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Even Start's a ray of hope for young partents

A federal program gives high school dropouts the chance to get the education they need to break the cycle of poverty.

By ELISABETH DYER
Published May 12, 2006

TAMPA - The morning is steamy hot already and 19-year-old Eva Rivera is late for class. Again.

She can't find her bus pass from Even Start, a program that aims to break the cycle of poverty through parenting and GED training. So she calls Larry Williams, one of the program's teachers.

He volunteers to pick her up. Eight months pregnant with her third child, she goes to wait at a bus stop across from Blake High School.

Before Williams pulled up to the bus stop, Eva had dressed and fed her boys, Isaiah, 4, and Jamal, 1, and seen them off on buses to day-care centers. Elijah is due May 31, but her doctor tells her he may come early.

She's ready. And she's ready to make good on her education.

"I had to set a goal for myself. I have to make a big example for them," she says of her sons.

Everyday obstacles are a part of life, Williams tells his students at Hillsborough Community College's Ybor campus after returning with Eva.

About 40 students are enrolled in Even Start, a federally funded program, which operates at about 800 sites nationally and started two years ago in Ybor City.

The motto: The parent is the child's first teacher.

About 30 of the students are moms, 10 are dads. They range in age from 18 to their early 30s. So far, five students have graduated with a GED.

Eva had hoped to take the test next month with several other students but decided she needs more time to study math. One day, she hopes to work as a medical assistant.

Only a few students have dropped out, says Natalie Epo, the program coordinator. There's no deadline for graduating, and the staff goes to extremes to keep students enrolled.

Even Start pays for child care, bus passes and GED costs. The staff makes home visits to teach parenting skills.

All of the students have children 8 and younger. Most are single parents. None have high school diplomas, and most lack support systems to cope. In Eva's case, the father of her soon-to-be-born child is in jail, and the father of her oldest was recently released.

"When you face challenges, it is not the time to fold up your tent and quit," Williams instructs the class.

"Quitting is not in our vocabulary. That's the easy way out. You cannot be successful without challenges. It's hard work, but the rewards are tremendous once you reach your goals.''

The three instructors at Even Start help the students prepare for the GED on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Thursdays and Friday, they focus on home life.

Eva takes a seat in the back of the classroom next to Kashica Gray, also 19. It's Thursday, and instructor Stephanie Sykes has written on the chalkboard: Encouraging Yourself & Your Children.

Students share how they re-energize and nurture themselves by praying, kissing their baby and getting pedicures.

The discussion turns to discipline.

One mother talks about the free rein she had as a child because her mother was in a wheelchair.

"You need to be strict," she says.

Another says her mother, who had nine children, was also her friend. Now, she sees herself as her son's friend.

They probe the spectrum of possibilities. Hanging out in a club together? Not okay. Being there for the child to discuss problems? Better than okay.

A woman shares how her 12-year-old son left home one night without permission. By the time he came in at 2 a.m., she was livid.

"I wanted to beat him so bad," she said. But equipped with new parenting skills she learned at Even Start, she talked things through with him.

Eva, who often sees older students as role models, has used similar tactics.

"I used to talk it out with Isaiah after I put my hands on him," said Eva, who was a freshman at Blake when she became pregnant with him at 15. Now she talks to Isaiah without hitting him to get to the root of his behavior.

When Isaiah was an infant, the state removed him and Eva from Eva's mother's home and placed them together in foster care. Before dropping out of school at age 17, Eva bounced around to eight high schools, including Blake, D.W. Waters, Hillsborough, Jefferson and Plant.

In January, she enrolled at Even Start after Williams repeatedly called her to come.

Williams is a huge motivator for her. He helped her set goals and is a father figure to Eva and other women in class who have had bad experiences with men, she said.

He often tells Eva: "Keep coming. Don't give up. Don't find somebody who's going to use you and abuse you, because you have to think of your three kids. Don't settle for dummies.

"Be a good mother."

Eva intends to do just that.

Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at edyer@sptimes.com or 226-3321.

[Last modified May 11, 2006, 13:55:15]