ChildThrive!

The City of Alexandria is known for its upwardly mobile households and its charming urban neighborhoods. The median income in Alexandria is approximately $80,847; 7.8% of the city's 139,966 residents have incomes below the poverty level and 15% of the children (<18 years) are included in this population.

Despite this level of prosperity, the neighborhood of the City known as Brent Place is among the most troubled communities in Virginia. It is a community characterized by a high incidence of violence and crime, historically high rates of child abuse and neglect, and a large number of households who have been victimized by domestic violence.

60.9% of the City residents are white, 21.8% are black and 16.1% are Hispanic. The distribution of children by race in the public schools is 27.2% white, 32.5% black and 32.4% Hispanic.  Individuals who are foreign born are estimated to comprise 24% of the population. While the city is diverse, Brent Place is a vertical neighborhood of immigrant families. Over 200 children and approximately 250 families, many of whom are foreign born and adjusting to the American way of life, reside in 207 apartments in the fourteen story high rise. Many of Brent Place families are on public assistance, unemployed, or underemployed. As a result, all of the households of Brent Place have incomes at or below 60% of the area median income and many households survive on far less. 54% of all the residents at Brent Place receive rental assistance through the Housing Choice (Section 8) Voucher program.  Children routinely roam the halls after school as a result of the lack of appropriate and accessible recreational activities. 

A need which has been recognized during the time that ChildThrive! members have been serving at Brent Place is the need for increased academic support to support the learning of the children and youth at Brent Place.  The City of Alexandria despite its’ prosperity has a disproportionate number of minority students enrolled in public schools.  As stated above 60.9% of the City residents are white, 21.8% are black and 16.1% are Hispanic. The distribution of children by race in the public schools is 27.2% white, 32.5% black and 32.4% Hispanic and 56% of the student population is eligible for free or reduced lunch.  When ChildThrive! members started serving in the building there was one instructional aide at Brent Place who assisted elementary school children with homework, however there was no support for middle and high school aged youth a population which is at risk of dropping out of school. 

Brent Place is home to approximately 70 children aged 0-5, 76 children aged 6-12, 49 children aged 13-18 and 66 youth 14-21.  Older youth who should be in high school can frequently be seen roaming the hallways in their pajamas during the school day.  TC Williams high school the only public high school in Alexandria, was singled out by President Obama as a school in need of urgent reform in June 2010 and only one school in the City passed the Adequate yearly Progress standards mandated by the federal government in 2011.  The children at Brent Place attend Samuel Tucker elementary, Francis Hammond middle school and TC Williams high school.  Samuel Tucker and Francis Hammond have both been identified by the Virginia Department of Education as schools where improvement plans are required and TC Williams has been designated a priority school.  There is also an increasing achievement gap between white students and their black and Hispanic counterparts with black students lagging behind their white peers by 17 percentage points and Hispanic students by 19 percentage points.  The disparity between white students and black students in math is 21% points and the same for Hispanic students.  In their interactions with the parents and youth at Brent Place, members have become aware that very few parents have any interactions with their child’s school and many of the children are struggling with their academics especially in the families where English is not the primary language and the parents are unfamiliar with the educational system.

To address this need ChildThrive! has joined with Community Lodgings to create a robust after school program which serves all the children in the building.  In addtion to providing academic support for chlldren the project also provides progams and assistance to families.