Homework Centre for Gonzales

By Lara Pickford-Gordon

snrwriter.camsel@catholictt.org

The St Martin de Porres parish, Gonzales, is establishing a Homework Centre offering tuition assistance to primary and secondary students. Spearheaded by parish priest Fr Matthew d’Hereaux, the Centre will seek to counter the stigma placed on the community due to crime.

Fr d’Hereaux said it will be a symbol of community collaboration and networking from within and external to the community in the service of better academic achievement for students of Gonzales.

Responding to a question on the role of the Centre in the community, he said it will be a flagship of community pride in an east Port of Spain community that has made the news for the wrong reasons.

“As parish priest, I could attest that Gonzales is a wonderful community of people negatively impacted by gun violence and, a project such as the Centre would help erase stigmas, negative perceptions of the community and a reminder to the community that gang violence should never define them or allowed to trace a roadmap to nowhere for them.”

He recalled a homework centre and internet café were started 20 years ago during the tenure of then Fr Jason Gordon and continued ten years after with then Fr Clyde Harvey when he became the parish priest. The Centre closed when there was no resident parish priest.

He told The Catholic News via email, “I was recently appointed parish priest and was tasked with the responsibility of reopening the Homework Centre…the intention to reopen the Homework Centre in Gonzales is Catholic culture and identity. The theological language for it, Integral Human Development whereby the Church seeks the development of all persons, every person and all of the person. Social ministry is the signature of the Catholic Church based on the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.”

He added, “Simply put, the Church identifies needs and brings awareness to it, and furthermore galvanises society into lifegiving action in response to those needs, social or otherwise. It is called the ‘See, Judge, Act’ methodology popularised by Pope John XXIII and continued by Pope Benedict XVI.”

Outlining the goals of the Centre, Fr d’Hereaux stated the short-term goal is to provide a space conducive to study, for homework supervision and generally, a culture of academic focus for the children and youth of the community.

“The Centre will provide primarily homework supervision, tutoring in literacy and numeracy, lessons in time management and developing study habits. It would not provide after-school lessons per se,” Fr d’Hereaux said.

It will be a space for volunteerism within the community, “whereby retired teachers or altruistic young adults would be encouraged to give back to the community by assisting in the supervision of homework and or tutoring in various subject areas for both primary and secondary school students who may not have the ideal environment for study at home.”

Residents of Gonzales are encouraged to give their time, talent and treasure to support the community project. “The medium-term goal is for Catholics throughout the Archdiocese to be social stewards of the Centre also giving time, talent and treasure towards this ministry,” Fr d’Hereaux said.

He invited members of the public beyond Gonzales experienced in tutoring literacy and numeracy with children affected by learning loss, to be part of the volunteer staff.

The parish is also seeking to partner with tertiary institutions to develop a system whereby students can work in the Centre as part of coursework load or as an internship. Fr d’Hereaux said, “we hope to model cross community networking at the Centre that can be replicated elsewhere”.

While homework centres operate after-school providing particular services, another medium-term goal is for the Centre to operate all day. “We envision that the Centre would also be open during the day to young adults who are in need of training and retraining for the world of work. We hope to partner with government agencies to provide that training at the Centre between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.

“We also hope that the Centre would house an unemployment registry that would be used to match persons who are unemployed and, those with a particular skills deficit to State-sponsored training programmes.”

He highlighted a major aspect of the Centre will be the ‘adopt-a-student’ approach. Residents or non-residents of Gonzales can adopt a student on an anonymous basis.

“The person adopting the student will provide a fixed sum towards the Centre on a monthly or yearly basis. This sum will be calculated on the fixed operational cost of the Centre and the number of students who have registered to be part of the programmes,” Fr d’Hereaux elaborated.

He appealed for male mentors and life coaches to be part of the programme which aims to make a positive difference in the life of individuals, families, and neighbourhood.

The Homework Centre will be managed by a team comprising individuals with a wide range of experience in marketing, general management and social work. A programme coordinator will have specific responsibility for daily operations, management and scheduling of volunteers. They will report to the management team.

As the Centre has been closed for six years, fundraising for remedial work is underway. Fr d’Hereaux received a donation from managing director of CIBC Caribbean, Trinidad Operating Company, Anthony Seeraj for the Centre last month.

Anyone interested in helping at the Homework Centre can contact Fr Matthew d’Hereaux at 299-1056.