CARING COMMUNITIES PROJECT TARGETS AT-RISK KIDS AT MAY GREENE

About 225 students enter May Greene Elementary School each day to learn reading, writing and arithmetic, but a few learn more.

Those few make a stop before entering their classrooms. They linger around the doorway of the Caring Communities Project office on the second floor, waiting for what the counselors inside call ~"the morning hugs."

And they learn what caring means.

CCP was conceived in the fall of 1992. A grant to the Cape Girardeau Public School District through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education brought counselors, social workers and administrators together to serve students and their families.

CCP associates strive to fulfill participants' emotional, physical and financial needs through various state agencies.

Coordinator Jo Boyer said May Greene was selected for several reasons. Because of its small size, the school was perfect for an experimental program.

In addition, several May Greene students are at risk for entering foster care or the juvenile justice system.

The school is in a low-income area with much inadequate housing.

Several homes there are scheduled for demolition, and lack of money prevents displaced families from moving far.

The crime rate is disproportionately high.

And, while they don't always put children at risk, single-parent families abound.

The community has its good points, too, and they help make CCP successful there.

Marie Walker, a social service worker with the Division of Family Services, said a strong sense of family ties keeps the area close-knit.~

"The kids all associate with each other after school," she said. ~"If something is going on with one kid, the other kids know about it."

A lot of generations live together in the area -- grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles.

"Grandmas are very important around here," Walker said.

Family involvement is vital to CCP's success.

When a child is referred to the project, usually by a teacher, social workers contact his or her parents immediately.

Mothers and fathers are part of the treatment team, providing information about home life and other factors.

After CCP workers look at the child's life, they make referrals to various agencies for help. Maybe he needs glasses to stop headaches and promote concentration. Perhaps counseling is the answer.

During the 1993-94 school year, 51 May Greene students received services.

From January through May 1993, the Division of Family Services received 28 calls from the May Greene community. In the same five-month period this year, there were only three.

~"Our being here made the difference," Walker said. ~"We're providing moral support for the kids. By alleviating minor problems here, we keep them from being major problems at home."

The 25-call reduction may have saved taxpayers millions of dollars in the long run.

For every child put into foster care or the juvenile justice system, taxpayers spend thousands each year on court costs, social work and physical care.

CCP's workers said they hope the public gets this dollars-and-cents message soon.

While they wish to expand into all the Cape Girardeau schools, May Greene's program is in danger.

The grant money stops after this school year~, and funding must be found somewhere else.

Coordinator Boyer said she looks to the community to keep CCP afloat, but if no money comes in, the results may be devastating to May Greene's kids.

~"If you start something like this and then stop, it sends a bad message," Boyer said. ~"The kids suffer a loss, and they've already suffered so many other losses. They will decide that we cared about them for awhile, but now we don't."

Boyer encouraged anyone interested in the program to come by May Greene Elementary, 1000 Ranney, and learn about CCP.