Neighborhood Homework House

[Important Thought]

Azusa Block Grant Funds Will Be Decided Monday

The Azusa City Council will decide on Monday which nonprofits get part of the $105k. The money is part of the federal community development block grant funds. The total amount available is 4% less than last year.

Lets hope that our Neighborhood Homework House gets the funds it needs to keep growing. Due to lack of current funding, there is way more of a need for free tutoring in our community than our Neighborhood Homework House has the ability to fill. Lets help these kids have a fair chance in life.

www.neighborhoodhomeworkhouse.org/

There is such a huge need for the free tutoring services that this organization provides to Azusa's at risk students. If you know of anyone that would like to contribute to The Neighborhood Homework House, please contact them: www.neighborhoodhomeworkhouse.org/contact.html

Many of the leaders of this organization are actually Mountain Cove residents.

There is even an opportunity to give that wont even cost you a cent. You can sign up for eScrip, www.escrip.com/, and enter the Neighborhood Homework Houses Number: 151237974

When you shop at stores that are members of eScrip, a small percentage goes to the Neighborhood Homework House. It does not cost you anything. The retailers have agreed to give a percentage of what you spend to the organization of your choice. So please consider to take a minute to sign up for this program.

The neighborhood homework house is growing quickly and needs more funds in order to meet the needs of our own community. Donations and ideas are always welcome.

One thing that they vitally need is a building in one of the at risk areas of Azusa. If you have any knowlege of how a non-profit organization can obtain such a building through grants, government programs, or large donations by private individuals or companies, please let them know.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

[Concerned RE religious content]

I'm sure this program has made a big difference for a lot of kids, but something on the web site you put concerns me. I looked around on it, and found that on the 'who we are' section, there was a lot of religious material in it.

Under 'OUR GOALS' it reads:

*Increase the children's opportunities .... to experience Christ's unconditional love for them (through those who serve at the Homework House).

*Encourage the neighborhood families by helping their children and by showing them that Christ loves them here and now, not just someday in Heaven.

*Foster Christian unity between the Catholics and Protestants of Azusa by demonstrating that Jesus is Lord of both and by encouraging the participation of area churches in the Homework House and related activities.

*Provide opportunities for residents and local college students to serve the Lord in their own community in a ministry that will benefit Azusa children and families.

*As Christians portraying Christ to these children, our values remain top priority. We believe that above all else our service to the community should represent: The love of Jesus Christ for each child who enters the Homework House.

I heard of Homework House before, but I had no idea they were including religious content. Personally, I wouldn't want anyone under the guise of a tutoring program instilling religious beliefs in my children (no matter what effect that has on their schoolwork). My child's spirituality is my responsibility as a parent, as it should be for any parent, and no one should be teaching that without my direct involvement. Why wasn't this being made clear upfront?

And the city council wants to support this? Government should never be getting financially involved in anything that teaches or instills religious content. I love the idea of helping children excel, but not at the expense of their religious beliefs (which, let's face it, even in Christianity varies to many degrees). My child's nor any child's spirituality, regardless of their socio-economic level or at-risk status, is a 'trade-off' for homework help.

I hope participant parents are getting full disclosure of this upfront; the overall community obviously hasn't. And under no circumstances should this program receive any block funding unless they agree to leave out the Christianity references. Teaching that (or any other religion) would be my job as a parent; it's not their job as a grant funded program.

[Humanitarian not Christian]

I agree with everything you are saying and appreciate how well you said it. I've been very supportive of Homework House, but had no idea there was a religious foundation built in to it. I feel a little betrayed that this part of the program has been left out of the explanation.

[LK]

I'm not a Christian but I do support the Neighborhood Homework House. If you have seen their tutoring sessions, you would of probably have seen that the Neighborhood Homework House is a Christian organization but it does not require that the children that they tutor be Christian. They do not proslytize. Their focus it to teach the students in the subjects that they need help on. Most of the volunteer tutors come from APU. Through personal experience, they do begin the meetings with a brief prayer, but the children are not required to participate.

Homework House has a lite family atmosphere of friendship and the young students look up to their mentors who truly care for the childrens well being. The fact that this is run by a Christian organization is a non issue to me. They are providing a valuable service which is lacking in Azusa and I will continue to support this fine charitable organization just as I would if it was run by muslims, jews, or secularists.

I would recommend that you go to one of the locations of the Neighborhood Homework House and see for yourself.

[PrayerNtutoring shouldnt mix]

But what you're saying would actually be out of compliance if they operate under one of these block grants.

I believe the law for these faith-based grant funded programs requires such prayer sessions (or any of their religious content) to be conducted as an optional and *seperate* segment. That would require them to schedule a prayer session, then seperately schedule a tutoring time. (Not "begin the tutoring time with an optional prayer" as you described)

Also if their literature showed a scheduled prayer session, and then when their actual *tutoring* started, that would be reasonable and in compliance with such grant guidelines.

I think the concern is that the religious content and prayer session (optional or not) is just being thrown in right in front of all the students, and they're being exposed to it whether they really wish to participate or not... and that the kids shouldn't be making that decision on their own. Because the bigger concern is that these kids' parents may not even be fully aware there's any religious stuff involved in the sessions.

Operating under such grants, the prayer session isn't allowed to be "part of the package" even if it's passive. The government-funded charitable activity can't be laced with faith references in any way. They're specifically required to *completely* seperate any religious content - because the grant is not intended to support any faith-based organization's religious content, just their (non-religious) humanitarian & charitable activity. This would be a case in point.

Honestly, I don't know if Homework House is operating under any government funding at present. But since they're applying to and intend to do so, they have to change their format to comply with the guidelines. Personally, I think that would be a good thing... as the "beginning prayer" you describe isn't a necessary part of improving grades unless a child is specifically there to pray. And if that's a case, then there should be a seperate session for prayer. They're hosting a public tutoring session for students, not their private Thanksgiving dinner.