ECHO Project
No single issue among the red flags and blue ribbons identified in the 2005 Community Focus report impacts the future of Springfield and Greene County to the extent that the alarmingly high number of children living in poverty does. The community response to this looming red flag, however, has been tremendous and to date the Grantmaker’s Challenge for Children has directed almost $8 million toward addressing the issue. An effective response, however, requires the community’s collaboration to go alongside the charitable contribution.
Funded through a $1 million CFO grant, the five year ECHO (Enhancing Children’s Healthy Opportunities) Project brings together Burrell Behavioral Health, CFO, Community Partnership of the Ozarks, MSU, and the Springfield Public Schools in a collaborative effort to promote childhood resiliency. The project serves two Springfield elementary schools, Campbell and Robberson, serving a significant population of at-risk students.
Building on the expertise of the collaborating organizations, the project activities represent a holistic focus on helping children and their families break the cycle of poverty. Project activities include:
- Training in the Boys and Girls Town model for staff members (teaching social and emotional skills)
- Providing “Parenting Wisely” curriculum to at least 32 families per target school each year
- Promoting student wellness by increased awareness and utilization of the Toothtruck, CARE Mobile and Jordan Valley Community Health Center
- Providing pre-teacher education to Missouri State University education students
- Placing a behavioral intervention specialist in the schools
- Making the counselor at each school a full-time position.
The flagship effort of the Grantmaker’s Challenge for Children completed its first year of service this spring. Project evaluation from the Institute for School Improvement at MSU is forthcoming, but positive results are already visible. Counselors at each school have been able to work directly with more students and families since becoming full-time through the project, and have also been important in the implementation of the Boys and Girls Town curriculum in classrooms.
The behavior interventionist, Kerri Bell, MS PLPC, from Burrell, worked with almost thirty students at both schools facing serious mental health issues – the majority of whom have been abused – that threaten their personal and academic success. Although many of those students require a long term treatment process, Bell reports noticeable improvement among many of the students she sees. Principals and staff at each school concur.
“[The behavioral interventionist] addresses a huge piece that we were not able to address before,” said Kevin Huffman, principal at Robberson Elementary. “This is more than just a band aid.”
Parenting Wise, taught by staff from CPO, is a recognized best practices program that help parents of at-rsik students learn basic parenting skills that will help children develop positive behavior patterns and promote resiliency. Classes were offered twice in the fall semester and three times in the spring with good attendance numbers at each class.
“We’ve seen more awareness from kids and parents, and parents are getting more involved with their kids both at school and away from school,” said Steve Seal, ECHO project director.
For staff at the two schools, an April 2007 visit by award winning education author Jonathon Kozol proved to be an inspirational highlight of the project’s first year. Kozol, whose work explicitly deals with obstacles facing the nation’s poorest students, toured the schools and was able to see the ECHO project in action. The author later remarked that he was impressed with their work, and during an informal conversation with staff from both schools, he noted that efforts such as these were fine examples of a community-wide approach that could go a long way toward addressing many of the challenges facing America’s most at-risk children.
