Something powerful is emerging in the lives of children and families in Peoplestown. It’s an intangible quality – but you know it when you see it.

It shows up in the determination of an 8th grader who, for the first time, identifies with the personal story of a civil rights leader. It shows up in the heroic efforts of a mother going the extra mile to support her child’s success. It bubbles up as long-time community residents organize to have their voices heard.

That something is resilience. When you see it, it’s both inspiring and humbling in the same breath.

Resilience is the ability to persevere in the face of adversity, challenge, insult, or injury. It can’t be manufactured through a program - it exists in the spirit of people.

While we can’t create resilience, we can nurture it. We cultivate it when we come alongside those who have the grit and determination to change the odds for themselves, their families, or their community.

This past year, you and I have had a front row seat to the power of that spirit in action.

We’ve seen the resilience of our local elementary school in the face of significant threats. After years of steep declines in grade-level reading and math, D.H. Stanton Elementary welcomed a new principal with a stellar record of leading high-performing schools. She chose to leave her highly successful school to help D.H. Stanton students change the odds for their futures.

This is resilience in action, and we’re here to help D. H. Stanton students succeed through our educational supports - like our Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools®, Homework Relief Bootcamp, and Saturday Arts programs.

This year, Peoplestown neighbors have joined forces with residents of other stadium neighborhoods to form the Turner Field Community Benefits Coalition. This coalition of concerned citizens seeks to write a new story for these historic neighborhoods - and Emmaus House stands with them. Given the history of displacement that accompanied the construction of the last two stadiums, this work is a testament to the resilience of a community.

Your investment in Emmaus House adds your voice to ours as we advocate alongside residents of Peoplestown through our work with the Coalition.

As an organization, Emmaus House has a new clarity of purpose and a renewed resolve to promote academic achievement and family economic success in Peoplestown. This year, with your support, we’ve launched a successful CDF Freedom Schools® program and focused our resources to implement a two-generation strategy to support families. These are the signs of a resilient team embracing change to move forward.

While communities and organizations can all exhibit resilience, there is nothing more powerful than the overcoming spirit of children and families. Candida and her son D.C. have been residents of Peoplestown for the past four years. In 2013, Candida had heart surgery, which left her on disability. They’ve been burglarized three times and quite literally lost everything that they owned.

Despite these odds, Candida and D.C. continue to exhibit tremendous resilience.

Thanks to your support, D.C. was a Freedom Schools® scholar at Emmaus House. He recounted some of his memories.

“I was in Miss Callie's class. One time we formed a human knot. We had to work together to get untangled. It was a lot of fun. We wrote about it afterwards - about working together. ”

Inspired by her son’s experiences, Candida signed up this fall for our brand new Homework Relief Bootcamp for Parents, offered in partnership with Literacy Action. When asked about her experience, she says:

“I think it's a great program. It's helped motivate me to listen to D.C. and read with him. I used to read with him when he was younger, but not as much in recent years. It's pulled us closer together. I've learned to be more patient when he brings homework to me.”

Candida and D.C. are resilient. They continue to persevere in the face of adversity and challenges.

D.C. learned the power of working together this past summer. In the same way, when you and I work together we can activate the resilient spirit of children and families in Peoplestown as they seek the best for themselves and their community.

Your donation will help to shape stories of resilience, strength, and triumph that will be told for months and years to come.

With warm holiday wishes,

Joseph Mole, LMSW

Executive Director

With the impending redevelopment of Turner Field to our north and the future development of the Belt Line on our southern border, Peoplestown is evolving quickly. However, what will the future hold for its residents? Will they benefit from all of this development? Or will they be left out again as they were when Turner Field was constructed in the 1990s.

At Emmaus House, we are committed to helping Peoplestown residents to take advantage of opportunities – for employment, for education, for a better, healthier life. Our two-generation model allows us to help families to grow so that they are ready for these changes.

Your support of Emmaus House provides educational options for children and youth as well as opportunities for adults to move beyond poverty. With your help our neighbors will be ready to step forward and embrace the changes that are coming.

On this Giving Tuesday, please give generously so that change can be a benefit rather than a barrier to success here in Peoplestown.

With Thanksgiving Thursday, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday behind us, we are wrapping up this long weekend of family gatherings, meals and shopping trips with a national day of giving: Today is Giving Tuesday. 

This year marks the fourth annual Giving Tuesday campaign. This year, owing to its previous success, Giving Tuesday incorporates an international component to raise worldwide awareness and share the joy of giving back. This consciousness raising is, perhaps, Giving Tuesday's biggest contribution. 

We are asking all of you – friends, volunteers, supporters and donors – to participate in this worldwide #Unselfie campaign by sharing your own personal examples of giving to Emmaus House.

To do this, write down on a piece of paper how you have given to Emmaus House. 

Are you a Peoplestown Partner? Are you a volunteer? Did you support our Thanksgiving at Home program with a donation? 

Then take a "selfie" holding your sign in front of you. Make sure to these hashtags: #GivingTuesday #Unselfie and (most importantly) #EmmausHouseATL ,then share on all your social networks!

For more on how to post your own #Unselfie, click here. And if you'd like to show your support today with a donation, or to learn more about volunteer opportunities this holiday season, please visit out website.

This summer, parents of students in our summer Freedom Schools® program identified their need for increased ability to help children with homework. To this end, in partnership with Literacy Action, Inc., Emmaus House has launched a new program called Homework Relief Boot Camp for Parents. The overall goal of the program is to increase the literacy skills of both children and parents so that they can achieve greater success in school and in the workplace.

Emmaus House is located in Peoplestown, a neighborhood challenged by low educational outcomes. For instance, 33% of residents do not have a high school diploma. Only 65.9% of third graders at D. H. Stanton Elementary School in Peoplestown read at or above grade level, down from 85% in 2009.

Each week in Homework Relief Boot Camp, parents will access the elementary school parent portal on computers to determine assigned homework and upcoming tests. They will also spend time at the end of each session reading with their children. As they support their children, parents will learn about and use tools to increase their own literacy skills in a setting free from the stigma often associated with literacy challenges.

This two-generation approach will help families break the cycle of poverty by addressing literacy barriers that affect both children’s success in school and parents’ economic opportunity. According to Literacy Action, research shows that regardless of family income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to earn higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have better social skills, graduate, and go on to postsecondary education.

Homework Relief Boot Camp meets at Emmaus House for eight weeks on Thursdays, beginning this week. Volunteers from the Cathedral of St. Philip will provide supper for children and adults prior to each session. While parents attend the Homework Relief Boot Camp program, their children will read or work on homework with volunteers from The Road Episcopal Service Corp.

If you would like to purchase a children’s book for the Homework Relief Boot Camp, please go to the Emmaus House Books wish list on Amazon.com. For more information about Homework Relief Boot Camp contact Ann Fowler, director of education services at Emmaus House, at 404-808-1864 or annfowler@emmaushouse.org.

We are very grateful to the SMP Community Fund for their financial support of this new initiative.

Last November, Emmaus House featured Latoya’s story as an example of one of the many people who come seeking help when there is nowhere else to turn. Latoya spoke about how she had lost her job and quickly was in a situation that she never thought possible. She was overwhelmed with past due notices, a job market that offered little in areas in which she had experience, an empty cupboard, and a hungry child.

Fortunately, she was able to connect with Emmaus House and begin moving in the right direction with a few emergency services and connections with some partners. She began taking those next seemingly giant steps back to self-sufficient living. However, “notices kept coming and searching for the right job when you have children can be really slow and then came the summer when my girl was out of school and had nowhere to go,” says Latoya. The fear at times felt “paralyzing.”

The fear at times felt “paralyzing.”

This is a problem for people across the country. They reach out to social service agencies, receive a few emergency services or “Band-Aids,” and they’re out the door— that is until next month or even next week. People like Latoya need more than just a few tangible items and a couple of referrals to get back to a level of self-sufficiency.

For this reason, Emmaus House has launched the Peoplestown Family Initiative, an in-depth case-care program for families of Peoplestown. Our goal this year is to work with up to 25 families that need extra care and assistance by assessing their needs, setting goals, and helping them navigate all the opportunities in the community that are available to them. We are happy to say that Latoya’s family is one of the first admitted into our new program.

When asked why she was interested in the Peoplestown Family Initiative Latoya responded, “There were so many things I needed and people here had already been so open and had been such a positive support to me. I felt like I could trust and confide in them and they were so great at motivating me and let me feel like for the first time that there was a future for me. I felt like I had family again supporting me.”

 I felt like I had family again supporting me.”

Identifying goals and envisioning an outcome in order to create an individual service plan is important for every participant so that they have a set of goals to which they can work. When asked what she wants to accomplish through the Peoplestown Family Initiative, Latoya’s answer was clear. “I want to be able to provide certain things on my own and be a light to others who are in my position now.”

Latoya has only been in the program a short while. However, she already notices the progress that she has made. “I can feel each week more and more of my future being put into my hands. I’ve worked out a plan that will slowly but surely pay off my debts to the water company which ensures that my landlord will not have to kick me and my family out. I don’t have this cloud of worry about whether or not I will have enough food this month. I feel a great sense of self-worth, which is something that was one of the first things to go. And I feel prepared to do things. I have a plan for each thing that I’m facing, not just reacting anymore.”

Given the opportunity to say something to whoever may be reading this, Latoya was quick to comment, “I would want someone else to benefit from this experience and feel like they are worthy. This program keeps me smiling and allows me to sleep at night knowing someone out there cares."

Sunday, September 27th 3pm - 6pm at Emmaus House. 

Walk The Road is an opportunity for youth and youth leaders to learn, serve, and walk with our neighbors in Peoplestown as we explore the community’s voice in the re-development process after the Atlanta Braves leave Turner Field.

Please join us for a day of panel discussions, service projects, a guided tour of our neighborhood, and a community cookout. The theme of this year's event will be moving forward as a community as our neighborhood experiences change following the Braves' relocation. 

The schedule for the day is as follows:

Registration ($5 or 5 cans of food): 3:00 – 3:15 pm

Panel Discussions: 3:15 & 4:45 pm

Walk the neighborhood to Turner Field: 4:00 pm

Service projects: 3:15 pm

Community cookout: 5:30 pm

RSVP via our facebook page.

This summer, Emmaus House set out to help students to avoid the "summer slide" in reading ability by hosting a Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools® program.

Pre and post evaluations conducted with a sample of scholars, using procedures recommended by the Freedom Schools® program, indicated the following:

• 100% of scholars who were evaluated maintained or gained in their instructional reading level over the six-week program as measured by pre and post standardized testing.
• Of those, 79% of students tested improved their instructional level in reading.
• Students who maintained their reading level all showed gains in either accuracy, comprehension or fluency within that reading level.
• Children in grades 4-7 saw the greatest gains.

Rosalyn Devine, a reading specialist who sits on the Emmaus House Advisory Board, wrote the following about the summer slide and the impact of our program:

Many of us have fond memories of the summer months. These may include visits to the beach or the mountains, special time with family and friends, lazy days and nights and a needed break from the demands of the school year. What we don’t necessarily remember is the “summer slide.” Unfortunately, I am not referring to the slide at the park that we all enjoy, but instead the well-documented decline in academic progress that occurs for many children during this extended break from the traditional school environment. Here are some facts about the summer slide:

• Low-income students, like those served by Emmaus House, lose on average more than two months of reading achievement during the summer months (Cooper, 1996).
• Unequal access to summer learning accounts for more than half of the achievement gap between lower and higher income youth. Researchers have concluded that two-thirds of the 9th grade reading achievement gap is attributable to unequal access to summer learning opportunities during elementary school. (Alexander et al, 2007).
• The summer learning losses appear to be cumulative over time, contributing even more to the gap between low and higher-income students (RAND Corporation, McCombs et al, 2011).
• Speaking on behalf of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading at a U.S. Department of Education event, Annie E. Casey Foundation executive vice president Ralph Smith (2011) summed up the urgency of the summer learning loss problem:

“Too many children are losing too much ground over summer vacation, especially low-income children… This is not a school problem; this is a community problem, and we've got to organize ourselves to solve that.”

The good news is that studies have found that summer programs for kids can help reduce or eliminate the gaps, and that the effects of these summer programs last over time. This summer, children at Emmaus House have found what they need through the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® program. For six weeks, children at Emmaus House have worked to curb the summer slide and close achievement gaps. The CDF Freedom Schools® program motivates students to read, generates positive attitudes toward learning, and increases self-esteem. It also creates opportunities for partnerships with families and children to help them connect to resources in their communities.

As a reading specialist and member of the Advisory Board at Emmaus House, I have been fortunate to assist with this program by assessing the progress in reading that these students have made. I am happy to report that all students assessed have maintained or gained in their instructional reading level this summer because of the Freedom Schools® program at Emmaus House. This is something to celebrate as we work together to stop the summer slide.

If you are interested, you can find more information and facts by following these links: Rand Education, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, and this Horizons National video on summer learning.

– Rosalyn Devine

It all begins each morning with Harambee ("let's pull together"), a high energy gathering of our Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools® scholars. Inspirational songs and enthusiastic chants get everyone moving, motivated, and ready to embrace the day to come.

One of the highlights of Harambee is Read-Aloud, when a special guest comes to read to the 70 scholars who attend the camp each day. Guests have included a bishop, judge, film director, foundation executive, and many others who serve as role models.

One of our Read-Aloud guests was Dr. Robin Robbins, the new Principal of D. H. Stanton Elementary School here in Peoplestown. Here is how she described her experience of Harambee:

Spending time at Harambee made me realize that I am the luckiest principal in Atlanta Public Schools! I was able to see many of my students from D.H Stanton Elementary School engage in a very fun and interactive summer experience through HARAMBEE! I hope to one day learn the many chants, rituals, and norms that I experienced that morning! Such a magical experience for my children!

Harambee is just the beginning of a fun and enriching day where reading is the main event. Ann Fowler, Director of Education Services and leader of the program describes the mission of our camp this way:

One of the goals at Camp Summer Hope, a CDF Freedom Schools® program, is to help readers and non-readers fall in love with books. To help achieve that goal, the Children's Defense Fund has provided us with a rich library of books representing the best work of writers and illustrators in the country. My favorite time of the day is Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) time, when all scholars and adults on site silently read a book of their choice for 15 minutes.

We know that reading at grade level is an important measure of future academic success. However, at D. H. Stanton Elementary School, 31% of students do not meet this important target and even more see the advances they make during the school year erode during the summer months (the "summer slide"). Our goal is to "turn the curve" on this challenge by helping our scholars to improve their reading abilities and to develop a love of reading that can last a lifetime.

One of our primary goals at Emmaus House is to increase educational achievement for children and youth through our summer and year-round programs. Through our participation in the CDF Freedom School's® program, we believe that our children and youth will make huge strides as they work toward academic success. 

Dr. Robin Robbins, new principal at D.H. Stanton Elementary School, reads to the scholars at Harambee.

Turner Field Community Benefits Coalition Update

Emmaus House, in partnership with many others, has worked hard over the past few months to help create the Turner Field Community Benefits Coalition. The TFCBC is comprised of 42 neighborhood associations and advocacy groups, representing thousands of residents in the communities surrounding Turner Field. The Coalition advocates for community participation in decisions related to the redevelopment of the Turner Field Stadium.

On Tuesday, July 7th, following a press conference held on the steps of Atlanta City Hall, the TFCBC hand-delivered a letter to Mayor Kasim Reed. "Community, Not Commodity," was the rallying cry.

The letter asked the Mayor to make a public commitment to completing the Turner Field Livable Centers Initiative Planning Study (LCI) process before negotiating any development deal. It requests that Mayor Reed use the recommendations from this study, which is funded by the Atlanta Regional Commission and will be completed by July 2016, to initiate a competitive bidding process for the massive redevelopment project.

The delegation of 63 neighborhood residents and stakeholders also delivered similar letters to Atlanta City Council Members, Fulton County commissioners, and the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority Board. Several media outlets were present to capture and memorialize this monumental event.

In the words of one community resident, "Our communities have suffered long enough as a result of top-down development. We don't want a quick fix solution. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore the surrounding neighborhoods and reconnect downtown to the entire south side of Atlanta."

Peoplestown residents leave the Emmaus House bus at City Hall