Heads Up! program focuses on helping young refugees and teaching values

Looking for a way to get involved in service? Scared that you lost all opportunity after the SAC fair at the beginning of the year? Are you interested in how you can help show other countries that in the midst of our national struggle, we are still a country geared towards helping those in need from all over the world? There is an amazing program that is in need of volunteers. It is called Heads Up! : An Enrichment Program for Refugee Youth.

The mission statement of this fairly new program is, "To enrich the lives of resettled refugee youth in Baltimore city by encouraging community involvement, improving English literacy, teaching valuable life skills and establishing friendships with American youth."

Heads Up! was began in February 2001, when volunteers from Johns Hopkins collaborated with the American Red Cross of Central Maryland and the International Rescue Committee Baltimore to organize this after-school tutoring program. The program is geared to help the refugee youth become better acquainted with society in America, and to help them adjust better to school and their new homes. The children usually range in age from six to 19, and are invited to join Heads Up! by the International Rescue Committee Baltimore. They come to the United States from such countries as Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and many others. Most of them speak little, if any, English when they get here, and they are put directly into our school system. They come with few possessions, and are fleeing from violence and possible death. In order to help them succeed in their new home environment, they need volunteers like you to reach out to them and help them and learn much about their lives and cultures from their own experiences.

This after-school tutoring program has two focuses for the volunteers: a one-on-one tutoring program and group activity/lesson time. The one-on-one tutoring program is a little bit more involved, consisting of filling out an application and going through an interview and orientation. As a tutor, you assist with homework, reading, and/or the literacy lesson of the day. The second program is the group activity and lesson time. It has various themes, such as the culture, colors or food of America. Along with the youth, you can participate in singing, making special crafts, decorating cookies and many other fun activities. There are also once-a-month projects that you, along with other college, high school and middle school students, can participate in with the refugee youth to serve the surrounding community. Refugee and Service-Learning Coordinator Josephine Valencia plans to enact ideas such as painting an anti-graffiti mural, holding a neighborhood cleanup and collecting school supplies to send to children in Malawi in Southern Africa.

The program runs after school on Wednesdays from 3 to 5 p.m. for elementary age students and on Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. for high school and middle school students. The service projects that happen monthly will take place on Saturdays. The group meets at Patterson Park Enoch Pratt Library in southeast Baltimore. If you don't have enough time to commit to tutoring every week, you can always participate in the monthly events.

Not even a year old, the program has already doubled in size. Because of the number of interested youth in need of tutors and friends here, Valencia has plans on organizing another orientation session for the one on one tutoring if there is enough interest. "It's really an amazing experience," she says. "One of our main focuses is not only to help the refugee youth, but also to encourage them to serve their community. It's not only a program for them, but one in which they participate and help also." Heads Up! is an amazing opportunity to get involved.

For more information, or to reserve a place in one of the activities, contact Josephine Valencia, Refugee and Service-Learning Coordinator, at Jvalencia@arc-cmc.org.