Covenant News

Fresno Church Does Something About At-Risk Kids

FRESNO, CA (August 5, 2000) - Numerous school children from at-risk families in the Fresno area hadn't been making the grade, so one Evangelical Covenant church did something about it.

Fresno's First Covenant Church has given many kids a chance to upgrade their learning curve through the Fresno Covenant Foundation (FCF), which is geared toward helping struggling students raise their academic level to that of their peers. FCF executive director Luis Santana notes 70 children grades first through fourth are in the program, tutored by 65 volunteers (30 percent having affiliations with First Covenant Church). FCF recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. This program has helped many students in an area where more than three-quarters of the children are below the appropriate grade level for their age.

"What makes our program unique to typical tutoring is that we have a commitment to the kids, they're not drop-ins," said Santana. "If you help the kids early (academically), you may avoid two major problems - dropping out and joining gangs. And you'll accomplish one other goal, which is to get them to college. When they succeed, they'll recognize their potential and recognize what it takes to get to college."

FCF incorporates one-on-one tutoring. "We do one-on-one work until they reach their grade level, and then we work with them in small groups (a 1:4 ratio of teachers to students)," Santana explained. "We used to see that we could help kids catch in three months, but they weren't holding on and we'd get them back," Santana said. "In small groups, we emphasize what they need most in learning stations. By then, we don't have to guess what they need most because we have the partnership and assessments with the schools."

Hispanics make up about half of the group, with Southeast Asians representing another 25 percent. Because many of the parents do not speak English as their first language, they are limited in their ability to help children with homework. Nevertheless, education is of primary importance to families, so Santana begins working with kids by visiting the homes of prospective students to meet the parents and provide some accountability in the process. ESL classes (English as a second language) are also being coordinated to help both students and parents. A nutrition class for the nearby Hmong community also is being set up.

Santana is originally from central Brazil, was raised in an Evangelical Christian church and went to university to earn a social work degree. He worked in social work for his denomination on a volunteer basis while directing a small hospital in Goiania, his hometown. He previously worked for a local bar association in the state where his town was located.

Santana came to the United States in 1991 with help from First Covenant Church, which had made connections with his church denomination in Brazil. He earned a master's degree in social work from California State University-Sacramento in 1994. Before graduating, Santana worked for the California Mental Health Department as an intern and served street kids in the area as part of a study of runaways. That work helped fuel Santana's passion for FCF.

"I found there weren't many resources available and made thirteen recommendations to the department," Santana recalled. "The state decided to act on four of the recommendations, but they weren't addressing the main causes," said Santana of his internship study. "What was visible for me was that runaways don't do well at school - they haven't succeeded (academically) and so are more open to running away."

Following graduation, Santana considered returning to Brazil, but decided to do short-term mission work in Colombia with the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) after communicating with First Covenant Church pastor Steve Swanson. In Colombia, Santana worked with the ECC as a minister to street kids in Medellin, a city of 10 million, and two other cities. He helped draft a government grant for a youth center and enabled the center to start a five-year project in Bogota through the Norwegian Mission. He also was able to procure monies for the city of Monteria to provide food for local children while integrating the Bible as a tool for aiding community development.

"I always believed that we needed to bring the church to the community," Santana said. "I saw that in Colombia. I was an outsider there, but I was able to empower them in a project. I knew I was leaving, so I needed to help them set up, help them organize and give vision to them. Now I'm gone, but the projects have been going for three years."

Santana has altered programs in Fresno to work with existing legislation, but his life lessons in South America have proven valuable. "We have many who have needs here," he said. "Most of the kids we work with come from families who don't speak English as a first language or who don't speak it at all. As a result, those kids are two years behind the others and they drag behind through high school," he continued. "Our goal is to have 70 percent of the kids in our program reach their (appropriate) grade level. So far, we've had 50 percent reach that level. It's not perfect, but we're excited. It's been great progress."

Those interested in obtaining more information about FCF and its ministries may contact Santana by telephone at 559-226-4672 or by e-mail at: FCFOUNDATN@cs.com.

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