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June 7, 2017  |  By Erin In Spotlights

Going Deeper: Darren and School Choice

Going Deeper- Darren and School Choice

It’s no secret we are fans of each staff member at School on Wheels. Not only do they have wonderful personalities, but each is skilled in her focus area. Our Education Manager, Erin Brown, is just one of our amazing team members. She uses her background as a teacher to help the families we serve with school enrollment, transportation issues, college preparation, and much more.

Erin filled this new and expanded role at the beginning of the 2016/2017 school year to help her go deeper with the children and families we serve. As Education Manager, Erin provides daily oversight of the tutoring program by serving as a liaison between School on Wheels and its program partners. Funding for this new staff position was made possible by the Kris Patton Fund, a fund of Women’s Fund of Central Indiana. Erin’s story below demonstrates the importance of having the right resources to hire dedicated staff members, like Erin, who can help families navigate and overcome the many obstacles to education that our families experience each day.

In November I met little Darren and his mom, dad, and two younger brothers during office hours at one of our tutoring locations.

Darren’s whole family had ended up in an emergency shelter after his dad lost his job. Darren’s dad, a veteran, had never considered getting resources through veterans groups, nor had the family ever depended on support services before they ended up at the shelter. Finding themselves suddenly homeless was very difficult for the whole family and as I spoke to them about their situation, I asked if I could help them with any educational issues they might be facing.

Mom said that Darren, a kindergartner, had been enrolled in a school in Washington Township, but when they lost their apartment they moved to Lafayette to stay with family members.  Staying with relatives wasn’t sustainable and when the family moved back to Indianapolis, Mom tried to re-enroll Darren in his Washington Township school. Sadly, Darren wasn’t able to re-enroll in the elementary where he’d started his school career and his mom was getting worried that if they kept moving, Darren was going to have to switch schools every time – something his parents desperately wanted to avoid.

That’s when I sat down with the family to see what their other options might be. Looking for the right school in Indianapolis can be overwhelming because there are so many choices and it’s hard to know where to begin! Together we looked at the Indianapolis Public School (IPS) magnet programs that were available. The magnet programs were ideal because if the family moved within IPS boundaries, Darren wouldn’t have to switch schools because he could get transportation from any location within IPS. I took Darren’s mom on a tour of one of the schools she seemed most interested in and after the tour she was SO excited. She wondered why she couldn’t have gone to a school like that – this one had goats and mountain biking!

After our tour, I helped the family apply and Darren got in! By the time he was enrolled, his family had moved out of the shelter and into a new apartment so we had to arrange for different transportation. Somehow there ended up being confusion about where the bus was supposed to pick up Darren and on the first day at his new school the bus didn’t show up! Darren’s mom called me in a panic that morning when the bus didn’t arrive because, without a car of their own, it was going to be impossible to get Darren to school and no one wanted him to miss his first day. After a few conversations, the school sent a bus to Darren’s new apartment especially for him!

darren

I’m thankful and thrilled that I happened to be at a meeting at Darren’s school that day and I was able to witness Darren walking into his new building with his bus driver and personal chauffer that morning.  Darren had the biggest smile on his face and his bus driver said he had been that happy the whole ride to school. It’s so exciting to be able to make sure kids like Darren get the education they are eager for and deserve every single day!

Want to see even more success stories from tutoring? Check out our other Student Spotlights!

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School on Wheels’ mission is to provide one-on-one tutoring and educational advocacy for school-aged children impacted by homelessness.

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School on Wheels Corp is a 501(c)(3) under federal tax guidelines. | EIN: 35-2151003

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Advocate and Engage

Why is School on Wheels important to you? What role has education played in your life? When you tell your story and share your connection to School on Wheels, you can help your friends, family, and co-workers understand the complexities of family homelessness and give them the tools to be part of the solution, too.

Help us bring attention to the critical issue of family homelessness and help others learn how education can break the cycle of poverty and homelessness. We offer information and insight on our social platforms so be sure to follow along and engage with us online or offline.

Connect with us on social to help raise awareness and support for #SharetheLoveIndy and School on Wheels!

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Donate

Every dollar makes a difference. A gift that’s meaningful to you is meaningful to us and positively impacts our programs.

A one time $10 donation provides a week’s worth of incentive prizes at one site for kiddos who accomplish milestones. A monthly recurring donation of $10 adds up to provide a month’s worth of tutoring for one child, plus a week’s worth of after school snacks at one site!

Make a one time or recurring donation that’s right for you online or check out other ways to give to School on Wheels here.

Would you rather send a check or give over the phone? Contact Amber Ewing, VP of Development, at amber@indysow.org or 317.202.9100.

Attend Events

We have three February events that make doing good extra fun. Attend one or all three and bring your friends!

Sweat for School on Wheels
Shred 415 in Carmel
12:15 pm on  February 3
$20 per person. Email indy@shred415.com to claim your spot today.

100% of proceeds will support School on Wheels 

Shop for School on Wheels 
Kendra Scott at Keystone Fashion Mall
1-4 pm on February 9

20% of proceeds will support School on Wheels

Sip for School on Wheels
Sun King downtown
6-9 pm on  February 25

$1 of each pint will support School on Wheels

Find full event details on our Facebook Events page. RSVP and invite your friends.

Create a Facebook Fundraiser

Anyone can set up a #SharetheLoveIndy Facebook fundraiser for School on Wheels! It’s more involved than adding a donate button to a post, but it’s still simple and is so much more impactful. Click the video above to learn how to create a Facebook fundraiser on your desktop or follow the steps below to get started!

  1. Open Facebook and select Fundraisers from the column to the left of your newsfeed.
  2. Click “Raise Money”
  3. Now choose “School on Wheels Indianapolis” from the non profit category.
  4. Choose how much you want to raise and when you want your fundraiser to end.
  5. Now you get to name your fundraiser and tell your story! Share why you chose the goal you did and why you care about School on Wheels. People give to people and your story will motivate your friends to support your goal.
  6. Finally, select the School on Wheels photo you want as your cover photo, click create and you’re ready to go.

Our video above will walk you through all the steps. If you need help crafting your message or creating your fundraiser, contact Claire Brosman at claire@indysow.org or 317.202.9100. Good luck!