Learning Continues: Virtual but Community-Connected
Two students from the African Community Center of Lowell (ACCL) 2020 summer school program. Shared with permission of parents to the ACCL.
By Gordon Halm. Photo provided courtesy of author.
13 October 2020
Every year the African Community Center of Lowell (ACCL) hosts a free summer school program for immigrant and refugee children living in the Greater Lowell Area, a small city in Massachusetts, United States. Through our long-standing partnerships with a local church and school, we have been able to provide every child with free food, transportation, access to technology, and a quality summer experience through mentorship and teaching by volunteer teachers coming from many different disciplines. This program has been running for four years, and we were excited about our plans for the summer of 2020.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, we worried that we could not feasibly run a summer program without great risk to our children, their parents, and our volunteers. We observed similar programs closing their doors or heavily modifying their operations to comply with social distancing guidelines, and we had to make a difficult decision. We needed to decide what we could adapt to fit the current situation and what would importantly remain consistent. We adapted to a virtual model, but we kept our principles of creating a safe place for all, focused on unity, preservation of culture, and intergenerational community connections.
To teach and learn in line with these goals, we engaged students in discussion and action on current events, with particular attention paid to the murder of George Floyd. We could see the fear our African immigrant and refugee students had and the fear we were living with in our communities connected to systemic racism. We wanted students to decide on what we would discuss and how we would take action. They decided on creating their dream neighborhoods where they will feel safe.
One of the ideas that the students came up was to ensure that this dream neighborhood included a way to ensure that no one would be hungry and to focus on food for the large number of individuals who are homeless in our city. They had been observing how the current pandemic crisis was increasing these challenges. The students described how this kind of action will teach them and others how to care for one another and for the community. They also discussed how they needed many people to come together to help where they could, finding strength in unity.
Our community leaders came virtually to listen to the students present their visions and were moved by the students’ passion for their community. The city mayor has asked the students to present their work to the city council, and one of the 8th grade students has been asked by the mayor to serve on his youth leadership team. At a time when young people are feeling both isolated and the urgent need to take action on injustice, tailoring virtual learning to explicitly emphasize community connections and action is essential.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this publication belong solely to the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of REACH or the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
About the author:
Originally from Winneba, Ghana, Gordon Halm is the founder and executive director for the African Community Center of Lowell, Massachusetts, where he works with refugees and immigrants from various African countries. Passionate about education, he worked with ACCL to publish their first children’s book, Parsley’s Great Adventure. He also founded the Lowell African Festival in 2000, an annually celebrated event that brings many members of the Lowell community together to showcase African art and culture. He briefly worked at the Lowell Community Charter Public School as the Parent and Community Liaison, and is currently on the board of trustees for Innovation Academy Charter School. He has served in various voluntary efforts in the Greater Lowell Area, including the Lowell Community Health Center, Lowell Historical Partnership, and currently a co-chair for the Greely Scholar Committee at UMass Lowell.
Gordon can be contacted by email (ghalm@commteam.org) or through the ACCL Facebook page.