by Laura Ruane

Teaming up with a local university has helped an inner-city after school program to not only raise reading levels, but also to teach students the multimedia skills that experts consider essential to today’s and tomorrow’s jobs.

The non-profit African Caribbean American Catholic Center offers classroom-style instruction from certified teachers, one-on-one tutoring from volunteers, workshops for parents and summer reading camp.

The programs are trimming the reading achievement gap for the center’s 100 students in grades K-12, most of whom come from low-income families, said John Gamba, center board vice-chairman.

Since the partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University began three years ago, more than 80% of the students in the grades K-5 program have improved in reading skills such as comprehension and grammar each year, as measured by the Basic Early Assessment of Reading or the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Gamba said.
Lehigh Acres resident Cruza Tomas has two of her three children enrolled. “My oldest, Jesse, is 10. He didn’t like to read, but he’s starting to read more – books about animals and fairy tales. This program is phenomenal,” Tomas said.

Gamba, who has co-founded a number of internet-based companies over the past 20 years, is leading the local charge for multimedia literacy along with Robert Kenny, assistant professor for education technology at Florida Gulf Coast University.
At the center’s Digital U last summer, university faculty and students worked with about 30 middle and high school-age youths over three weeks to create digital documentaries about themselves using state-of-the-art equipment.

“We tell our students that by the year 2015, textbooks will be obsolete,” Gamba said, adding, “It’s our obligation to teach them to create, think and learn differently.”

The program’s reading tutoring for elementary students and its digital training and mentoring for middle and high school-aged youths aren’t unique in themselves in the Fort Myers area, Gamba said, but those services – combined with the university’s partnership and grants from several area philanthropic groups – have created “an ecosystem of support that is unique.”

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Father Joseph Foley, a priest from the Society of African Missions, joined the team in 1992. Father Foley had spent many years in missionary work in Africa and brought leadership to the new ministry. The African Caribbean American Catholic Center (AFCAAM) became the new name of the organization.

Father Foley, the Sisters, and a few dedicated volunteers developed both social services and religious programs. They operated form the back of an auto repair shop on corner of Clotilde and Michigan Avenue in the Dunbar neighborhood of Fort Myers. Mass was said there and all other programs were run from this location.

Not long after coming to Fort Myers, John Naughton met with the team and expressed a strong desire to support AFCAAM. In 1995, Mr. Naughton and his wife Peggy purchased an 18 acre site on Michigan Avenue and donated the property to the Diocese of Venice for the exclusive use of the AFCAAM Ministry.

Bishop John J. Nevins appointed Father Foley as the first Executive Director of AFCAAM. Father Foley formed a Board of Directors in order to organize the efforts to establish a church, renovate an abandoned warehouse on the donated property, fund programs and provide total support for AFCAAM.

In 1997, AFCAAM was able to purchase a modular unit and install it on the donated Michigan Ave site. All programs and religious services were conducted from this modular unit. The new facility was named the St. Peter Claver Chapel and AFCAAM became the social service branch of the chapel. At the same time, the growth of AFCAAM was such that plans for the renovation of the old warehouse located on the property were initiated. Soon, it was clear that it would be financially better to build a brand new building instead of renovating the old one.

Work began on the AFCAAM Center in 1998, with the majority of the funds coming from the Diocese of Venice. The Center was completed in 1999 at a total cost of $ 725,000.

Father Foley departed in 1999 and a new chapter in AFCAAM history began. After many meetings, in September 2000, the Diocese of Venice decided to give St. Peter Claver Chapel the status of a Mission. AFCAAM came under the leadership of Executive Director, Ismael Hernandez, for the next nine years. During this time AFCAAM continued to be the social services center of this Mission.

In July of 2009, AFCAAM became a part of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Venice, Inc. Since then AFCAAM has become accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA) and is recognized by Charity Navigator as a Four Star Program of Catholic Charities, wherein 94 cents of every dollar received is utilized for program and client services.

Under the leadership of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Venice, Inc., AFCAAM has expanded its programs and strengthened its fiscal accountability as it continues to serve the neediest communities in Lee County.

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The African Caribbean American Catholic Center (AFCAAM), a program that serves the black and other underserved populations in Lee County, is a part of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Venice, Inc.
AFCAAM strives to help people help themselves through the communication of Christian values and empowering programs that offer hope, challenge the culture, and promote self-reliance and human dignity.
There are two major programs at AFCAAM:

After School Reading Program

The After School Reading Program is offered in two locations: AFCAAM Center, 3681 Michigan Ave., Fort Myers and St. Columbkille’s Catholic Church, 12171 Iona Road, Fort Myers. This program provides over 300 hours of reading instruction and tutoring help to children enrolled in grades K-5 during the school year.

The program focuses on six objectives: developing a love and appreciation of reading; helping students become strong and independent readers; fostering students confidence, self esteem and self-reliance; promoting development of reading comprehension and thinking skills; providing a safe educational environment; and preparing students for future education and employment.

During the summer months, AFCAAM collaborates with the Florida Gulf Coast University, Department of Education, to offer an intensive summer reading camp. Florida Gulf Coast University supplies graduate level students that travel to AFCAAM for two weeks to work with selected AFCAAM After School Reading students who have been identified by their teachers during the year as needing extra help improving their reading skills.

Mentoring Program

AFCAAM offers the Straight Talk and Skills Mentoring Programs to middle and high school students. These group mentoring programs provide the support and motivation needed to help these teens stay on a positive course. The mentoring programs are dedicated to embracing and empowering students with knowledge, skills and abilities is to make good life choices.

The program works to build self-esteem, a desire for excellence, encourage creativity and develop leadership skills. Group mentors provide the support and motivation needed for youth to stay in school, stay off alcohol and drugs and remain out of the juvenile justice system. Mentors work with the youth, parents and schools to develop a team dedicated to helping each student succeed.

This year, Mentoring Programs were offered at two locations in addition to the AFCAAM Michigan Ave. site. AFCAAM Mentoring programs were also conducted at James Stephens Academy and Nations Association. All of these sites are in impoverished areas of Fort Myers. There were over 65 children served by our mentoring program in the past year.

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The African Drumming Class was taught by Signe M. Kastberg, Ph.D. She is Assistant Professor of Counseling in College of Education, Florida Gulf Coast University. Among her many interests is African Drum Therapy and cross culture education.

Philosophy: “With Discipline Comes Freedom”

A painter doesn’t just fling paint on canvas.  A ballerina doesn’t throw her body around the stage.  The artist must learn his/her craft and develop excellence in technique and an understanding of interpretation and variation in form before true artistic expression can be achieved.  This concept can be extended to learning of all types, at all levels.

The cultural foundations of drumming are extensive, spanning centuries of evolution.  Native Americans, Africans, Latina/os and other cultures have used drumming to communicate, celebrate, observe key events, and as a spiritual experience.  Drumming promotes physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being through individual and communal rhythm making. Learning about historically valuable cultural richness may also build self-esteem in students of color.

Group drumming promotes greater balance, cooperation, mental/physical health and stress management.  For individuals who may have behavioral difficulties that interfere with school achievement, the structure of traditional African drumming elicits cooperation and other pro-social behaviors.  To drum in a group, one must listen with focused mental attention in order to learn hand patterns and subsequently to harmonize with other patterns being played.  One must hold oneself responsible for learning and playing accurately, which requires self-control and self-discipline.  One must be able to tolerate making mistakes, and others making mistakes, as skill develops.

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During Digital U this Summer, July 9th-27th, our students will do research on African Drumming; listen to drumming, etc. Their research will help them get a feel for drumming and understand the culture. Dr. Robert Kenny from FGCU will teach Digital U incorporating the research and everything the students have learned about African Drumming into WeVideos; “Music We Can See.”

We will have speakers, field trips, etc., and on the final Friday, students will present their videos and possibly perform pieces for family, friends, etc.

Dr. Kastberg and I walked the premises to lay out the plan for classroom space, etc. She will be using the portables for drum classes and we are arranging for the drums to be delivered and kept in the portables until camp is over (they are too large to transport back and forth).

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Esmeralda, for her strength and fortitude, was chosen as the Student of the Month at AFCAAM.

AFCAAM is the African Caribbean American Center in the Dunbar and Harlem Heights communities in Fort Myers. AFCAAM is an evidence-based program that helps students build self-esteem and self-reliance, teaching K-5 students literacy skills, and mentoring for high school students.

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“I feel like my job in life right now is to evangelize,” Mary Ann shares, but it seems as if her thoughts are incomplete. “But you know, evangelization is more than just telling people the Word of God and talking at them. I listen to their words, and in between their words, I listen to their cries.”

“My passion is at AFCAAM right now. I minister to both the children and the parents.”

AFCAAM is the African Caribbean American Center in the Dunbar and Harlem Heights communities in Fort Myers. AFCAAM is an evidence-based program that helps students build self-esteem and self-reliance, teaching K-5 students literacy skills, and mentoring for high school students.

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It also, apparently, is a winning formula for education reporting – at least at The New York Times. First, there are the stories about what we should want. At the Times, this means subscribing to uptight parenting 101: getting your kid into the “right” ____ (preschool, summer camp, private school, elite college, fill-in-the-blank-with-something-ridiculous) is essential to their future success and happiness.

Mad Men equivalent: you haven’t made it on Madison Avenue until you have a car in your portfolio.

This, of course, is coupled with the extremes to which parents (and later, students) will go to in order to get what will supposedly make them happy: lying, cheating, prescription drugs, etc.

Mad Men equivalent: coercing your co-worker into prostitution to land said-car company.

Then, comes the kicker. Once those now, not-so-well-adjusted kids get accepted to and graduate from that elite college, they will be jobless, saddled with debt, living in their parents’ basements, and no smarter than they were four years earlier. They are miserable and full of regret.

Mad Men equivalent: suicide attempt in aforementioned-car.

While this formula may make for good entertainment, it doesn’t make for good reporting. Yet The New York Times continues to follow it. On Sunday, “The Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill” quickly ascended to the top of the most-viewed and most-emailed list. Students at (mostly) elite, private schools are apparently all turning to drugs – highly-addictive stimulants used to treat ADHD – to cope with the pressure of getting into (mostly) elite, private colleges.

This is what I (and my former colleague, Rachel Fishman) like to call a first world problem. And by focusing so much of its attention and influence on these non-problems, the Times may get more page views, but it does absolutely nothing to help the majority of students and parents who face real challenges. The parents who can’t afford to send their child to any preschool, let alone one that costs tens of thousands of dollars. The parents who are desperate – desperate to win a slot in the lottery so that their child can attend a high-performing charter school rather than a dropout factory. The students who dream to be the first in their family to attend college, but struggle academically, financially, or personally to do so. Instead, the paper chooses to report about students who will likely be fine no matter what their anxious, uber-intense parents do.

Please, New York Times, leave the entertainment to Mad Men and just stick to “the news that’s fit to print.”

From Education Sector

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