社区黑料

This is one article in a series produced in partnership with the Aspen Institute鈥檚 , spotlighting educators, mentors and local leaders who see community as the key to student success, especially during the turbulence of the pandemic. See all our profiles at 鈥�Weaving School Success鈥�

Holding her fingers up, Allie Reeser asks the dark-haired girl in a bright, sunflower top how many times 2 goes into 8. Hakima, a fourth-grader from Afghanistan, has a lot of catching up to do, like learning multiplication tables. 

Pinpointing those skill gaps 鈥� and understanding the international backstories behind them 鈥� is Reeser鈥檚 job.

鈥淚f mom can鈥檛 read the homework, mom can鈥檛 help with the homework,鈥� said Reeser, who leads an afterschool program at Willow Branch, an apartment community in Clarkston, Georgia that is often the first stop for refugees settling in metro Atlanta. As if making their way to the U.S. wasn鈥檛 hard enough, the pandemic鈥檚 two years of remote learning put students even further behind. 鈥淲e have second- and third-graders who don鈥檛 know their ABCs.鈥�

Reeser鈥檚 ability to weave these families into the community is often their key to success in school and beyond. And it all starts at home: Reeser, 29, has spent the past five years living among them at Willow Branch. Before the pandemic forced social distancing, her second-floor apartment served as a regular hangout for children late into the evening. To parents, she鈥檚 a guide, friend and neighbor, leading them through the bureaucratic thickets of their adopted country and offering assistance with everything from getting a driver鈥檚 license to communicating with doctors.

The program, which occupies the back of a leasing office, is part of Star-C, an Atlanta nonprofit that offers tutoring and enrichment to students in developments located near schools on the state鈥檚 low-performing list.

鈥淪he has been instrumental in building trust with families that don鈥檛 look like her,鈥� said Margaret Stagmeier, Star-C鈥檚 founder. 

Stagmeier, a real estate investor and landlord, began the nonprofit in 2014 with the philosophy that strong schools, affordable rent and access to health care help stabilize communities. Willow Branch, a 1970s-era colonial style development, is one of four Star-C properties in metro Atlanta.

Since the 1970s, when scores of Vietnamese families fled the country in the aftermath of the war with the U.S., Clarkston has become known as the South鈥檚 , and now refugees per capita than any other American city. Willow Branch鈥檚 tenants have fled war and oppression 鈥� in Burma, Sudan and, most recently, Afghanistan.

Star-C is not a religious organization, but for Reeser, the daughter of a minister whose nearby church supports Clarkston鈥檚 refugees, living with immigrant families and offering their children a welcoming place to learn is simply an extension of the values she grew up with. 

That means helping high school students apply for college financial aid, sharing watermelon with residents outside on humid evenings and accompanying expectant mothers to the obstetrician 鈥� even though she doesn鈥檛 speak their languages.

She bridges that divide with hand signals and relies on older children to interpret the rest. 

鈥淚 speak body language, and that鈥檚 an important one,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 pretty good at picking up what鈥檚 going on.鈥�

Tarri Johnson witnessed this firsthand during pre-pandemic health fairs that featured routine  screenings for adults and immunizations for children. 

鈥淪he would use gestures to help the patients understand even when we couldn鈥檛,鈥� said Johnson, a manager for Medcura Health, a chain of clinics that works with Willow Branch. 鈥淪he just had a rapport with them.鈥�

Reeser began volunteering as a tutor in the complex at 14. She went on to earn a degree in theology and children鈥檚 ministry at Lipscomb University in Nashville and considered a career in teaching. After graduation, she returned home just as the Star-C position became available.

鈥楳ission work鈥�

At Indian Creek Elementary School, which backs up to the iron fence surrounding the apartments, staff depend on the bond Reeser has with the families. She helps parents make sense of jargon-laden school memos and escorts them to events to meet their children鈥檚 teachers. 

鈥淧arents don鈥檛 know how to introduce themselves,鈥� said Adam Nykamp, who has worked at the school for 22 years and oversees its STEAM program. Having Reeser on hand makes an American tradition like back-to-school night less intimidating. 

A new student arrives almost daily at Indian Creek, where 80 percent are English learners, representing 40 languages. That alone is a challenge for any school. When Stagmeier bought Willow Branch, Indian Creek was a failing school, unable to hit annual achievement targets. Now it鈥檚 rated a B in the state鈥檚 accountability system, which gives schools credit for showing growth. 

Reeser had a small hand in that turnaround. She stocks the center鈥檚 shelves with donated games, books and puzzles. She reviews material with students before state tests. But she thinks the children benefit the most from their regular interaction with staff and volunteers.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e getting so much English help right now,鈥� Reeser said on a sunny Monday afternoon in January as she watched the children play outside with 16 college-age volunteers from South Carolina. The visitors from OneLife Institute, a nonprofit gap-year organization for college-age youth interested in ministry, were spending a week in Clarkston to learn about the resettlement process. One group played tug-of-war while other children asked for piggyback rides. 

Barbara Porter, a retired educator, used to tutor children every Tuesday afternoon. She called Reeser鈥檚 life at Willow Branch 鈥渕ission work.鈥�

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 just go in and take over for a couple weeks and leave,鈥� she said, adding that she can鈥檛 bring herself to erase the reminder of the weekly shift. 鈥淚 still have it on my phone. I don鈥檛 want to take it off because I鈥檇 like to get back in.鈥�

The afterschool program is also a training ground for first-year medical students at Emory University. They developed a nutrition curriculum with Reeser and turned the center鈥檚 back study room into a library.

The partnership 鈥済ives us good insight into the community that we鈥檙e going to be working with,鈥� said Cassidy Golden, a medical student interested in pediatrics and underserved communities. 鈥淎llie is such a pillar of consistency in these kids鈥� lives. She鈥檚 there every single day.鈥� 

鈥楽ense of identity鈥�

So are many of the children. Ten-year-old Kader Mohamedzen 鈥� whose mother is from Ethiopia and father from Eritrea 鈥� has been a regular since he was in pre-K. On a Friday afternoon in January, he kept glancing up at a Christmas movie on TV while practicing his opinion writing in a journal. Attendance at the program is light on Fridays because many boys accompany their fathers to prayers at the mosque across the street.

鈥淎llie is a really good person,鈥� Kader said. 鈥淏efore corona, she took us on field trips. She took us to the dentist and a soccer game.鈥�

She also cooked for Kader and his sister Flower when their mother was in the hospital with pneumonia a few years ago, said their older brother, Ogbai Afeworkie, a student at Georgia State University. 

Afeworkie鈥檚 father was among those displaced by the conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia in the 1990s. His father and mother lived in a refugee camp for eight years before arriving in the U.S. in 2005. 

鈥淭hey had to apply and do a lot of interviews and, most importantly, be patient,鈥� said Afeworkie. Now his parents work as housekeepers, often picking up overtime hours because their children are in the afterschool program. Reeser, he said, has helped his family acclimate to the U.S.

鈥淪he explains the bills. She explains what the teachers are asking and what [my mom] is signing,鈥� Afeworkie said. 鈥淢y mom would say that Allie is like a gift from God because she has helped us so much.鈥�

Many families stay in touch with her after they鈥檝e left the program. But as they gain enough financial security to buy houses of their own, they sometimes lose the support they enjoyed at Willow Branch. Their children, Reeser said, might have a harder time making friends.

鈥淢y kids want to go back. It helped me a lot,鈥� said Nshirimana Gorette, a Burundian mother of 11 who lived in the complex until 2020. Seven of her children attended the program. 

The family was among the more than 300,000 refugees who fled political strife and human rights violations in Burundi, beginning in 2015. They spent time in a Tanzanian refugee camp.

Now living in a two-story, single family home on a cul-de-sac in Stone Mountain, about seven miles away, the family is no longer eligible for Reeser鈥檚 program. But that didn鈥檛 stop her from guiding Karohe Dunant, Gorette鈥檚 oldest son, through the college application process.

鈥淪he was a big supporter in that phase in my life,鈥� said Dunant, now at tuition-free Berea College, near Lexington, Kentucky. Arriving in the U.S. as a young refugee, he fought feelings of inadequacy. 鈥淪he instilled in me self-esteem.鈥�

Reeser keeps in contact with older children through social media. She鈥檚 sympathetic to the pressures on adolescents, pulled between family traditions and the relative freedom of Western culture.

鈥淎 lot of these kids don鈥檛 really relate to their parents, and they don鈥檛 really relate to Americans. Their sense of identity can be confusing,鈥� she said from her apartment, where a woven 鈥淲elcome鈥� banner made by a Nepalese mother hangs over the kitchen doorway.

Reeser has felt that turmoil in her own family. Her 19-year-old foster brother is an orphan from Myanmar who arrived in the U.S. about six years ago. Bullied in middle school, he got into fights and was sent to an alternative program, where he began using crack. 

鈥淪he knows very well how difficult it can be for these kids,鈥� said Ike Reeser, Allie鈥檚 father, a minister at Northlake Church of Christ, about eight minutes from Willow Branch. 鈥淗e鈥檚 truly one of the hardest cases.鈥� 

When she was still living at home, Allie and her foster brother enjoyed watching movies and sharing chicken wings. She said she tries to be someone he can feel 鈥渟afe and secure around.鈥� 

As one of Star-C鈥檚 first afterschool directors, Reeser has helped build the model that Stagmeier expects to spread to more sites next year. In January, Star-C tapped Reeser to oversee all three of the nonprofit鈥檚 afterschool programs. 

That means she鈥檒l be spending a little less time at Willow Branch. 

But the apartment complex will remain Reeser鈥檚 home. She鈥檒l still shop at the same independent grocery store where residents buy halal meat and Burmese snacks.

鈥淚t shows that we鈥檙e equals,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not trying to do some great thing, just be a good neighbor.鈥�

Disclosure: The Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to both the Weave Project and 社区黑料.

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