News Updates

Education Center Fall 2020 Update

Published on November 2nd, 2020 in Fair Share Housing Development

Education Director Michael Morris with Chantel Young, Associate Director of Education and Social Services

Peter Peso rewards program is a hit with our kids!

By Michael Morris, Education Center Director

Our biggest take away from this pandemic is that we are all stronger together. It’s more important now than ever to keep pushing forward and advocating for ourselves, our families, and our kids. Working together, we are capable of overcoming the hardship, the heartbreak, and the oppression that many of us face in our daily lives because of the pandemic.

Being an educator in today’s world means facing challenges that I never anticipated when I first started out working with kids. In an afterschool setting, these challenges are even more pronounced as many of our extracurricular activities are also restricted. Here at the Margaret Donnelly O’Connor Education Center we are approaching all of these challenges one day at a time.

Online schooling definitely takes its toll, but in response we’ve increased our online presence with video hangouts, one-on-one tutoring, and correspondence with teachers and parents every day all in an effort to better support our families. We have also expanded our Peter Peso rewards program and are have an ever increasing selection of fun prizes and experiences to help encourage our kids in these trying times.

We’re anxiously awaiting the completion of our new Education and Recreation building and are very excited for all the new programing opportunities this new space will afford us. In addition to gaining two new state-of-the art classrooms, we’ll also have access to a playground, a large covered seating area, and two full-sized basketball courts. We’re looking forward to using this outdoor space to safely continue working with our kids and their families until the Covid-19 pandemic has retreated enough for us to begin indoor work once more.

We will always continue to work for the betterment of our families, even when that means reconfiguring our entire program. Our work, and the children’s work, is exhausting but we’re all very hopeful of the future.

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