Voices from Baltimore: Clergy, Community Leaders Bridge Gaps

Describing schools that lost their funding for extracurricular activities, Hunt says a pastor he knows stepped in by coaching a school basketball team. In light of the school funding gaps, Rev. Hunt says, “The question becomes, what can churches and other entities do to help close those gaps?”

He also noted that 15 to 20 years ago a move to stop funding all the community centers and Police Athletic centers took place. “That was the way the police were relating to the children in a more positive way,” Hunt says. “So churches and nonprofits need to provide resources that are positive for our children, places for them to go after school.”

The after school need is critical. According to a recent report from Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization, the parents of 4.5 million African American children are without an after school program to enroll their children in.

To find out what the community’s needs were, BUILD held meetings; indeed, after- school programming was on its mind. “What kept coming up were opportunities for youth,” says Siciliano. “That’s why Child First was created, to develop after-school programming in schools while also organizing within the schools and developing leaders from the community and the schools to all work together to impact students’ lives.”

She continues. “There is an opportunity gap within our schools–opportunity after school, economic opportunity, so our high school students aren’t able to find jobs. There’s little to no programs for kids after school, so there are organizations and those working within the school system that are trying to do something about it, but it’s from decades of disinvestment within Baltimore communities and within the school system.”

Glenna Huber, who came to Baltimore to do urban ministry and is formerly with the Church of the Holy Nativity, describes a rich after-school program that her church offered in the early 2000s: “Our church served kids from age 6 to 12 and worked with two schools. Before then the children had nothing to do, nowhere to go. From 3 pm to 6:30 pm is an important time to catch these children because of the drug activity. There was minimal adult supervision after school.”

“We provided food and activities like chess, choir, dance, music, art, archery, cooking. We had people come in from the churches [a Lutheran church was a partner] and from the community. Whatever talent was in the community we tried to offer to the children.”

Asked about school libraries, Siciliano describes the effects of the lack of funding and investment. “Librarians have to serve multiple schools. So you have a librarian that’s split between two schools, or you have a school that’s deciding how to use its resources, and they think should we get an additional math teacher? Or do we have a music class? And the focus nationwide on testing just derails opportunities for students. The strong focus on testing makes some schools choose a teacher who teaches a tested subject over a librarian or music teacher.”

In 2009 Siciliano was part of the team that established the Baltimore Education Coalition in response to the state’s funding cuts to Baltimore City Public Schools. She says, “There was a need for Baltimore city residents to organize and advocate on behalf of city schools and make sure that funding was maintained.”