Detroit public schools announce launch of Health Hubs
(CBS DETROIT) – With kids soon heading back to class, Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is launching 'Health Hubs' that aim to improve attendance and help families in need.
"Despite improvement in average daily attendance, we still struggle with chronic absenteeism, so that means missing more than 18 days a school year. In fact, last year we had 68% of our students being chronically absent, and that was an improvement from the year before where 77% were chronically absent," Dr. Nikolai Vitti, Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District, said.
Vitti believes if a child's most basic needs are taken care of, they're less likely to miss school.
"Sometimes the struggles of day-to-day life, the comforts and knowledge of navigating systems can be difficult," Vitti said.
The goal of the initiative is to fix some of the problems that could stand in the way of a child going to school every day, and instead of having to leave the neighborhood to get help, the services are coming to them.
The new health hubs will offer free medical, dental, and mental health services, as well as vision and hearing tests.
The hubs will eventually have 'parent resource centers' where families in need can get legal help to fight evictions, assistance to pay a gas or electric bill, or even pick up essentials like winter coats or food.
"We are going to have to remove barriers, and we have to create a framework, and this falls right in line with what we're trying to do," Marty Bulger, Principal at East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney, said.
The district plans to open a dozen health hubs over the next three to four years using donations from several philanthropies.
DPSCD received $2.7 million in funding from Ballmer Group, $750,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, $550,000 from The Kresge Foundation, and $500,000 from The Children's Foundation.
The neighborhood Health Hub sites are Cody, Osborn, Mumford, Henry Ford, Central, Western, Denby, Pershing, East English Village at Finney, Southeastern, Northwestern and Martin Luther King Jr. High Schools. The School at Marygrove is an additional demonstration site. The five that are opening this school year are Central/Durfee, East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney, Osborn, Southeastern and Western High Schools, according to DPSCD.
We want to make sure that people understand that our schools become a foundational piece of communities, and this investment today is providing that at the highest level," Angelique Peterson-Mayberry, President of Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education, said.