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Mitchell Family
The lives of the Mitchell children, Rene, 11, Akil, 7, and Aliyah, 6, were severely disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. After the storm, their mother moved them from New Orleans to Atlanta, Georgia. They were also separated from their father, Brandon Mitchell, who moved to Memphis, Tennessee. That was traumatic because, although their parents were divorced, their father had remained very much a part of their lives. The children attended separate schools in Georgia and their academic performance declined. Akil even had to repeat kindergarten there.
Their mother moved them back to New Orleans in 2006 where after regular school the children began to attend the CDF Freedom Schools® after-school program. Each of them responded well to the program's five essential components: high quality academic enrichment, parent and family involvement, civic engagement and social action, intergenerational leadership development, and nutrition, health and mental health.
Then, they got another jolt. Their mother had promised her dying sister that she would take care of her three children. This meant that the number of children in their family would double immediately. Their mother is unemployed and receives public assistance, Food Stamps and a Section 8 housing subsidy. So the deathbed request also meant her meager income would have to be stretched even further. The Mitchell children could no longer attend the CDF Freedom Schools program because the family had to move into a bigger house in a different neighborhood and didn't have transportation. The children's grades suffered once again.
When Mr. Mitchell realized that his children's grades were dropping, with the cooperation of their mother, he took primary custody of them and accepted responsibility for caring for them on week days. They returned to their mother on weekends. Mr. Mitchell got the children re-enrolled at a CDF Freedom Schools site, which is located around the corner from the barbershop he co-owns. The academic achievement of all three children improved markedly and Rene and Akil are no longer being tutored in school as they had been before.
"The kids are getting As and Bs, and listening to my kindergarten daughter, Aliyah, easily read five and six letter words almost brings me to tears," said Mr. Mitchell. "She couldn't read at the beginning of the school year. She's also writing in sentences. And the boys excel on book reports."
Akil says, "We don't miss as much school as we used to, and Daddy walks us from the bus from school to the Freedom School every day." He said it smiling, obviously pleased with the attention he receives from his father. Not only are all three children earning high grades, but the CDF after-school program has helped restore much needed permanence and stability in their lives.
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