BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
When you think of the newly named Bradford Communities for Schools, think of the decades of amazing work Communities in Schools of Bradford County has performed on behalf of students and their families as well as those who work for the school district.
The mission is unchanged, reaching out to students in grades six to 12 and their families to provide support, and coordinate and deliver services. BCFS will provide continued access to social and education services for at-risk youth to achieve success.
Executive Director Cindy DeValerio recently shared some of the highlights from the organization’s past year, which included serving 110 students.
“Our program has five part-time employees, but we do the work of many more than that,” she said. It does so with the help of a board of dedicated volunteers as well as volunteer mentors and financial supporters throughout the community, including county commissioners and other leaders.
Staff member Martha Boyette, for example, coordinates the Take Stock in Children program, which identifies students who could benefit and pairs them with an adult mentor who helps see them through their final years of schooling. They help advise and encourage students to do their best and to stay out of trouble.
Successful completion of the program provides a two-year college scholarship to help them continue to reach for higher goals.
This year, there were 22 successful graduates of the program, a 100% success rate.
“We have continued to graduate 100% of our students every year,” DeValerio said.
Similarly, Candace Osteen is in Bradford High School as a site coordinator, helping provide academic and behavioral support and resources to get students to graduation.
Typically, students recruited by BCFS have risk factors such as low academic achievement, grade retention, poor attendance or impoverished home lives. The program’s initiatives go beyond the classroom. This past year Communities for Schools also worked with a local church to provide Christmases for 21 students. A Backpack Weekend program provided supplemental nutrition to 117 students, 18 of whom were BCFS participants.
Communities for Schools also sponsors a project called The Hanger which is open to all students in need of clothing, personal care items and school supplies. They have also incorporated Achievers 4 Life and Tobacco-Free Partnership.
With the support of CareerSource, BCFS has offered a summer employment program for two years now. This past summer, they employed 15 students between five different location, including Head Start, the Rainbow Center, Bradford County Public Library, The Downtown Grill and Florida Theatre.
Boosted by an Employability Day to learn about professionalism and expectations, the students contributed 70 or more hours for their worksites, while still having enough time to enjoy other extracurricular programs and their summer vacations.
“Our employers were raving about the students that we sent them. Our students were begging to do more. They all felt very good about themselves,” DeValerio said.
“Our goal in our programs is to provide support to remove obstacles and barriers so that students would be successful. I feel as though we are doing that through the support services that we offer, and to build a stronger community for them to hopefully come back to and be a part of,” DeValerio said. “So many times, our young people leave our community, but we want to keep them here. We want them to come back and raise families and be a viable part of what we’re doing in Bradford County.”
Communities for Schools holds monthly bingo fundraisers, and it has a golf fundraiser coming up on Sept. 20 (register by Sept. 13) at Turkey Creek Golf Course in Alachua. To register or sponsor the event, go to www.facebook.com/cisbradfordcounty or email [email protected].
To support the program in general by contributing time or money, please contact 904-966-6004 or [email protected].
