florida standardized assessment scores and decreased unexcused absences and suspension rates.”

She was CEO of the St. Petersburg Free Clinic from 2011 to 2019. Under her leadership, the organization expanded its reach and helped to provide food, shelter and healthcare to more than 55,000 people on a monthly basis, Kriseman said.

Houghton was in the C-suite of hospitals long before it was common for women to be in executive leadership, said Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin, whose own professional background is in healthcare. Tomalin previously was a regional vice president at Health Management Associates, the former owner of Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.

“You’ve blazed so many trails and I feel fortunate to stand, I won’t say in the shadow of your greatness because there’s nothing about you that casts a shadow, I’ll say in the benefit of your light,” Tomalin said.

When people talk about women in leadership, Houghton is one of the first people that comes to mind for Council Vice Chair  Gina Driscoll.

“Your life and your work have inspired so many women including me and I thank you for that. You are someone that I look up to, that I admire and that I hope that as you move on to even more great things that you do, that I will find more ways I can help you,” Driscoll said. “Leaders like you don’t just look for people to follow you. You look to bring up other leaders with you.”

Houghton both inspires and motivates, said Council Chair Ed Montanari.

“Just your personality and the way you operate is like a force multiplier, we would say in the military, because you get so many people that have been with you and part of what you are leading on,” Montanari said. “You are a legend here in St. Petersburg, Beth, and thank you for leading. We need more people like you.”

Surrounded by her family in the City Council chambers, Houghton said it was her privilege to work with thousands of employees and volunteers.

“This is one of those few times you get to tell your children and grandchildren what community service is all about and that somebody actually cares about those long meetings and long phone calls,” she said.

To view the full article, visit https://stpetecatalyst.com/super-citizen-beth-houghton-changes-lives-blazes-trails-in-st-pete/

It’s not too early to get a jump on helping your kids prepare for the next school year, especially if you can avoid the cost of required school or sports physicals with some early planning.

The Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County (DOH-Pinellas) is again offering its annual Back to School Clinics from June 28 to Aug. 10 at four of its clinics in area high schools. Students in grades kindergarten to 12 can get physicals, basic dental services, vision/hearing screenings and any needed immunizations—including COVID-19 shots—during the same visit. Services are not provided to students entering pre-kindergarten.

Basic dental services such as sealants, fluoride and assessments will be offered only during July 19-Aug. 10. As part of the vision screenings, students who qualify can receive exams and glasses courtesy of Preserve Vision Florida.

Screenings are provided by appointment only and the student must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Please bring immunization and health records so that staff can update them.

To make an appointment, call 727-824-6900 menu option #4. The forms for services can be pre-filled and are found at the DOH-Pinellas website here: https://pinellas.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/clinical-and-nutrition-services/school-clinics/index.html.

These are the Back to School Clinics offering services this summer:

• Boca Ciega High School, 924 58th Ave. S., Gulfport
• Gibbs High School, 850 34th St. S., St. Petersburg
• Largo High School, 410 Missouri Ave., Largo
• Pinellas Park High School, 6305 118th Ave. N., Largo

The DOH-Pinellas school-based clinics are funded by the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas.

For information about DOH-Pinellas, go to www.PinellasHealth.com or follow us on Twitter @HealthyPinellas.

To view the full article, visit http://pinellas.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2021/06/no-cost-physicals-and-screenings-to-get-students-ready-for-the-school-year.html

Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital is working with the Florida Department of Health and the Juvenile Welfare Board to offer a free Covid-19 vaccine at three Pinellas County schools. The free Pfizer vaccine will be administered to those 12 years old and older starting in late June. The vaccination will be available at the following locations from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.:

• Largo High School: First dose June 22, second dose July 13
• Gibbs High School: First dose June 23, second dose July 14
• Pinellas Park High School: First dose June 24, second dose July 15

Appointments must be made in advanced. Those interested should call 727-824-6931. Minors must be accompanied by their legal guardian.

To view the full article, visit https://stpetecatalyst.com/zaps/johns-hopkins-to-offer-pfizer-vaccine-at-pinellas-county-schools/

Two science and tech educators are currently accepting youth participants for their first science competition and exhibition, “22 Innovative Ideas.” The nonprofit Shaping the Early Mind, founded by husband-and-wife team Marquis and Shai’Robia Davis, will hold the exhibition in collaboration with the Sankofa Science initiative on May 22, from noon to 4 p.m. on 22nd Street and 9th Avenue South.

The Davises started Shaping the Early Mind (STEM) in 2017 with the mission of providing access to, encouragement in, and engagement with technology education for all.

A PRIDE award-winning scholar in elementary school science who received the Juvenile Welfare Board’s H. Browning Spence Education Award, Shai’Robia Davis said that as a foster child she had gone to as many as 17 schools by the time she graduated high school.

Her experiences helped her understand the struggle of youth who may enjoy subjects like math and science but are not being given the support and encouragement to continue pursuing their passion for those subjects.

“I am a former foster youth, a Black woman, and I’ve just never been encouraged to pursue a career in science, even though that’s the subject I’ve always excelled in,” she shared.

Davis said after she had her first child, her penchant for researching health and science topics such as childhood vaccinations led her to ask herself why she wasn’t studying science — especially since she realized: “I could really see myself doing research, long term.” She returned to school, beginning to wonder “if other people aren’t pursuing these subjects because they’re facing some of the same challenges that I am.”

While working as a Career and Education Specialist for the nonprofit Ready for Life, Davis recalled that when asking countless Black youths what their plans were after high school, many of the males would respond: “Well, maybe I’ll play football, since I’m not good at basketball.” Davis wondered who told them that those were their only options.

Later, while considering an education degree at St. Petersburg College, Davis was completing required observation hours in a fifth-grade classroom. “Again, I’m asking kids, ‘What do you want to do, what do you want to be when you grow up?’” She remembered one child saying he would probably play basketball since he didn’t like football. But, when Davis asked him what his favorite subject was, he replied, “science.”

“So, you’ve never thought about a career in science?” Davis inquired. The child responded, “What do you mean?” Realizing the student had probably never thought of a career in science, she went home, did some research, and compiled a list of athletes who had degrees in various fields of study.

The next day she brought that list of names to the student, not convinced he would think much of it. But instead, “He took it, and he glued it in his take-home notebook, so he could keep it. Hopefully, that encouraged him to think about some other career,” she mused.

The 22 Innovative Ideas science competition and exhibition is open to youth residing in Pinellas County who meet at least one of the following criteria: be aged 6 to 14, identify as BIPOC, are in the foster care system, or have a permanent impairment.

While grades came easily to Davis, today she acknowledges that she’s not “a big school advocate.” Being a foster child meant not only a dizzying number of different schools but sometimes not attending school at all.

“I remember being out for like two months at a time, and I’d always come back and still be on track, excelling in my classes.”

Davis said she looks back at that time and wonders what they were teaching if she was one of the top students and not being in class for months at a time.

“So, I don’t feel like learning happens solely in the classroom.”

This belief and the desire to challenge the stereotypes people hold about what STEM educators look like are two more reasons the Davises started Shaping the Early Mind.

“What’s happening at home and in the community is also teaching the kids and making a huge impact on their lives as well — that’s why we want to bring the learning into their spaces and not just into the schools,” she noted.

Davis said both she and her husband, who has a degree in a technology field, have experienced “obstacles” and felt people’s skepticism when they meet them.

“When we walk in the room, we’ve both felt people [respond] like, ‘Oh, you’re here to do something else,’” Davis relayed. “We want to change the face of STEM for our kids so that they know ‘you belong here.’”

Currently employed as a complex specimen processor in a microbiology laboratory and pursuing a bachelor’s in Biomedical Science at the University of South Florida, Davis plans to take the Florida teacher’s certification exam. But she wants children to know that even without a high school diploma, they can participate in innovation.

“We want them to know — use your creativity, use your resources, and just go for it.”

Shai’Robia Davis, director of education

STEM has done pop-up workshops in Campbell Park and currently are running a virtual stem program. They also shoot tech videos with youth and encourage parents of children interested in being featured in the tech videos to contact them.

The 22 Innovative Ideas science competition and exhibition is open to youth residing in Pinellas County who meet at least one of the following criteria: be aged 6 to 14, identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), are in the foster care system, or have a permanent impairment.

For more information, contact Sha’Robia and Marquis Davis at 727-685-6432 or email shapingtheearlymind@gmail.com. Follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

To view the full article, visit https://theweeklychallenger.com/tech-educators-host-22-innovative-ideas-science-exhibition-on-the-deuces/.