Mission Beacon

Letter to the Beacon Steering Committee and the Director of DCYF, Maria Su
To the Beacon Steering Committee & the Director of DCYF, Maria Su,
This is not a letter of concern but a letter expressing our deep bewilderment at the decision to remove the Beacon Center from Everett Middle School. As Everett faculty, we are concerned educators, counselors, mentors, advisers, parents, care-providers, administrators, and members of the community, who are alarmed at the unfounded decision made by the Beacon Steering Committee, DCYF and other deciding individuals. Within the recent years, the Beacon Center has been a vital supporting, partner, and an asset to the Everett team. Together, we collaborate to provide a comprehensive educational environment for all of our youth. The Beacon Center is able to provide a quality of care that is dynamic, holistic, and unique from the care and support provided by the school day alone. For this reason, together, we unite in our mission to educate and empower our youth. To lose the Beacon Center from Everett would weaken our efforts to provide the maximum wrap around quality services and care for our students. Many of our youth at Everett greatly benefit from intensive support, guidance, and advocacy. A large percentage of our youth come from low income homes. Consequently, many of our youth are surrounded by high levels of stress, violence within their communities, and family and economic instability. Our youth come from various neighborhoods ranging from Bayview/Hunters Point, Visitation Valley, Fillmore, Mission, etc.; serving youth and families city-wide. In addition, Everett Middle School is a breeding ground for Norñteno and Sureño gang recruitment, with a large newcomer population; these students greatly benefit from Beacon’s extra support services. In recent years, Everett Beacon has supported youth in academic enrichment, community engagement, social justice education and empowerment, family support, and experiential learning. Recently, the Everett Beacon has strengthen their academic homework program hour by separating youth by grade level; providing more college tutors/mentors, and supporting of ELL students with their own “La Tarea Club”, which supports our newcomer students and their families while bridging our La Tarea Club with Everett’s ELAC. The Everett Beacon Center has also played a vital role in bridging community resources by integrating local community programs into Everett Middle School. In the last year, the Beacon collaborated with agencies like Good Samaritan, HOMEY, Westside Community Health Services, etc., providing and incorporating various services into the school. Through the community relationships established, the Beacon can continue to find additional resources that support and address the needs of Everett youth. The Beacon also provides a weekly family food pantry, in collaboration with ExCel, and clothes donation locker, as well as intensive after school violence prevention and case management services. Serving youth and families city wide, Everett’s Beacon Center, is a place many of our youth hold sacred. It is a place many students call home. Everett’s Beacon is a place students can depend on after school, a place they turn to, a place they learn and grow. It is a place where positive trust-worthy relationships are made with caring adults and peers and a place youth can feel safe and supported. By removing the Beacon from Everett Middle School, youth and families would be stripped away of services they depend on after school. Together, we urge you not to compromise the success, wellbeing, stability, and potential of our Everett students, by taking away a service they, as well as Everett staff, hold dear. We recognize the benefits the Beacon brings to Everett and demand that you reconsider your decision to remove the Beacon Center from Everett Middle School this coming June 2010.
Sincerely,Everett Middle School’s faculty, staff, and invested parties