The Highlands Community and the City of Lynn The Highlands neighborhood of Lynn consists mostly of families with children, who are among the poorest in the city, with an average poverty rate of 32% and a household income only 57% of the citywide average. Eighty percent do not own their own homes; less than 11% of the housing units are single-family. Forty-eight percent of the area is Black, Hispanic and Asian, a minority population twice as large as that in the city as a whole. More than 57% do not speak English at home; they are largely Dominican, Cambodian, Central American, Haitian, Eastern European, and Somalian. The unemployment rate is high. Corporate downsizing, mergers and consolidations.have devasted the economic well-being of the city of Lynn. Thousands of jobs were lost in the Highlands area in the past several years, most of these blue-collar skilled positions which traditionally provided work for new immigrants. Neighborhood residents are not prepared for the newer “white-collar” service and technical jobs available (Lynn Empowerment Zone Strategic Plan, 1998).

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The neighborhood has one of the highest child protective service referral rates in the state, in a city that has the fifth-highest reported rates of child abuse and neglect (Massachusetts Department of Social Services, 1996 Maltreatment Statistics Executive Summary, August, 1997). According to the DSS, 92% of abused and neglected children were victimized by parents, most of them mothers. A Massachusetts study revealed a high association between substance abuse and child abuse and neglect (ibid.), and a national survey found a correlation between caretaker drug use and severe punishment and violence toward children (Wolfner & Gelles, cited in ibid.) The Highlands area is rife with drug trafficking and vice (e.g., prostitution) and has been cited by the state as having a serious and growing heroin problem.

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The Ford School More than half of Ford School children live in families without fathers. Most household heads are unemployed and on welfare. Eighty percent of Ford children quality for free or reduced lunch. Due to the combining factors of poverty, limited English, cultural differences, refugee trauma, family disorganization, unemployment, substance abuse, and domestic violence, it is no wonder that children at the Ford School perform poorly on standardized tests of academic achievement. The results of Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test for 1999 reveal that the great majority of children are failing or needing improvement. The city of Lynn as a whole was among the lowest five scoring districts in the state. It is worth noting, however, that due to the efforts of the school staff, a Summer School, an evening school for parents, tutorial help from Salem State College students, and the involvement of community agencies such as the Lynn Community Health Center, Ford School test scores are the highest among the five poverty-impact “downtown” elementary schools. Our project population consists of the entire Ford School community, its 800 children and their families, and the school staff. Through a combination of Pre-Kindergarten to adult education programs, we provide direct educational services Grade 3 through 5 children in after-school college clubs, Grade 2 through 6 children in a college summer enrichment program, 180 children served by college practicum students guided by college faculty, and 75 sixth-grade children whose teachers are supported by weekly faculty-led discussion groups. Family education workshops and min-courses teach parents how to help children academically as well as how to negotiate the worlds of work and everyday life. Family education workshops and min-courses teach parents how to help children academically as well as how to negotiate the worlds of work and everyday life. Future project activities include professional development linked to the state Curriculum Frameworks and the MCAS tests, where we hope to affect the curriculum and instruction provided to all the children in the school.

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