I'm excited to share a video message thanking all of you for standing by our students right now and providing updates on how our students are doing during this trying time. The disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 go beyond the physical realm, and also include mental and economic well-being for our students and their families. In spite of this, Enroot students are among the most courageous young people I have ever met and they continue to rise to the occasion even during these extremely challenging times.
I'd also like to share an Op-Ed I wrote recently, in the Cambridge Chronicle on April 16, 2020, calling for a response to the coronavirus that is explicit in disproportionately allocating resources to the Black, Latinx and immigrant families who have been disproportionately impacted.
Please see both below.
Thanks as always for your ongoing dedication to Enroot students!
Ben Clark Executive Director
Op-Ed: Disproportionate Impacts Require a Disproportionate Response. Read it here.
Emergency Immigrant Cash Assistance Fund
As you know, the immediate closure of schools, businesses, and most offices disrupted our students' lives in countless ways. This is a particularly challenging time for immigrant families for many reasons, including language barriers and fear related to deportation and becoming a public charge. This crisis has also increased the incidence of xenophobic and racist attacks, especially toward immigrants.
In recognition of the sudden catastrophic loss of wages among most students and families, Enroot launched the Emergency Immigrant Cash Assistance Fund to provide immediate cash assistance to students and families. 100% of funds raised go to directly support students and their families during the COVID-19 crisis. Over 330 people have donated to the Fund to support students and their families. Learn more about the Fund here.
One student said upon receiving funds:
“Thank you for everything you guys are doing! It's amazing to know that you guys really care about us”.
It has been heartwarming for us to see the many wonderful comments, like the ones below, left as volunteers and individuals made donations. Thank You!
“Mentoring through them has changed me and my mentee for the better.”
“Mentoring for Enroot is the highlight of my week. My student has inspired me more than she realizes. Keep providing a launchpad for youth to break through barriers and reach their full potential!”
“I love Enroot's all-in commitment to the students you work with!”
Thank you so much to everyone for generously contributing to the Fund and supporting our students and their families with us during this difficult time.
Virtual Programming
Enroot has transitioned our mentoring, tutoring, post-secondary preparedness, workforce readiness, college success coaching, and social-emotional support to virtual support with all of our staff working remotely. We developed a remote mentoring and tutoring guide to assist our volunteers and continue to be available to our students virtually for check-ins. We are also keeping well-being activities like meditation and exercise workout routines in mind as we engage with students during this challenging time. We hosted a virtual Post-secondary Preparedness Workshop for high school seniors, a fun Pictionary mentoring session for our Explore and Emerge cohort, and have a virtual Volunteer Mingle session planned. Last week, we provided a virtual CRLS leadership mentoring, Lunch and Learn, a stretch and meditation session, and virtual volunteer trivia night! Enroot’s support becomes critical for English Learner students who in addition to language and socio-economic barriers must now navigate distance learning. We are proud to be able to continue to support students and grateful for the tireless work of our volunteers and staff. Please consider making a donation to support our ongoing operating costs.
We miss our students so much and decided to create a Virtual Greeting from all of us to our students. It is important for us to make sure that students know we are there for them even though we are not seeing them in person everyday. Check out the Virtual Greeting video below.
Post-secondary Preparedness Workshops
We successfully hosted virtual workshops for high school Juniors and Seniors. The Junior workshop focused on getting students to think about life after high school, future college applications, two-year versus four-year college, certificate programs, and resources available to them as they start to think about their future journey. The Cambridge and Somerville Senior Workshop was provided to students who have applied to four-year schools and their mentors. Sessions discussed with students how Covid-19 has changed the college admissions and decision process, the top three things students should be thinking about and doing right now in current circumstances. We also introduced students to our College Success program.
Virtual College Success Coaching
Five college success students came together to form our Facebook Launch Team. In an afternoon of brainstorming, strategizing, and creating, they launched our College Success Facebook group and have become ambassadors of the group for their peers. Included in the launch session was a brief tutorial on how to include the activity on their resumes. We've hosted two Facebook live videos to engage with the College Success cohort, with 50 students participating, which has been a productive tool of engagement with a steady stream of comments and conversation coming in from students. These videos include updates about changing college policies, FAFSA deadlines, and suggestions for staying grounded and balanced during the quarantine. We've also been doing 1:1 video sessions through google hangouts which has been an excellent tool for individual student needs and providing social-emotional support to each student.
Volunteers & Alumni Engagement Updates
We kicked off our very first Volunteer Committee meeting of 2020 with eleven amazing volunteers! During the meeting, we discussed the committee's mission, responsibilities, and brainstormed fun events for the Spring. We were so excited to see a ton of excitement around volunteer engagement and are so lucky to have gathered such a fantastic group.
Last Friday, we launched our first “Virtual Alumni Coffee Hour”, hosted by our Alumni Committee. Graduates from 1993, 2006, 2016 and many other years joined us! It was powerful to hold space for the larger Enroot family to come together. We are connected to over 400 program alumni, many of whom have roots in the Cambridge area. This year marks the second year of Enroot’s Alumni Committee.
In addition to these updates about our current work, we'd also love to share some of the wonderful things that were happening just before schools shut down.
Updates from Somerville Program
Professional Attire Fashion Show
Leadership Seminar students recently had so much fun participating in a Professional Attire Fashion Show to prepare them for the March career night. The fashion show featured two rounds of competition - one for the best business casual outfit and one for the best business formal outfit. In both rounds, student teams presented in their outfit and a panel of staff judges gave a 1 to 10 scale rating and feedback. Students also practiced professional handshakes, greetings, reviewed two faux resumes and practiced making decisions on which imaginary applicant to invite for an interview for an Enroot Summer Intern position. We have had to postpone the career night due to the current public health crisis, however, we look forward to students being able to utilize these skills when we reschedule or potentially organize a virtual career night.
Who IS a Mathematician?
Enroot spent several months planning and developing math learning circles in partnership with Tina Cardone, Sue Cusack and Hilary Kreisberg from Lesley University. In our first session in March, our students got to be creative as they thought about and drew what a mathematician looks like, ideated and collaborated in teams about what characteristics mathematicians have. A quick google search of images of mathematicians affirmed stereotypes and showed the jarring lack of representation in mathematics. Students' perspectives began to shift as they researched and learned about mathematicians of different genders and ethnicities. "Anyone can be a mathematician'' and "I want to be a mathematician'' were just a few of the sentiments echoed in the room through this experience. Thanks to virtual programming capacity, we hosted our second math learning circle virtually with students and Lesley University focusing on playful math thinking two weeks ago! We continue to be so grateful to the Biogen Foundation for providing the funding to make this programming possible as part of the Biogen STAR initiative. #BiogenSTAR #STEM
Victory for Enroot students on the Somerville High School Robotics Team!
We are so proud of our students who participated in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) via Highlander Robotics, the Somerville High School FIRST Robotics Competition Team. A robot named Obi Munch Kenobi-was designed, built, programmed, tested, and driven by Enroot students on the Highlander Robotics team. A Somerville High School (SHS) junior who is a second-year Enroot Leadership Cohort student, served as the robot operator. And another student, a SHS junior who is an Enroot Emerge Cohort student (and Explore Cohort student last year), served as the human player. Hats off to our students for making it to the semi-finals and winning a prestigious award from FRC! Read more about the competition here.
Cambridge Program
Mentoring Profile: Midline and Deborah
Midline, one of our current seniors at CRLS who has been an Enroot Leadership student for 3 years, thought that she was not going to get into any of the colleges/universities of her choice. However, she got into all 4 schools that she applied to! We are so excited for her and her accomplishments!
"The hallmark of mentoring Midline is how diligent she is, taking ten honors courses during her tenure at CRLS in order to prepare herself for university level work. She follows through with all the opportunities that Enroot provides and has been a role model for other immigrant students who have college aspirations. She applied to four colleges and was accepted at all four. Midline plans to major in biology and she will be pursuing a nursing degree." Said Deborah Downes, Midline’s mentor and Enroot Board member.
CCTV Internship
Lights! Camera! Action! Cambridge students enjoyed an evening showcasing the videos they created at CCTV as part of their internship experience. Students received certificates for their video productions and amazed the audience, which included CCTV staff and Enroot staff, with their creativity and hard work! By participating in the internship, students get experience, training, and exposure to everything that makes a television station function. Students experience anything from live cable-casting, media production, computer lab supervision, training and education, and many administrative responsibilities. And just this week, two students, Harry and Biruk, both received the CCTV Youth Award at CCTV's annual event which was held as a Zoom event.
Enroot is a nonprofit dedicated to empowering immigrant youth to achieve academic, career, and personal success through inspiring out-of-school experiences.
