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Groups try to loosen grip of poverty
The Republican, April 14, 2008

Efforts are under way to break poverty's stranglehold on Western Massachusetts, from Springfield and Holyoke to Greenfield and North Adams.

Holyoke Mayor Michael J. Sullivan said recently that the division between the economies of Eastern and Western Massachusetts is so stark that it could be compared to "Virginia and West Virginia."

It is that divide which is being addressed by Sally C. Fuller, project director of Cherish Every Child, an initiative of the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation in Springfield, Kimberly Lee, vice president of advancement at Square One, and Janis Santos, director of the Holyoke-Springfield-Chicopee Head Start programs and who sits on the board of the National Head Start Association.

Their focus is bringing a pilot program to Springfield that would provide universal pre-kindergarten to the city.

Santos, whose agency last year received a $1.6 million grant to strengthen families, says a critical component of universal pre-kindergarten is the integration of the family into the program."

Santos, who has worked in the early childhood education field for 35 years, said the most effective models she has seen are ones that reach into the child's home life to include a parent involvement component as well as health, including mental health, and nourishment.

"The efforts that are being made in the city of Springfield regarding (universal pre-kindergarten) are to be applauded and this is the time for all early childhood programs to get around the table and have a serious discussion about the future of early childhood education," Santos said.

The child advocates argue that substance abuse is frequently an accomplice to poverty, and that often the most at-risk children live in grossly dysfunctional households. They argue that placing these children in day-care programs with development components (regardless of their parents' ability to perform) automatically puts order into the households and furthers the process of nourishing a developing child emotionally, socially and cognitively.

"Right now, eligibility and access are determined by the parents' status," Lee said, "and that is not what is best for the child." Square One, previously known as Springfield Day Nursery, has programs in Springfield and Holyoke.

The Springfield agencies are part of a statewide campaign for universal pre-kindergarten classes.

Gov. Deval L. Patrick "is an early education advocate, he has added to the budget, and has vowed to keep the funding coming until it is universal and high quality," Fuller said.

She said that she and other child advocates saw promise with the governor's recent action to pencil into the proposed budget for fiscal 2009 language that would allow funding for universal pre-kindergarten pilot programs on a city-wide basis.

"We are cautiously optimistic that in the governor's budget is language that there should be money for universal pre-K, allocated to community-wide implementation of the program," Fuller said.

The governor's directive to place all pre-school homeless children in day-care programs began in December, and within a month, the state Department of Early Education and Care had added 130 children, according to spokeswoman Cynthia A. Campbell.

Headed by Easthampton Mayor Michael A. Tautznik, the Western Massachusetts Mayors Association, organized last year, says his city and the 10 others which belong are actually losing money for their schools after they comply with the mandates of School Choice and charter schools.

"We needed to band together to have a single, louder voice," he said. "Whether the voice is being heard by the Legislature, we don't have an answer yet. The net result in Easthampton is that the city has gotten an increase of $270,000 over nine years in state education aid, with the state's education costs it charges the city increasing from $58,000 in 2000 to $1.6 million this year, largely due to school choice and charter schools.

"Every community in Western Massachusetts is impacted by School Choice and charter schools at a cost. What you lose is the ability to do anything beyond the absolute core programs for children in the school system."

Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins said the state needs to develop an urban strategy for the 11 gateway communities, including Holyoke, Springfield, Brockton, Fall River, Lawrence and New Bedford.

"Springfield and Holyoke and the other gateway communities need an urban strategy, and there isn't a strategy," she said. "What is the strategy to bring the older urban centers that used to have jobs, and the jobs moved away? What is the plan for those cities to bring them out of poverty?

"The other 340 (cities and towns) aren't doing that well, but those 11 are struggling a lot more."

Sullivan said that "the old formula where Boston gets 50 percent and we fight for the rest" does not work in the 21st century in cities that lost their manufacturing base and inherited the poor.

The Holyoke mayor, whose city is closing three schools this year, does not think the Boston political leaders understand the problems of their western neighbors.

"One doesn't have to look closer than the issue of homelessness," he said, explaining that at a meeting with state officials, he told them that "we have homeless people living in the woods, and the people in Boston, the reps, laughed."

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