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    Davis Hope and the Sheila Kar Health Foundation

    This Weekend the directors of Davis Hope were in Hollywood to participate in Dr. Kar’s annual Valentines fund raising event. Nikhil Borra and Shravan Rao were honored on stage along with several of Dr. Kar’s scholarship program students.
    Dr Kar spoke specifically about the Davis Community Meals Resource center and how her foundation and Davis Hope [...]

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Computer Literacy Program

Over the past few weeks several students involved with the Davis Hope program have been tutoring residents and visitors of the Davis Community Meal resource center one on one. Topics covered range from basic operational skill of programs such as word and setting up email accounts to advanced subjects such as creating a resume, job skills, and career searches using resources such as careerbuilder and monster.com.The Davis Hope organization has also donated computer materials to create the resource centers new computer lab. Items donated include two computers, new monitors, a high volume printer and peripheral items such as keyboards, mice etc. There is a definite need for more donations in areas such as software (microsoft office, typing lesson software, etc) and Hardware. One resident has an interest in film making and we would like to donate a web cam to the centers lab.

    GED Tutoring

    Over the next few months students volunteering with Davis H.O.P.E will be working one on one with homeless who are pursuing their GED. We will be providing tutoring in all areas of preparation for the GED including language arts, sciences, math, and history.

    Health Awareness

    Davis H.O.P.E students will be providing health education and information about health resources to the homeless. Topics include Nutrition, Fitness, Dental Health, Cardiovascular and Diabetes Issues, as well as preventing infection.

-Dr. Bathina is Assistant Professor of Adolescent Literacy at California State University-Fresno. She is the author and editor of Dreams Are for Others: Voices of the Children Left Behind a collection of powerful narratives written by the urban high school students she worked with. Davis H.O.P.E. has all the makings of a successful outreach program. By providing the homeless with the education they need in practical life skills as well as in basic literacy, it can truly create a springboard for lasting success. As a former high school English teacher in urban areas ranging from East Palo Alto to the South Bronx, and now as an assistant professor of Adolescent Literacy, I firmly believe in the power of education to reclaim lives and empower the individual. In my own profession, I have seen the miraculous transformation that occurs when students from impoverished backgrounds and unsettled home lives are taught to think critically for the first time and to use the tools of literacy to find their own voice. Many of the neighborhoods where I taught and where my current students teach, are rife with the all too prevalent problems of poverty, homelessness, drug use, violence and abusive relationships. Many adolescents carry this burden with them, dealing with stress in dysfunctional ways in an attempt to survive. Such constant and overwhelming stress can lead to frustration, aggression, or in some cases a complete lack of engagement in productive activities. Hopelessness results in despair and despair often leads to self-destructive behavior.However, heavy-handed attempts at rescuing those who are less fortunate or efforts to swoop in with ready-made solutions are often met with resistance and resentment.

Such intervention is most effective when it is done with what Brazilian educator Paulo Freire calls the spirit of ”co-learning” when teacher and student become co-learners and co-constructors of a brand new reality. Freire dismisses what he calls the traditional banking concept of education, which envisions students as empty receptacles waiting to be filled with knowledge. He posits instead that those we seek to educate must bring their own knowledge and experience to the table to be valued and honored and then engage in the learning process along with their educators (Freire, 2007). According to Freire, “in problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation” (Freire, 2007, p. 83). It is only when those we seek to help can identify their own reality and name their world that they can begin to solve their problems.  It is our job is to facilitate the process of self-discovery and self-empowerment through providing the necessary tools and environment. Building on Freire’s theory, Allan Luke urges the need for critical literacy as a way to empower individuals.  He encourages the teaching of real world literacy, practical tools for living such as writing a resume, reading a map, balancing a budget, or navigating a bus schedule (Luke, 1994). In such a concept of education, academic skills are not limited to the classroom but are useful in improving everyday life.  This type of literacy building encourages both practical skills and the critical thinking necessary to analyze and decipher what is sound or unsound, true or false, fact or hype. Such a foundation allows those who are disenfranchised to reclaim their voice and their power through critically examining the multiple messages and pressures around them and at the same time gaining the skills needed to successfully navigate the world. References: Freire, Paulo. (2007).  Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum. Luke, A. (1994). The Social Construction of Literacy in the Classroom. Melbourne/New York: Macmillan.