Ep 85 | Student in the Mirror: Dignity & Confidence

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I've had kids come out smiling, just a pep in their step. You know, sometimes they come in their heads down, they're embarrassed, probably. It just depends. Kids have accidents. They come for all kinds of reasons. And when they're leaving out, they are just so confident and just happy. I've gotten hugs, you know, just it builds the rapport with me as a family and community engagement. So I'm not just dealing with adults all the time. That helps me build relationships with the students. There's the lady from, you know, the care closet, you know, things like that. So that's how they come in. They they come in knowing that they're gonna get the help they need and they leave out with a smile or just that just welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambi County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. We all remember the fear and trepidation we felt when picking out our first day of school outfit. Was it in style but also low-key? Did it say here to learn, but also here to look cool? Now imagine that feeling every day, but instead of on trend, you worry if it's clean and if it fits. Clothing and security impacts a large number of Escambia County students, a dynamic that can distract them from learning and social development. One program at CAYE School is helping kids dress confidently. It's called Care Closet. And my next guests are the Community Partnership School Director and the Family Community Engagement Coordinator at Children's Home Society. Today they're going to share how Care Closet is leveling the playing field and instilling confidence in Pensacola kids. Dealing dignity, spinning plates, all in for kids, Lisa Smith Coleman and Janisha Robinson. Thanks for being here, ladies. Thanks for having us. Yes. Pleasure. Well, Lisa, you're the community partnership school director. So what kind of partnerships made Care Closet a possibility?

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Originally, we were chosen by Leadership Pensacola for them to do one project at our school. And when they came to us, it started out as a food pantry. And as we got to talking and we had a child come in who needed to get ready for that morning, it just snowballed into something else. So what happened was that Leadership Pensacola chose us. They ended up with this Scambia School District coming in and helping us build a door so that we could have the closet. Then we had Closets by Design. They jumped on board when they found out about it. And then just at numerous other partners that they reached out to, other community members to help donate some of the clothing and the different products for it. So it was it was really a combination of all of these people in this community coming together to help our kids.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

That's awesome. And closets by design, they make pretty fancy closets, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Yeah. They they came in and they developed a design and we had to tweak it a little bit each time once we figured out where the door was going. And so it ended up beautiful. But it's also a place for our kids to be able to come in and get ready and feel like an important part of the day. Like, I mean, for them to walk in, not feeling with the best of their confidence and to walk out with their head held high, knowing that they don't have to worry about how they look, how they smell, or anything like that when they go on to class. Because as we all know, fourth and fifth graders, you know. They don't smell great. Not always, no. But these kids, they are amazing. They come in and it was a desire they wanted. It was something they wanted. But for them to have to sit in our parent resource room where people could walk by and see them didn't allow them to have that dignity. So this closet with a vanity in there with all the hygiene products, all the hair products, the Barbasol for the combs to keep it clean, you know, all of that's in there for them. They can come in, they can get ready in the morning, go into class, and nobody has to know any different. So they get to walk in there with the dignity they deserve to have, just like the rest of us.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Wow. And I love that the community came together to make that happen. I think that's so special. And I didn't know the story about how the meeting was happening in there, and then a student came in to get ready, and y'all pivoted and you were like, you know what? This is what we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

And part of it still became a food pantry. So we partnered with Feeding the Gulf Coast. So we have a food pantry on the outside where we used to store clothes. Now that we have the closet, the clothes are stored in there where they can go in, get ready, and do all that. But it's it it lit literally met two needs. So if they come in and they're late, they can get breakfast. So they have that now. I mean, that's just removing a barrier to them being able to get that educational.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

So I mean, that's really what we're there for, is to remove those barriers.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

And Janisha, this position is full circle for you because you attended CAYE in the third grade, and now you're the family community engagement manager. And so you're the person who sees all the wins and the losses.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yes, absolutely. And it's very full circle moment for me. It's actually just a big change from when I was there versus now. So I can imagine just being a kid and knowing that my school is like a second, you know, home away from home. It's beautiful and I love to see it.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

So And what makes the needs of CAY SELEMENTERY unique compared to other elementary schools in Pensacola?

SPEAKER_01 5:34

I feel like what makes it unique is that this I literally said this to a student the other day that it it gives you a sense of a wraparound, like a like a hug almost. Like, you know, I feel like CAY's hugs their students with the things that we do. It's not just, you know, making sure they have these nice, clean clothes. Or you know how kids are. They're like, oh, we can go shopping. Oh, we can, oh, I spilled some milk. I can go get a pair of pants. It's not like that. It's more so like, like she said, the dignity about it. My my pants are they they're holy. I know that I can go right down the hall from my class and get some clothes that will make me feel much more confident than I did when I first woke up this morning, you know?

SPEAKER_00 6:14

So I'm so glad that you made the distinction between how kids are in real life. This is why we have both of you here today, because you have both sides of what's going on with this program and with the needs that it's meeting. Parents listening to this do know that fourth and fifth graders, in addition to needing extensive amounts of deodorant, also have a distant relationship with the truth sometimes. And so that's so great that there's people there like you that can help kids understand the importance of the difference of what the need is and okay, that's a want, that's not a need. And and to help them through it. And I agree with you 100% about feeling like a hug. That's just such a perfect way to explain it because CAYs is so unique from other elementary schools in terms of the offerings and support that it gives the students.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

And the students themselves have unique needs. I think you were telling me off mic about the number of families experiencing homelessness at the school is high. Can you talk about that?

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Absolutely. And the way that we know that is that we kind of coordinate with the wellness coordinator there and the guidance counselor, guidance counselor, I'm so sorry. And also the data specialist. So we're working with them, we know what families don't have the ability to wash their clothes or just you just things like that. And repeat that question again for me. I feel like I was going around.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

No, that's okay. You were circling around it just perfectly. I was asking about how many families at CAYs are experiencing homelessness, or if you can speak to kind of the dynamics that of the needs that make the that population different from, say, other populations in nearby elementary schools.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

I think I can speak to that a little bit. A little part of it is that last year we had over 200 families that were homeless.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

200 families. At one time. Wait, and how many families total are represented at the elementary schools? Just so listeners can get a percentage.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

We have about 500 children, but that doesn't, I mean, that doesn't mean that that's 500 families. Right. You know, because we have a lot of siblings that are there. But our area code that we serve, the oh main mainly the 05, is is one of the highest in poverty. And so there's there's some demographics that you know we have to meet. And we live in a transient community. So when they do, as they like to say, level up, they move out of the community. We're getting not getting that now. They're staying because they they have the resources and they're staying and they're trying to better their community. So to be able to be able to do that, they've got to get to that point of comfortability. So when you have so many families that are homeless, then the economy's bad for everybody right now. I mean, my grocery bill's double, you know. So I can only imagine what it's like for having all the all these kids at home. Because I used to have a bunch of kids and I can't even imagine trying to feed them now.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Yeah, 10 is your head count, right? Yes. Yeah. So you are well qualified to speak about the impact of grocery bills.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

But so, I mean, it's affected everybody. And so the fact that if we can take that burden off of the family where they can where they can get their their kids can get uniforms or they can get some staples for food, then they can put that towards other things and it can help, you know, level the playing field for them. Because I mean, just like everybody else, they're all they're all just trying to survive and do what's best for their kids and their family. But we do have a high rate of of poverty and homelessness in our area.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

You make an important distinction that you just kind of referred to. You said leveling up, and you prefer that description over the word charity.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Oh, it's not charity. Because one of the things that we teach our afterschool kids is that you have to learn to give before you can receive. And so we all all of our kids they'd like to do community service. They're doing something for the veterans for Christmas. They're like writing them cards and different things like that. Our kids are well aware that they have uh resources and that other kids don't. And so they want to be able to give back as well. And they understand that.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

That's so interesting that you said that they have an awareness that they are plugged into resources that other kids aren't, because in addition to the things we're laughing about about fourth and fifth graders, that's an important time and develop the developmental stage where you have more self-awareness, where you see yourself as you are in the world. So to be able to see both the disadvantages and the advantages and to act, I would imagine, is pretty empowering, right? And it is.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

We're trying to enable them when they be able to go to middle school and to high schools, to be able to advocate for themselves. And so they're able to do that in a in a in a very mature way that most kids that I wasn't able to do that at that age. We had somebody from one of the high schools come yesterday and he's like, he set in on a group that Miss Janisha was doing, and he was like, they're so mature. And I'm like, this is how all of our kids are. We're we're trying to give them, we're not trying to give them a step up. We're just trying to level that playing field so that they have all the same resources that any other child across the county has. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

I wanted to speak on that part real quick because you mentioned the after school. So great example. I'm working with Student Leadership Council. These ladies are well aware of community partnership school because that's one of the requirements to be a student leadership council, is to know what it's about. And they we were doing one-on-one coaching about public speaking. And then at the end, I had asked some questions, and one of the young ladies said, Are we still doing our project? And they kind of scratched my head a little bit because I couldn't remember because we have so many projects I keep up with. But they were like, The toys were taught. Like we we want to make sure we wanted to do the thing where we got old toys and clean them up and give them out to kids that probably don't get the Christmas toys and things like that. And I said, Oh, okay, I remember you guys talking about it. But that's a great example of the love they're receiving from CAYs is the same love that they're trying to give. So it's not like they're, you know, oh, we're we're wise, we we we have this, that, and we're, you know, a step above the rest. It's just this is our school, it's resourceful, they help us, and we want to return the same. They just, it's like we are leading by example and they are taking it and running with it.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

So well, reciprocity is not something that kids learn automatically, regardless of wherever they are in their economic dynamics, you know, they they might be the spoiled brat, or they might be the person who in on the other end of the spectrum takes advantage of people who are participating in charities. But it sounds like the CI's kids are like truly a step ahead in their character because they are thinking about that reciprocity without being asked about it.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yes. And they don't have they didn't mind cleaning up the toys. Really? They didn't say, oh, we're gonna get a bunch of toys, round them up, and give them out. They're like, we're gonna clean them up too, just in case they're not, you know, they're dirty. And I mean, they're like ready to put the work in to see another little kid smile. That is amazing. That must make you so proud. It does. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

What did I tell you yesterday? So walk me through, Janisha, how a kid interacts with care closet. Like, how does it work?

SPEAKER_01 13:24

So usually when a c a student comes in, there, most of them are well aware of how it works. They come in, they fill out a hub form, and they say that, you know, my teacher sent me down here because I need a new shirt. I'm like, okay, that's fine. Give me just a minute, let me see what I have, and they'll just wait for me. I'll ask them their size if they know it. Usually, if they don't know it, I ask permission to check, you know, and they're fine. They'll I'll get their shirt or pants, they go right into the care closet, privacy, close the door, and they'll change. And they come out, they're smiling. I'm like, oh, I got a bag out here for your other clothes. They're like, okay. And I've had kids come out smiling, just a pep in their step. You know, sometimes they come in their heads down, they're embarrassed, probably. It just depends. Kids have accidents. They come for all kinds of reasons. And when they're leaving out, they are just so confident and just happy. I've gotten hugs, you know. Just it builds the rapport with me as a family and community engagement. So I'm not just dealing with adults all the time. That helps me build relationships with the students. There's a lady from, you know, the care closet, you know, things like that. So that's how they come in. They they come in knowing that they're gonna get the help they need and they leave out with a smile or just that just pip.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

So a teacher is that the first step? The teacher refers them, and then that's that's kind of the the first point of contact is through the the teacher in the classroom? It depends.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

I feel like the older students can come to their teacher with the need and the teacher sends them. Younger students, some most of the time they're referred by this the the still teacher. I'm so sorry, I'm getting caught up from there.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

And you mentioned hair earlier. So sometimes kids, I mean a lot of kids can't do their own hair, right? So how does that work?

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Oh, that so Lisa's like, hey Janisha, I got a student here that wants her hair done. Yeah, I remember my first time doing hair there, and again, it felt good, honestly, because I've never had that experience. I've worked in uh education before, and I'm pretty good with kids, but this I feel like takes it up a notch. Um, it's like an aunt at the school that can do my hair, you know?

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Oh, I love that. I love that. But it's not just the girls. I have a young man who has dreadlocks, and one day he came, I saw him and he had him up, and I'm like, oh my gosh. I said, I've never seen your face that much. Yes. And so now he comes in and he's like, Can you help me put my hair up? And his confidence is built up. He's smiling. I mean, we had one young lady, it took us a couple of days to get her hair where it needed to be because it had gotten pretty bad. Yeah. And then we brought her mom in and went through how to care for it. My I had my daughter actually come in and work with her on how to do her hair, how to do her daughter's hair. And so it's kind of a full circle process is that, you know, we don't all always, I mean, I'm the worst at doing hair. I paid people to do my kids' hair because it was terrible. Because as you can see, mine gets brushed and we're good. But, you know, but to have to give that confidence to these kids is is is a page turner for me. It's like to be able to see them walking down the hall. Like one of them's like, I washed my hair. How does it look? Did I get it right?

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Yes. And you know, with the donations in the closet, we have like shampoos or just in products they can put in their hair that are extra. So if we put something in their hair to help it lay or whatever, and we have it extra, we'll give them a bag and they can take it home and you know, try to practice themselves. It it whatever the need is. And like you said, you mentioned a young fellow. I I did a young fellow's hair too for the show at The Sanger. And um, it gave him that confidence. Like he came in, I did his little, I did like two of them. Yeah. That was really fun. No, seriously, because I don't know, Janisha, you don't you look like you hate your job.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

I think you're and I think you should really find different employment. I don't think it's going good.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Really affirm the kids, you know, they get to look in the mirror and they're like, you know, looking and just I I love that part. It's it's you know, I would say the hardest part of my job is just, you know, you know, I'm dealing with me. That part, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

The rest of it, oh at least that this is not just for kids, right? You have uh activities, services, and like resources for the families also.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

We have a variety of resources. We have our GED program, which we're hoping to start in January, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

This is the hard part of my job, I was telling you about. So with the GED program, it starts February 6th. Okay. Classes will be held on Tuesday, Thursday. It's open to the community, and um, we'll be running it from 415 to 615.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

But we also have other programs. We have employability classes, we have um healthy eating classes, we have financial literacy classes that Penn Air has partnered with us to do. I mean, we are so blessed in the fact that these parents can come in, we provide child care for them while they are able to attend these classes and get that leg up to be able to just, you know, better their family and their lives. Because once they, once they strengthen their family, they strengthen our community. And so that's the whole point behind it. So, I mean, it's not just the kids we're affecting, we're a community partnership school for a reason. Because we're here to help the community, not just our students. Because if we help our community, it helps our students. So it's full circle.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

And you really, when you look from the outside in that it's a community partnership school, I remember the first time we did an episode about that on this show. And I didn't really get it. I didn't really understand. I mean, I was just unpacking some features of it. But once you see the full picture and meet some of the people, you really start to understand what you said, Lisa. Like when you make an impact, not just give something away, but you really give people the opportunity to become Auntie Janisha. And people to, you know, do something with their hair and learn how to do it with their do it themselves and feel good about what they're wearing. Feel good that they can be focused at school without feeling self-conscious because it is very distracting. Absolutely. Even adults like feel why do you think there's so many commercials with deodorant with people sniffing their armpit while they're at on the dance floor? You know, like it's it's something that everyone relates to, but not everyone has to combine that feeling with education or the you know obstacles of trying to learn while while having all those feelings. So you also said something, Lisa, off mic that I thought was uh a huge, uh huge point is that if you can change the the trajectory of the kid, the kiddo, then you can change with the next generation. Absolutely. But the reason that you have some of the family resources that you have now is because the parents of the kiddos didn't necessarily receive that opportunity. And so they may not know how to advocate for themselves. They might be self-conscious about asking questions in an IEP meeting or in a parent-teacher conference. And so you have aspects of service at CAYS that help with that too, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Yeah, one of the things that we do, we have a um one-team parent program. And what it is is if a parent comes to an IEP or a 504 or any of the other, like even show up for a family night, they get points and they can redeem those for household resources or gift cards for their kids. We do we just did one right before Christmas and these kids walked out with tons of stuff. But they also do it at the end of the year to kind of help them for summer. But the thing is, is that these resources, what they do is it it opens up a door for our families to feel comfortable asking questions. We had a family that had a family crisis, and the first place she went was to us because she knew it was a safe the the parent did because she knew it was a safe place. She knew it was a safe place where she could get resources without judgment, without any criticism, because at the end of the day, we're we're we're all but we're all we everybody needs help. We're none of us are exempt from that. At some point in our life, we're all gonna need it. And to be able to provide that and to have someone feel safe about it, it makes me getting up every morning worth everything I do. Because these kids will walk away. I mean, I am not a touchy feely person, but I get hugged more times than a little bit at this job every day by these kids. And even by some parents. So it's like it's worth it when and I plan on being a graduation. I only have a few more years to the first set of kids that I worked with will be there. So my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

I'm so glad you brought up graduation because I wanted, I don't know which of you is more equipped to answer this question, but I heard that care closet can have an impact on positive graduation rates. And you know, we had Mr. Leonard on the show talking about that's one of his goals is to increase the graduation rate for our county. Have you seen the numbers yet?

SPEAKER_02 22:25

I haven't seen the numbers yet, but what I do know is that we had another family that had a that had a crisis, and one of our previous students was in middle school. He reached out to us. And to know that he can do that and he's continuing to stay in school. It didn't deter him from being in school, and he's doing well in school. And now that we've got Bellevue Middle School on and we've got Pine Forest on as as the next community the part the community other community partnerships, we have a pipeline to, you know, career success, college success. We're changing that pipeline. It doesn't end in it doesn't end in in prison. It ends with them being successful in whatever careers they choose, whether it's through technical school, whether it's through college, whatever it is that they decide to do, we're gonna we're gonna help remove those barriers and get them to that success.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Wow, this is such an amazing program. I have uh goosebumps head to toe right now. What can a parent that's listening to this, how can they help? What can they do? Because we want to see a program like this stick around. Because as you pointed out, Lisa, you want to see you, you want to see those little ones get to graduation. You know, Janisha, you want to be like the first of the full circle, but not the last. Yes. You want to see kids come through and then they come back and they visit Auntie Janisha. Of course. And y'all have this great memory and you laugh together about, oh, remember that one time. Yes. And but not only that, but you're celebrating the success that they have achieved and the person that they have become. But and without this program, there's a lot more obstacles to achieve that. So what can people do to help out, to support? Is there anything?

SPEAKER_02 24:14

There are tons of things. There's always any any kind donation as far as like deodorants, your school uniforms, especially at our school. Sh the uniforms are are scarce sometimes because that we rely on donation to get them.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

So you have to donate, you can donate money to get the you can donate money, you can donate the shirts.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

We have a list. We have a we also have an Amazon wish list with all of that on there. Somebody wanted to go on there. And the thing I wanted to just touch on one thing you said, you know, how do you how do you get this to stick around? Well, the thing is we've made a 25-year commitment at each of our community partnership schools. We're not going anywhere. We are going to be here for a long for the long haul.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

And so it's just about how many people can you serve? How many people can we serve? How many families can we reach? And they don't have to be students of CAYs to get that service. We are here for the community at large. Yeah. So I love that.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Any final thoughts before we wrap up?

SPEAKER_02 25:13

I just want to be able to continue what I'm doing. And to be able to do that, I need all the community support I can get.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Absolutely. And being fairly new to community partnership school and just learning so much in the past what over what seven months, eight months now? The only thing I have to add is that this is it's wonderful. I love to be a part of it. Volunteering has been a major key to help me sustain a lot of the programs that I run. So I'm very grateful for that. So if that's something that can help us keep going forward, you can volunteer anytime. Give me a call. I always got something going on. Do you have anything this week? Yes. Yes, I do. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

Because we have one parent that comes in. I mean, she doesn't have the financial resources, but she she has the time to be able to come in and volunteer with like our backpack buddies and things like that. And it makes a world of difference to be able to help have someone help get that stuff out so that we can do uh do additional services to other things. So I mean, we got if they got time or resources, and I never turned down money. So as we like to say, we only think we turn down at CAWES is our caller.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

So that's good. I like that. I'm gonna put the Amazon Wishless link in the description and any other links that are helpful for support and volunteerism also.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Do you have the link to our newsletter? I do have the link to us. Send me all of we have a monthly newsletter that goes out and tells about all the things that we're doing at the school and all the events that are coming up. So if anybody would like to volunteer with the newsletter, that would be Miss Janisha Robinson. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Oh my God, I love you too. Thank y'all so much. This was amazing and fun as I expected it to be. I appreciate you doing the work that you're doing. Of course. Thank you for having us. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Scambia County Public Schools.