Appropriating $46,126.00 Federal Assistance Grant Various Public Safety Programs

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1911 Many of the students that we handle will be seen and counseled by the Coordinator in an informal type of setting, thus allowing the coordinator to develop a friendly relationship with students. In dealing with these students we have found that about 50% of referrals made are just looking for an image that they can relate to talk to, and even to be like one day. The Coordinator also makes home visits if the case calls for such a move. Many times much can be learned about a particular student's behavior, attitudes, and habits by visiting the home. Sometimes the students will not want the Coordinator to visit the home, for fear that the parents will get upset with the idea of their child being "a problem" in the school. (Coordinator losing the students as a friend in the long run.) The school that is presently taking advantage of our SCHOOL SERVICE COORDI- NATOR Program is Perley Elementary School, which is located at 740 North Eddy Street, on the City's East Side (234 - 2722). The school is located in an area that would be classified anywhere from lower class to lower middle class housing. The pilot program's school staff consists of the principal, one counselor one nurse, and 17 teachers. There are 335 students enrolled in the school; 311 are Afro- Americans (black), 21 are white and 3 are Chicano. The day and hours that we are present in the school are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:30 AM through 12:30 PM plus any other additional time that is needed. Currently there are 34 students involved in our program, 12 of these students are females and 22 are males. They range in age from six (6) years and in the first grade to twelve (12) years and in the sixth grade. All of these students are Afro- Americans (black) who are located in lower socio - economic areas surrounding the school. We have also found that in 90% of our cases there is only one parent present in the home. Additional help in running the program is given by the use of two students working on their Master's Degrees in Guidance and Counseling and by a volunteer group of Notre Dame students who have arranged five group activities for the students. The program now exists in the one elementary school, but we would like to see the program spread throughout the City to maybe 8 or 10 more junior high and elementary schools. We feel that the most effective direction the program should take, would be to work in the elementary school and the junior high school that it feeds into. This way it would be possible for the Coordinator to follow the students from first grade through the eighth grade, while providing guidance, leadership, and friendship for the students involved in our program during this period of time.