London participated in summer programming at the La Mesita After School Program and started the new school year off strong. She has gone from getting consistent D’s and F’s, to steady B’s in all subjects and now tests at grade-level, something that seemed impossible to her parents only a few months ago.”
London’s parents had fallen on hard times and couldn’t keep up with the rent and other bills. When they were evicted from their apartment they slept on the floor of a family member’s house and for a while it seemed as though they would end up on the street. At 10 years old, London was smart enough to see what was happening, and it scared her.
But, when her family secured placement at A New Leaf’s La Mesita Family Homeless Shelter everything changed. Settling in to their private, apartment-style shelter space, London felt safe, stable – even happy. Over the past year London had been falling behind in her grades from missing so much school and struggling with the stress of being homeless. Her mom enrolled London in the free, onsite La Mesita After School and Summer Program (LMASP), hoping that a little extra help could get London back on track.
The LMASP program staff met with London’s mom and assessed her grades and other challenges to determine what she needed to get back to grade level in her core subjects. After only two weeks of tutoring, London got her first perfect score on her math homework and her first B+ on a test. She ended the school year by improving her grades by two levels. London’s teacher was so shocked at the sudden improvement that she called London’s mom to ask what had changed and how she could help.
London participated in summer programming at LMASP and started the new school year off strong. She has gone from getting consistent D’s and F’s, to steady B’s in all subjects and now tests at grade-level, something that seemed impossible to her parents only a few months ago. The extra attention and patience of the staff at LMASP gave London the support she needed to catch up and cope with the trauma she had been experiencing. She has even begun tutoring younger students in LMASP, demonstrating her confidence and helping to develop leadership skills.
Her parents are now moving to stable housing, looking for an apartment nearby to keep London in the same school where she has begun to build positive relationships with her teachers and peers. London can now carry the healthy study habits she has learned and a new sense of pride in herself when she exits the La Mesita After School and Summer Program. A New Leaf is proud of London, and all the kids we have the honor of serving. We cannot wait to see where she will go from here.
