History

The need for a program like Star Kids Scholarship Program became evident to Timothy Flanigan, MD, Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Miriam and Rhode Island Hospitals and Brown University as he worked at the Rhode Island State Prison caring for substance abusing women, most of whom had HIV infection. The primary concern of these women who were facing insurmountable odds of their addiction, unemployment, depression, family disintegration and even homelessness, were their children. The need for a program in which children could escape this terrible cycle was self-evident.

One of the core reasons for the lack of true opportunity for these women to lead better lives is the disintegration of family and community. For a child, the number one core community consists of school. Yet the public schools were least able to respond to this need. Not only did the schools lack the cohesiveness and ability to pay individual attention, but they were frequently themselves quite dangerous. They also have been unable to provide a moral compass and guidance, particularly in the communities where this guidance is most needed and where mothers want it most for their children. The private school system, which is largely but not wholly parochial, appears to be a "gem". Schools such as St. Michael's Country Day School, All Saints Academy, St. Philomena School and Portsmouth Abbey School provide cohesiveness, structure and a sense of direction, mission and moral guidance - exactly what's needed to try and break the cycle of "our kids".

Other programs appear to have used this model of taking at risk kids and placing them within these schools to great success. When we investigated these models, and also when we toured some of these schools, it became clear that this is not a "guarantee" and that not all kids will succeed. Our goal was then adapted so that we would develop a program which would give kids an opportunity to break this cycle and not a "guarantee". Initially, we were unsure what grade to begin with, but as we looked further into the challenges it became apparent that we needed to start younger and earlier. It also became clear that there were advantages to providing priority to siblings so that children from the same family could be together.

Rhode Island Kids Count reports that there were 52 incarcerated parents and 109 children of incarcerated parents from Newport County in 2008. The Bristol County Sheriff 's Office reports 258 incarcerated parents and 444 children of incarcerated parents from Fall River in 2008. The Chief Public Defender for Bristol County reports that there were 12,000 criminal cases in Fall River in 2008 and of the 1,000 clients the public defender's office represented, approximately 75% had children. These numbers reflect parents who were incarcerated in 2008 only and do not include those parents with a "history" of incarceration. Many of the currently incarcerated inmates are in prison because of drug related charges. Statistics of substance abusing parents and their children are not reported by the court system in either RI or MA, but will significantly increase the number of children potentially eligible for Star Kids.

Star Kids was initiated in the spring of 2000 to address these at-risk children in the communities of Newport County, RI and Fall River and New Bedford, MA. Suzanne Petronello, M.Ed. was hired as the Executive Director. Six students were enrolled that year. The plan was to add 10 students per year and to cap the program at 100 students.

Recognizing the great need in Bristol County, the Star Kids Board of Directors decided to explore the possibility of expanding the New Bedford Program and in December, 2006, Judy Zwirblis, BA, was hired as the New Bedford Associate Director. New Bedford Star Kids officially became its own chapter of Star Kids on July 1, 2009. The goal is to eventually grow to serve 100 students in New Bedford. This will be in addition to the 100 students in Newport/Fall River.

Since 2000, 90% of the students who started in Star Kids are still enrolled in the program.

Collaboration

Star Kids welcomes collaboration with all social service agencies and schools. Currently Star Kids is collaborating with many organizations including the following:

Newport County:
Head Start, CODAC III, Florence Gray Center, New Visions of Newport County, Child and Family Services of Newport County, DCYF ( Department of Children Youth and Families), Tiverton Psychological Services, Psychological Centers, Newport County Mental Health, Women’s Resource Center, Martin Luther King Center, Newport Partnership for Families and Salve Regina University.

Fall River:
SSTAR (Stanley Street Treatment and Resources), Child and Family Services of New Bedford and Fall River, DSS (Department of Social Services), Catholic Social Services, Steppingstones, Family Services.

New Bedford:
PAACA, CSAC/ High Point, Reflections, New Bedford District Attorney's Office, Child and Family Services of New Bedford, DSS (Department of Social Services), Greater New Bedford Community Health Center, UMASS Dartmouth.

Providing educational opportunities to low-income, high-risk children