Our Residents

Three years after launching a literacy-based program that unites families at two Springfield Housing Authority developments with an array of organizations, Talk/Read/Succeed! participants paid a visit to the outfit that served as a key inspiration.

The Harlem Children’s Zone.

Five Springfield Housing Authority officials, including Executive Director William H. Abrashkin, Deputy Executive Director Nicole Contois, Resident Services Director Pamela Wells, Real Estate Development Project Administrator Sean Cahillane and Property Manager Lisa Sanford, traveled to Harlem, New York City, recently with T/R/S! Outreach Coordinator Lynne Cimino and Behavioral Health Network Counselor Carolyn Andrews.

The goal? To see first-hand the successful approach in place at the massive organization to help families succeed. Launched in the mid-1990s, the HCZ now operates on a $75 million budget to serve 8,000 children and 6,000 adults in a 100-block area, for a holistic approach to health, education and overall well-being.

A Talk/Read/Succeed! team recently visited the Harlem Children’s Zone. Left to right: Outreach Coordinator Lynne Cimino, SHA Deputy Executive Director Nicole Contois, SHA Property Manager Lisa Sanford, SHA Resident Services Manager Pamela Wells, Behavioral Health Network Counselor Carolyn Andrews, SHA Real Estate Development Property Manager Sean Cahillane, SHA Executive Director William H. Abrashkin.

In large part, Harlem Children’s Zone was a major component of the inspiration behind Talk/Read/Succeed!, now it is fourth year and serving 126 families at Sullivan and Robinson Gardens Apartments. Other key players are Boland and Dorman elementary schools, the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, the Behavioral Health Network, Springfield School Department, Springfield Education Association, and the Hasbro Summer Learning Initiative.

In Springfield, the effort has paid off with elevated reading scores among children who attend the Hasbro summer learning program, and with far more active parent groups at both schools, as well as at Sullivan and Robinson Gardens.

Those who attended the three-day visit to Harlem recently came away impressed.

“The Harlem Children’s Zone is a no-nonsense, business-oriented organization of committed people with the resources to contribute and network, and the incentive to make it successful,” said SHA Executive Director William H. Abrashkin.

“I would characterize the visit as interesting, informative, inspirational – just what I was hoping to get, a vision of where to go,” he added.

Abrashkin hopes to continue steering T/R/S! in its ongoing fund-raising quest, and eventually  create a separate, non-profit organization with as committed and resourceful board as the Harlem Children’s Zone has.

Wells said she also came away with a renewed sense of hope after the behind-the-scenes look at the massively bigger program in Harlem.

“It was very interesting. I think we all came away invigorated with ideas of what else we can do,” Wells said.

And Cimino, who got to spend time with Harlem Children’s Zone founder Geoffrey Canada, agreed that the trip was eye-opening.

“There is so much to it – it was great to see something so successful on such a large scale,” said Cimino, who has been working with T/R/S! families since the program began here in mid-2010.

T/R/S! Outreach Coordinator Lynne Cimino in Harlem, with Harlem Children’s Zone founder Geoffrey Canada.

“Harlem Children’s Zone is its own entity, with community organization at the most important component. They use logic models for outcomes, they grow their own businesses, they hire from within, they run Saturday programs for children. There is just so much to it,” Cimino added. “I think many of the ideas given can be implemented. We have begun to really talk about this.”

T/R/S! is its own success story, if on a much smaller scale.

Parents who participate in T/R/S! say they are not only infusing more literacy into their homes, but they are also more active in their children’s schools, and they are seeing the results in more enthusiasm for reading, better reading skills, and improved report cards as well as standardized test scores.

Children who attend the Hasbro Summer Learning Initiative consistently improve reading skills over the five-week sessions, some by as many as two levels, at a time when many children fall behind for lack of formal education during summer months.

Principals and teachers at Boland and Sullivan say T/R/S! parents are among their most active, and have forged positive ties that emphasize literacy and education.