Hope at the Brick House

After school program: a daily program during the school year in which students receive educational assistance via tutors, supervised recreational time, healthy snacks, and a supper meal. the program reaches children ages 5-12 who are at risk due to neglect, parental incarceration, abuse, illness, literacy deficiencies, substance abuse, substandard housing, slow/delayed academic progress in school, and criminal activity. the program serves 30-35 students, k-6th grade who attend nearby schools. This program helps keep children off the streets in a safe environment in which they have healthy learning & recreational activities. Most of the children are unsupervised when not in school & are easily drawn into unhealthy "street activities" by older peers. Volunteers help minimize expense. A key element of our ability to meet children's educational needs is our formal working relationship with st. ambrose university departments of speech & language, path, psychology, education, social work and nurse's christian fellowship. Our working relationship enables graduates and undergraduates to fulfill sau requirements for internships while providing valuable assistance to hbh staff at no cost. Children are assessed by speech & language graduates and then provided with individualized material and instruction to improve their skills.

Neighborhood connections:hbh helps adults resolve a variety of risk-producing needs (housing, food, employment, etc)and our fence playground area and indoor facilities are utilized frequently on a drop in" basis by neighborhood children and families. A popular feature is a weekly friday evening complete meal provided for neighborhood children, families and single adults. Purpose of this meal, which is prepared and served by volunteers is to help people to coneect and build relationships that help strengthen our community. We receive support from our neighborhood police officers who visit regularly to make safety presentations and develop friendly relationships with the children and families we serve. Hbh also hosts a monthly neighborhood meeting where police officers participate by giving reports and listening to complaints and answering questions.

Summer program: a daily 6 hour summer program for 8 weeks during the summer in which children participate in a variety of educational enhancing activities that include academic instruction, guest speakers, educational field trips, life skills training, crafts and supervised recreation that includes outdoor games, swimming and water parks. Field trips include nature centers, businesses, museums, etc. Many of these activities would not otherwise be available to our students who mainly come from a low socio-economic area of central davenport. We serve 40-60 students during the summer. These students face the same types of neglect as listed above in the after school program. Since many of the students would be left unsupervised in the summer, this program provides a safe environment offering activities they would normally be unable to participate in.