LAWRENCE: Community celebrates ECV’s success

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Ask the residents of the Eggerts Crossing Village to explain the initials “EVC,” and they’ll respond that it stands for Eggerts Crossing Village, which is an affordable housing development in the neighborhood.
   But ECV also stands for “Every Child Valued,” which is an after-school and summer enrichment program that seeks to close the minority achievement gap in the Lawrence Township public school district. It is open to all children who live in or near the affordable housing development.
   Last week, Every Child Valued celebrated its 10th anniversary at a special reception that also honored more than two dozen people who were instrumental in backing the affordable housing project and the after-school homework study program.
   The history of the two groups — the affordable housing development and the educational program — was outlined by Thomas Wilfrid, who chairs the Every Child Valued program’s board of trustees — at the May 26 reception at the Educational Testing Service. About 100 people turned out for the event.
   The after-school program is an outgrowth of the effort of a group of township residents in the 1960s and 1970s to come to grips with the diversity of the people who lived within Lawrence Township’s borders, Mr. Wilfrid said.
   Mr. Wilfrid credited Fred Vereen Jr., a community activist who grew up in the Eggerts Crossing neighborhood on the border of Lawrence and Ewing townships, with galvanizing the community to come together to develop Eggerts Crossing Village at 175 Johnson Ave. The 100-unit affordable housing complex opened its doors 37 years ago, he said.
   When the affordable housing development was celebrating its 25th anniversary in 1999, Mr. Vereen asked some of its backers for help in finding a way to assist the children who lived at Eggerts Crossing Village. The children graduated from high school and attended college for a year or so, and then dropped out.
   At about the same time, the Lawrence Township Board of Education hired a new superintendent of schools, who appeared to be sympathetic. Mr. Vereen seized the opportunity to work with the Lawrence Township public school district to develop the Every Child Valued program. It helps students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
   ”The program expands on the education the children get in school. As far as we can tell, the children are thriving and the parents are more involved (in their children’s school work) than they were a few years ago,” Mr. Wilfrid said.
   Judith Bronston, who is the principal of the Lawrenceville Elementary School, concurred with Mr. Wilfrid’s observation. The children who live in the Eggerts Crossing Village development attend the kindergarten through third grade school on Craven Lane.
   LES faculty and staff were concerned about the children, and they volunteered to help the children with their homework after school, Ms. Bronston said. The program may have changed over the years, but “the commitment is there” to ensure that the children succeed, she said.
   While the partnership with the school district is fundamental to the success of Every Child Valued, Mr. Wilfrid said, over the past several years the Educational Testing Service has become involved with the program.
   Ida Lawrence, who is the senior vice president of research and development at ETS, told the audience that ETS is carrying out research to document the results of the Every Child Valued program’s efforts to reduce the achievement gap.
   But ETS does more than just conduct research on the Every Child Valued program, Ms. Lawrence said. ETS sponsored a field trip to its Rosedale Road headquarters so the children could learn about the trees on its campus, she said.
   ”It’s not just an after-school program. It’s an enterprise to help the students get the best they can from the public schools,” she said.
   Arzaga Dillard, the program director of Every Child Valued, recalled that he was recruited to work at the after-school program. Noting that he was teaching in the Trenton public school district when he was approached for the ECV position, he said that accepting the job was “probably one of the best decisions I made in my life.”
   Felicia Gant, who lives down the street from the Eggerts Crossing Village development, told the audience that the Every Child Valued program has helped her son. He is a third-grader at the Ben Franklin Elementary School.
   ”Learning does not exist in a vacuum,” Ms. Gant said. “It does not occur only in the classroom nor does it end when the school bell rings. Enriching a child’s development and education while strengthening their skills does indeed occur after and outside of school. We are grateful our children have such a place other than home.”
   ”Many of our children started off weak in some basic areas, but under the love, care and dedication of this talented staff, they are achieving beyond their skill sets and have immeasurable self-confidence to tackle the next grade level,” she said. The staff offers solutions to help the children succeed, she added.
   Then, Mr. Vereen read off the names of the people who helped get Eggerts Crossing Village — and the Every Child Valued program — off the ground. Some of the honorees worked with the Community Action Council, which was involved with housing issues. Community action programs grew out of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s war on poverty.
   The other honorees were involved with Lawrence Non-Profit Housing, which developed the Eggerts Crossing Village affordable housing development. Those who were involved in the Every Child Valued program also were recognized, and ETS received a special certificate.
   Joan Rowland, the Rev. Dana Fearon and his wife, Janet Fearon, Ruth Gage, Joan Goodman, Carolyn Grubb, William Nester, June Claburn, Michael and Willa Spicer, William Mitchell, and Paul and Helen Berger were honored for their work with the Community Action Council.
   Joseph Feinberg, Herbert Flamer, Margaret G. Huchet, Edith R. Pike, Joseph Martin, Mary Johnson, George Kerr, Daniel and Gloria Longhi, James Armington, John M. Zvosec, Theodore Hendricks, David Friedman and William Chester were honored for their work with Lawrence Non-Profit Housing, which owns and manages the Eggerts Crossing Village affordable housing development.
   Ms. Rowland, the Rev. and Mrs. Fearon, Mr. and Mrs. Spicer and Mr. Mitchell also were honored for their work with Lawrence Non-Profit Housing. Ms. Grubb and Ms. Huchet also received recognition for their contributions to the Every Child Valued program.