Fort Worth ISD families and children got help for the start of the new school year at Road to Readiness drive-up carnivals, led by the Best Place for Kids initiative and Read Fort Worth.
Fort Worth families have a new resource to help them with technology questions, as their children head back to online-only school, at least temporarily.
Fort Worth’s Best Place for Kids initiative has launched the School Technology Help Desk initiative, a free service supported by volunteers, designed to provide one-on-one support for questions about school-issued devices and related technology.
Best Place for Kids is piloting the help desk and is recruiting and bringing volunteers on board from businesses affiliated with Best Place, says Cheraya Pena, the director.
“We’ve had great interest so far but will likely need more volunteers in the coming weeks, but that will truly be based on the influx of parents who reach out for tech help,” she says. “We believe, based on feedback from parents, teachers, and other community nonprofits that have worked with families during the initial stay-at-home orders, that the need will be high.”
Interaction will be over the phone, and ShiftSmart, a digital staffing platform whose owners spearheaded an effort to place laid-off restaurant workers in nonprofits during COVID-19, will likely handle monitoring and scheduling, Pena says.
This summer, Best Place for Kids and the Read Fort Worth third-grade literacy initiative’s Road to Readiness Campaign have teamed up on the Summer 2020 Road to Readiness, which has resulted in:
· 4,000 Fort Worth children and parents served at six drive-up Road to Readiness Carnivals. Each site provided families with four contactless drive-up stations to pick up information on free IT support for school-related devices and technology issues, school readiness bags for students entering pre-K through third grade, community health and family resources, and live carnival-style entertainers, snacks, and giveaways.
· Over 1,300 home visits with at-risk Fort Worth families. Teams of neighborhood volunteers led by Read Fort Worth, Fort Worth ISD staff, and social workers are meeting under-resourced families at their homes to provide them with back-to-school toys and materials, health resources, and basic needs supports.
· Fort Worth School Readiness Roadmaps launched for pre-K through third grades, based on TEA guidelines and co-developed with Fort Worth ISD teachers.
· Virtual learning pilots with community partners. Groups of local community partners are working together to pilot-test distance learning strategies — including incentivizing online attendance for chronically absent students, and improving virtual literacy tutoring and out-of-school activities.