• About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • The Wellesley (COVID) 100
      The Wellesley (COVID) 100
    • In memory of Professor Rebecca Summerhays
      In memory of Professor Rebecca Summerhays
    • Trans flag controversy: College power washes staircase after trans flag is painted over Harry Potter spray paint
      Trans flag controversy: College power washes staircase after trans flag is painted over Harry Potter spray paint
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • The News in Conversation: Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration
      The News in Conversation: Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration
    • Editorial Board calls for keeping up trans flag murals
      Editorial Board calls for keeping up trans flag murals
    • No, Elon Musk’s Twitter will not restore free speech
      No, Elon Musk’s Twitter will not restore free speech
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • Chloe Gong could publish her grocery list and I’d pay $20 for it (Books Before Boys review)
      Chloe Gong could publish her grocery list and I’d pay $20 for it (Books Before Boys review)
    • RIP to Wanda, the male betta fish (Books Before Boys review)
      RIP to Wanda, the male betta fish (Books Before Boys review)
    • When talking to ghosts only worsens your existential dread (Books Before Boys review)
      When talking to ghosts only worsens your existential dread (Books Before Boys review)
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
    • Books Before Boys
  • Health and Wellness
    • February Student Athlete of the Month
      February Student Athlete of the Month
    • Athletics Update
      Athletics Update
    • Victoria Garrick Speaks on Mental Health
      Victoria Garrick Speaks on Mental Health
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Wellesley News Leadership Changes Completely Peacefully Without Any Suspicious Disappearances At All
      Wellesley News Leadership Changes Completely Peacefully Without Any Suspicious Disappearances At All
    • Solve Your Connection Problems With Wellesley Insecure
      Solve Your Connection Problems With Wellesley Insecure
    • Mayhem strikes Wellesley as paper towels removed from campus
      Mayhem strikes Wellesley as paper towels removed from campus
  • Miscellanea
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
      Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
    • 50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
      50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Sophie Hurwitz News, News and FeaturesSeptember 22, 2017

Wellesley Civic Engagement cuts funding for afterschool service programs

Career Education Coordinator Shelley Stokes helps run the Career Center Photo by Lien Dao '20

The Mission Hill Afterschool program (MHAP) is the largest and oldest student-run afterschool program in the Boston area, according to their website. It is one of dozens of programs run by the Phillip Brooks House Association (PBHA), a century-old student-run nonprofit affiliated with Harvard University.

Through these programs, Harvard and Wellesley students work in public schools in the under-resourced Mission Hill and Chinatown areas. Each elementary or middle school child in one of these programs is paired with a personal counselor from Harvard or Wellesley who helps them with their homework, and with whom they build a personal relationship that often lasts several years.

Until last spring, these PBHA programs were financially supported by the Civic Engagement program, which is part of Career Education at Wellesley.

“Starting from last spring, we were told that they were not going to be supporting us anymore,” explained Sophie Wang ‘19, a supervisor in MHAP.

“The two main impacts are that we don’t get Wellesley vans that can drive us to the site, and people who are on work study can’t count it towards that,” Wang said.

Now, students who want to continue on as counselors for the Mission Hill or Chinatown Afterschool programs must find their own transportation. That could mean taking the Peter Pan bus and then taking the T, or finding a friend with a car to help out. But the difficulty of transportation—along with the lack of work-study funding—means that enrollment in these programs is dropping.

The Civic Engagement program explained to the students involved in PBHA programs that they would no longer be funded due to liability issues, according to Wang.

Vivian Yu, ‘19, who has worked with Chinatown Afterschool and its sister program Chinatown Big Sibs, said that the reasons Civic Engagement gave were “vague.”

“They for some reason think that PBHA as an organization is not a good, sound organization. They keep saying that we’re not following Massachusetts State law, that we’re a huge liability,” Yu said.

“Wellesley’s Civic Engagement program is placing its resources in programs where we have partnership in the oversight of student training and program supervision, especially in situations where our students serve children and other vulnerable populations,” Erin Konkle, director of Civic Engagement, explained in an email. PBHA programs are not under direct Wellesley College supervision. Wellesley resources will now go towards service programs in St. Stephens, Framingham Public Schools and the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center.

“I’m not saying those programs are bad, it’s just in order for those programs to be created, they also had to take away resources somewhere else,” said Wang. “But people still do go.”

In the Mission Hill program, around 40 of the about 100 college students who participated last semester came from Wellesley, according to Wang. Now, that number has gone down to about 20. That could pose a problem not just for Wellesley students who want to serve, but for the Mission Hill program as a whole.

“I know that they [Harvard] do have trouble getting people on their campus to be interested, which has not been an issue at Wellesley,” said Wang.

Yu can tell the story of the counselor-student bond from both sides: when she was in fourth grade, she was mentored by a Wellesley student who worked with Chinatown Afterschool.

“That was actually the reason why I decided to go to Wellesley!” she said. “Because my favorite counselor—her name was Shirley, I’m friends with her on Facebook—she was just, like, a badass. She was just basically my role model.”

Chinatown Afterschool changed Yu’s life. “When I was in fourth grade, I didn’t even really know what college was. But I was like, ‘I want to go there, because Shirley goes there, and I love her!’”

Although the future of these programs is unclear, the students who have been running them for years are determined to find ways to work around the lack of transportation and work-study money to keep making these connections with the kids they’ve grown to know and love.

“I think the worst part is that kids who really do value these one-on-one relationships that they’ve developed with people no longer can see them,” Wang said. “And they don’t know why. It has nothing to do with them, but they’re being negatively affected, because of this institution’s decision.”

Both Wang and Yu intend to stay involved with their respective after school programs for the foreseeable future.

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleCollege Government Cabinet announces cancellation of Remix amid student backlash
Next articleInaugural Sophomore Reorientation strives to recognize Class of 2020’s academic and extracurricular needs

You may also like

The Wellesley (COVID) 100

In memory of Professor Rebecca Summerhays

Trans flag controversy: College power washes staircase after trans flag is painted over Harry Potter spray paint

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

Sorry. No data so far.

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2022 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top