FEATURE STORY

When Our Students Lead Us

Houghton College is partnering to make an impact in the City of Buffalo.

by Charles Massey, Professor of Education and Coordinator of the Office for Urban Connections

To say that folk in Houghton have not viewed the City of Buffalo as a popular destination over the 124 years since the founding of the college would probably not surprise most of the readers of The Milieu.  After all, the very inception of the college in Houghton was in part due to the rural location that was perceived by its founders to be “free from the evils of the larger towns and cities.”1  Even the Buffalo Bible Institute fled the city for the suburbs prior to its merger with Houghton College in 1969.2  But this is changing and not for the reasons you might expect.

It’s not the lure of the wings and jazz at the Anchor Bar (home of the original Buffalo wings) or the speed and excitement of Sabres hockey or the entertainment offered in the finest theater district between New York City and Toronto or the shopping along the Elmwood Strip or the world-class Albright-Knox Art Gallery and architectural treasures designed by Louis Sullivan, H. H. Richardson and Frank Lloyd Wright.  So, what could it be that inspires fifty or more Houghton students to get up early on Saturday mornings and take an hour and a half bus ride to Buffalo, spend a couple of hours in the city, then take the long bus ride back to Houghton?  I can tell you it wasn’t something the college conspired to do.

Journey’s End            

It all began in the fall of 2004 when eight students chose to come to Buffalo each Saturday during the semester to tutor Somali Bantu immigrant children who had recently arrived in Buffalo from refugee camps in Kenya.  Dr. Andy Gallman, the professor teaching the linguistics course in which the Houghton students were enrolled, worked with Journey’s End Refugee Services to organize the placements and arranged for the college to provide transportation.  When the course ended, seven of the eight students decided to continue the tutoring during the spring semester and invited a few friends to join them.  More than twenty-five student tutors made the weekly trip during the spring 2005 semester.

The success of the tutoring effort led representatives of the college and Journey’s End to meet in March 2005 to explore the possibility of organizing a summer program for 4 to 12 year old refugee children that would focus on language and math skills and help prepare them for school life.  Through a collaborative effort with Western New York AmeriCorps and the King Urban Life Center, the New Horizons program was born.  This five-week summer program, housed in the basement of Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, involved fifty refugees (42 children and 8 mothers), nine staff (Houghton College students or recent graduates serving through AmeriCorps) and numerous volunteers from area churches.

This summer, as a part of her yearlong Western New York AmeriCorps assignment, Liz Garofano (Class of 2005) directed the Third Annual New Horizons program for refugee children, a program where she had served on staff in its inaugural summer.  She and her staff of ten (including 8 Houghton students or recent graduates) expanded the program and collaborated with the Buffalo Public Schools Jump Start program to serve nearly 150 refugees.  The program was housed in Our Lady of Loretto School and two public schools.

Fall 2007 finds Houghton students in the seventh semester of tutoring refugees in their homes.  There have been a few changes – we have moved from vans to a bus to transport the students and there are more than forty student tutors participating.  Jessica McDonnell (Class of 2007) is coordinating the Saturday tutoring program as a part of her current Western New York AmeriCorps assignment.  She also served on staff for the summer program.

Hope Refugee Services

But, this isn’t all that is happening in the effort to respond to the needs of refugees living in Buffalo.  Realizing that primary funding for the resettlement of refugees in the United States is limited to their first six months here and that the road to self-sufficiency is not likely to be traversed in so short a time, Bonnie MacBeth (Class of 1977) and Anna Ireland (Class of 2000) have taken the leadership in establishing Hope Refugee Services and are working closely with Houghton’s Office for Urban Connections. 

Bonnie is serving as a Western New York Americorps* VISTA member for this year with the assignment to facilitate Hope’s organizational development.  Anna is a doctoral student in cultural anthropology at the University at Buffalo, teaches a sociology course at Houghton, supervises Houghton interns in Buffalo and assists in the Houghton Office for Urban Connections.  As co-directors of the organization, Bonnie and Anna are designing Hope to complement and supplement the work of the four resettlement agencies that serve Buffalo.  Its offices and drop-in center are located in a house on Breckenridge Street that was given to Houghton in May 2007 by Providence Community, with the hope that the college would continue to use the facility for ministry and maintain a positive presence in the neighborhood.

In addition to helping numerous individuals and families find help with a wide range of concerns, Hope is concentrating on strategies to address educational and housing needs of refugees.  On October 6, 2007 an after school and Saturday educational enrichment program for middle school refugee students was launched.  Housed at Our Lady of Loretto School, FLY (Focused Learning for Youth) is directed by Katie McClain-Meeder (a Gordon College graduate with experience in an enrichment program for refugees in Lynn, Massachusetts), with assistance from Christine Wolter (a graduate of The College of St. Rose). 

Both Katie and Christine are Western New York AmeriCorps members assigned to work with Hope.  Houghton College, D’Youville College, Buffalo State College and The Wesleyan Church of Hamburg currently supply tutors for the program.  Hope’s office manager/translator is Fatuma Musa, a Somali Bantu who came to the United States from a refugee camp in Kenya in 2004.  Shiloh Harkness (Class of 2009) is a sociology intern who also assists at the drop-in center and with FLY.

RUN

An initiative of Houghton’s Office for Urban Connections, RUN (Renewing Urban Neighborhoods) is primarily the work of Jer Clifton (Class of 2007) who is serving a year with the Western New York AmeriCorps*VISTA program with the assignment to work with community-based organizations to improve the quality of life in the Grant-Ferry area in Buffalo, with particular attention to Breckenridge Street between Grant and Parkdale.  Jer has taken good advantage of his residence in the college’s Breckenridge house to become acquainted with the neighbors on the block and has initiated the development of a block club.  He is also working with a coalition of West Side community housing groups to address a wide range of housing matters and has been appointed as a community liaison to the Buffalo housing court.  Housing for refugees is a shared concern of RUN and Hope.

Jericho Road

Jericho Road Family Practice, established ten years ago by Dr. Myron Glick (Class of 1992) and located four blocks from the college’s Breckenridge house, is well known among the organizations and agencies working with refugees because of its willingness to serve the medical needs of all, including refugees.  Jericho Road Ministries is the non-profit organization that owns the facility on Barton Street that houses the family practice and Journey’s End Refugee Services, as well as RiverRock Church.  A goal of Jericho Road Ministries is to find ways to address the whole range of needs of the poor beyond the medical.

Stephanie Smith (Class of 2007) and Alicia Walmus (Class of 2007) are currently serving Western New York AmeriCorps*VISTA terms with Jericho Road Ministries, Polly (Jennejahn) Tice (Class of 1981) is a social worker/chaplain with Jericho Road Family Practice, and Bob Tice (Class of 1981) is the pastor at RiverRock.  Stephanie and Alicia are working with a wide range of program initiatives and are committed to the strengthening of the infrastructure at Jericho Road Ministries during their year of service. RiverRock describes itself as An Assembly of the Nations in the City and the makeup of the congregation supports the label.  In addition to the Caucasians and African Americans among the approximately 120 adults and children attending, there are individuals from Burma, Burundi, Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Sudan, Togo, Vietnam and the Mohawk and Seneca Nations.

More service in the city

While it has been the intent of this article to chronicle the service of Houghton College students and graduates working with refugees in Buffalo, I want to take time to list other programs in the city where our students and graduates are serving. 

  • Cap Farrow (Class of 1980), with the strong support of his wife Barb (Bowser) (Class of 1979), is Pastor of Grace Community Church, a one-year-old Wesleyan congregation worshiping in the former Bethlehem Presbyterian Church on Bird Avenue on the city’s West Side. 
  • Mark Cerbone (Class of 1979) and his wife Diann Taken-Cerbone provide the direction for Peace of the City Ministries.  Peace of the City is an organization that addresses a wide range of needs of children and youth including spiritual, educational (with a special focus on literacy), economic and social.  Programs are housed at Grace Community Church and Cornerstone Manor (City Mission’s facility for women and children).
  • Heather Hodson (Class of 2003) is in her second year of teaching in the preschool program at Cornerstone Manor, after serving at the King Center Charter School through the Western New York AmeriCorps.  At KCCS Heather coordinated the Saturday reading program that has relied on Houghton College students as tutors since its inception seven years ago.
  • Janelle Briggs (Class of 2004) is a graduate student in library science at the University at Buffalo and the part-time coordinator of the King Center library and the Saturday reading program.  Janelle also served two terms with Western New York AmeriCorps, one as a caseworker at Journey’s End Refugee Services and the other at the King Center Charter School.
  • Rod McCallum (Class of 2005) is the founder of Queen City Farm on Utica Street on Buffalo’s East Side.  QCF is developing an urban farm on twenty empty lots in a neglected area for which the city has been attempting to find constructive use.  QCF is also attempting to restore a once grand Victorian house that has been abandoned and marked for demolition.
  • Lindsey (Kestler) Pasieka (Class of 2006) is a 4th grade teacher at the King Center Charter School on Buffalo’s East Side.  Last year she served a Western New York AmeriCorps term with the United Methodist Church in Belfast and directed the Houghton College Math Camp for 3rd graders from Belfast Central School and the King Center Charter School.  The director at the King Center Charter School is Dr. Claity Price Massey who taught at Houghton College from 1977-2000.

Other college program links to the city            

There are also three departments at Houghton College that have created programs that serve urban populations.

  • Department of Education – Students in language and literacy courses are Pen Pals to 3rd and 4th graders at the King Center Charter School.  The college students visit the King Center each fall and KCCS students visit Houghton each spring.  Houghton has also been the major source for tutors for the Saturday reading program at the King Center.  This is the eighth year of Houghton participation with both the Pen Pals and Saturday reading programs.  In addition, the 4th Annual Houghton College Math Camp, a three-day program for 3rd graders at King Center Charter School and Belfast Central School, was held on campus June 6-8, 2007.  Two student program directors and a staff of thirteen current students who served as counselor/teachers assisted the camp director (and Houghton graduate), Lindsey (Kestler) Pasieka.
  •  Department of Religion and Philosophy – Now in its sixteenth year, the Pastoral and Church Ministries Program (PCMP) is offered in an urban context and leads to an associate of applied science degree in Christian ministries.  Under the direction of Rev. Jeff Carter, PCMP serves primarily adult students seeking to improve their knowledge and skills for service in ministry in the City of Buffalo.
  • Athletic Department – In an effort to reach out to urban youth, the Houghton Athletic Department approached organizations in Buffalo where there was some college connection to provide opportunities for underserved populations to attend Basketball Camps in Houghton.  Over the past four years, partnerships have been established with the King Center and Peace of the City and young people from both organizations have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to live basketball for a week and experience much more.  However, the largest partnership is with Youth Advantage, an organization run by Russ Kingsbury (Class of 1979) and Brian Ellsworth (Class of 1990) that uses sports to build connections with and positively impact the lives of a large number of Buffalo teens.  As many as thirty boys and girls from Youth Advantage have participated in Basketball Camp in a single year.  Russ and Brian brought a group of twenty to participate in the Houghton 3 on 3 tournament last spring, and the Houghton Women’s Basketball Team recently helped out at the Friday night sports ministry they run at Expressway Assembly of God Church in Buffalo.

Where to from here?

In the summer of 2006 an Office for Urban Connections was established to serve as the liaison between Houghton College, with its resources of students, faculty and staff, and the City of Buffalo, with it myriad of organizations and agencies attempting to provide a better quality of life in a city that recently received the dubious distinction of being the second poorest major city (population of more than 250,000) in the United States.3 

It is the mission of Houghton College to equip students to lead and labor as scholar-servants in a changing world.  In recent years the college has given much attention to “service-learning” as an intentional strategy in pursuit of its mission.  The distance from Houghton to Buffalo can be an obstacle, but it doesn’t impede programs like Pen Pals and Math Camp, and the college provides bus transportation for the Saturday reading and tutoring programs.  The college also purchased a house on Lafayette Avenue in Buffalo in 2000 that serves as the residence for six to eight student teachers or interns in other programs, or recent graduates serving with AmeriCorps, while they are in Buffalo.

This year the Houghton College Office for Urban Connections is concentrating its efforts on the Buffalo West Side in support of the Hope Refugee Services and RUN (Renewing Urban Neighborhoods) initiatives.  It is our goal to establish working relationships that will be long term and mutually beneficial for these organizations and the college. 

It is also our desire to build broad partnerships with churches and other educational institutions in the Buffalo metropolitan area as we attempt to address large problems that are beyond the reach of any one organization or institution.  For instance, there is no comprehensive plan in place for addressing the educational needs of refugees in Buffalo (preschool, elementary, secondary and adult).  The development of such a plan will require the collaboration of the higher education community, Buffalo Public Schools, refugee resettlement agencies, the Refugee School Impact Program, organizations offering supplemental education programs, e.g., Focused Learning for Youth (FLY), organizations of refugees, and others.

Since the Buffalo Bible Institute merged with Houghton College in 1969, we have had the distinction of being the only accredited Protestant higher education institution with a campus located on the Niagara Frontier (an area encompassing the counties of Erie and Niagara and the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, with a population of over 1.1 million).  This is both a great responsibility and a marvelous opportunity for Houghton.

A time to serve

An article in Time magazine, August 30, 2007, titled “A Time to Serve,” presents the case for universal national service.  Among other things, it calls for the expansion of national-service programs like AmeriCorps and the creation of an Education Corps.  I found this of special interest in light of the opportunities for service AmeriCorps has provided for Houghton College students in recent years.

As the cost of college has increased, more students who want to spend time in service during summers or after graduation find themselves unable to do so because of financial constraints.  Since most of our students are not financially independent, a paying summer job is a necessity and repayment of loans is a reality facing most graduates.  However, given the opportunity to spend a summer in Buffalo serving on staff with the New Horizons program for refugee children while receiving a living allowance of approximately $2,000 and a $1,000 education award, lots of our students jump at the chance.  And the prospect of earning a living allowance of $11,000 and an education award of $4,725, while deferring payment on education loans, makes a year of service as an assistant teacher in a Buffalo charter school or as a tutor/case worker serving refugees seem doable.

Houghton began a partnership with the West Seneca Youth Bureau AmeriCorps program (now the Western New York AmeriCorps) in 2000.  To date, there have been 112 Houghton students or graduates who have served one or more terms with AmeriCorps or AmeriCorps*VISTA, 73 in Buffalo (23 yearlong terms) and 39 in Allegany County (13 yearlong terms).  Together, they have provided more than 103,000 hours of service, received living allowances totaling more than $669,000 and education awards of more than $310,000.

This is also the fourth year of the Houghton College Urban and Rural Teacher Corps, a program developed in collaboration with AmeriCorps.  Students in the teacher education program at Houghton College have a unique opportunity to serve and learn while student teaching in selected urban and rural school districts that have been designated by the New York State Education Department as “High Need School Districts.”  High levels of poverty among the students and limited resources in these school districts, coupled with the ever increasing challenge to meet academic expectations as measured by statewide tests, have school leaders looking for help wherever it can be found.  For many classroom teachers the assistance of a well-prepared and energetic student teacher for twelve weeks is a godsend.  Together they are able to provide more small-group and individualized instruction, which is often the key in meeting the needs of “at-risk” students.  To encourage Houghton College student teachers to choose placements in schools in “High Need Districts,” a limited number of AmeriCorps service opportunities are available.

In addition to their normal student teaching work, participants in the AmeriCorps program tutor for 3 to 4 hours each week after school or on Saturdays.  The tutoring can be done in the school or elsewhere in the community, e.g., a Boys and Girls Club or community center.  They also spend an extra 20-30 hours planning and carrying out a service project during or shortly after the completion of the twelve-week student teaching experience.

To date, 39 of the 112 students who have served an AmeriCorps term had done so as a part of the Urban and Rural Teacher Corps (16 in Buffalo schools and 23 in Allegany or Cattaraugus County schools).  In addition to the normal student teaching work for these students (which totaled more than 14,000 hours), they also tutored in after school programs (approximately 1,300 hours) and worked with a variety of service projects (approximately 1,000 hours).  Several of the college students tutored children from the classes in which they were student teaching, several tutored in homework help programs that served a variety of grades, and one tutored refugees in their homes. 

Service projects have included developing a tracking system for Reading First materials, helping Somali children create and present booklets with their stories and pictures, organizing library materials, preparing Thanksgiving feasts, coordinating a Samaritan’s Purse project, creating an after school reading program, planning and coordinating a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, and organizing “An Evening of Public Speaking.”

At Houghton our students have sometimes taken the lead in helping us discover new opportunities for service.  That most of our students take seriously the idea of becoming scholar-servants is apparent.  It may be that a narrow focus on scholarship during the college years is not the best way to equip our students to lead and labor as scholar-servants in a changing world.  An intentional service-learning program may provide a better way.  And if we will allow them, our students may lead us.    

Charles E. Massey Professor of Education and Coordinator of the Office for Urban Connections. Now in his 32nd year at Houghton, Chuck and his wife Claity live in Buffalo, New York.  Claity, who taught at Houghton from 1976 to 2000, is the director of the King Urban Life Center and King Center Charter School.

1Willard Houghton’s Subscription and Contribution Book, 1884-1887, 1-2.

2The Buffalo Bible Institute moved in 1957 from its home in the former Jackson Mansion on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo to the present location of the West Seneca Campus of Houghton College.

3Webster, Bruce H., Jr. and Alemayehu Bishaw, U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey Reports, ACS-08, Income, Earnings, and Poverty Data From the 2006 American Community Survey, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2007.