Chesterbrook Learning Center is an after-school program that is located in and serves the disadvantaged school-age children who live in the low-income Chesterbrook Gardens public housing development. With a paid Director and Bentley University student volunteers, the program provides homework help, academic enrichment, healthy snacks, indoor and outdoor games, arts and crafts activities, and access to computers and the internet. The program also provides a safe, nurturing place where the children, most of whom are from single parent households, can spend their time during the after school hours, when many of their parents are at work. As one student who attends the program states, the Center is “a home away from home” for the children of Chesterbrook.
The Bentley students are more than tutors – they are mentors and role models who help the children to realize that they too can strive to go to college. Significantly, most of the children’s grades have improved as a result of their participation in the Center, and this year the Center assisted two high school seniors with college applications and career plans. Each of these students was accepted to college; one will be attending Mass Bay Community College and the other will be attending Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.
Established in 1999 (incorporated in 2008)
The mission of the Chesterbrook Community Foundation is to open doors for children residing in the Chesterbrook Gardens public housing complex in Waltham, Massachusetts by providing mentoring, academic support and enrichment in a structured after-school program. Specific goals include helping the children to succeed academically, enriching their lives through academic, technological, artistic, and social experiences, and enabling the children to envision broader educational and career possibilities than they might have otherwise.
Name of Organization:Chesterbrook Community Foundation, Inc
Number of Paid Staff:1
Number of Volunteers:40
Total Organizational Expenses:$14,391
% of Organizational Overhead Expenses:19%
The Chesterbrook Learning Center is special because it is located in and is a part of the same community where the children live. Since the children are close to home when they come to the Center, they want to participate, and their parents feel connected to the Center as well. The children are also able to attend the program with their siblings and neighborhood friends, and to develop more friendships among their neighbors. In addition, since the Center is staffed primarily by Bentley University student volunteers, including many who continue to work at the Center over several years, the children have developed strong relationships with their mentors and are motivated to succeed.
The Center is also special because the Bentley students are closely involved in running the program, and they become attached to the Chesterbrook children. The Center is one of the most popular sites where Bentley students volunteer. In other words, the Bentley students and the Chesterbrook children have developed a unique and lasting bond that benefits both groups.
Two high school seniors who attended the Center are moving on to college next year. The Center, and in particular the Center’s Director, played a significant role in helping these two students to formulate their plans, to prepare for the SAT’s, and to complete their college applications. The Foundation’s board is extremely proud of these two students, who are now new role models for the younger children who attend the Center. In addition, both of them have expressed interest in coming back to the Center to work with the younger children next year.
Children
Education
Family Harmony
Poverty
Youth ages 12-15 can get involved in helping to do special projects, such as clean-up of the playground and the area outside the Center, repainting the walls, cataloging books for the new Reading Corner, and reorganizing the games and supplies. Since the Foundation has an ongoing fundraiser involving collecting and selling used books, youth ages 12-15 could have a book collection drive and deliver the books to the Center. (Newer books that can be used in the Center would remain in its library, and others would be sold to Better World Books in the ongoing fundraiser.) Youth ages 12-15 could also collect school and art supplies for the Center; since the Center’s budget is extremely tight, in kind donations are greatly appreciated. (A wish list can be provided.)
Name:Joan Atlas
Title:Development Chair
Address:22 Brookway Road, Waltham, MA 02452
Telephone:(781) 775-1025
Email:jatlas@bentley.edu
Website:www.chesterbrookwaltham.org