Guatemala RPCV Jane Kellum is site manager of George Middle's Schools Uniting Neighborhoods program



When Kellum was in the Peace Corps in 2003, she co-founded a project called Connecting Educational Communities. It draws college students and teachers to Guatemala to learn Spanish and exchange information about best teaching practices.

Guatemala RPCV Jane Kellum is site manager of George Middle's Schools Uniting Neighborhoods program

George school gains from tireless she-ro
Wednesday

July 12, 2006

I could run out of breath describing all that Jane Kellum does to pour her goodness into the lives of those who are less fortunate.

She is one of Portland's unsung community she-roes, a sparky, committed 27-year-old who does her thing without a lot of fanfare and then thinks of more stuff, just to help.

"There's so much that a person can gain from giving," Kellum says. "It's part of being a human, making connections with people."

For two and a half years, Kellum has been the site manager of George Middle's Schools Uniting Neighborhoods program, which is run by Metropolitan Family Services. Last month, Kellum was honored in Baltimore for running the best community school in the country for grades six to eight.

"I very much think of Jane as being our after-school principal," says George Principal Beth Madison.

Nearly 10 years ago, the population at the North Portland school was 39 percent minority. Then, the Latino numbers tripled; black students doubled. Gang activity skyrocketed and achievement plummeted.

So, Kellum wrote grants and solicited social services agencies to provide free mental health counseling, health care and drug and alcohol treatment for families. She leveraged more than $150,000 in cash and in-kind donations from small businesses to Nike-sized corporations.

The SUN program has helped reduce gang activity at the school and has had an impact on attendance, behavior and academic achievement. Today, 87 percent of Kellum's students have increased their benchmark scores in reading; 76 percent in math. And more than 69 percent turn in their homework more consistently.

The George SUN school is known as a place that cares. Even childless Latino families show up to ask for help because they know Kellum welcomes all cultures. For example, she created a Hmong breakdancing club.

She has organized special events that will become annual celebrations. A student choir, which sings in Spanish and English, put on a Mexican-style Christmas program with the St. Johns business district.

A Dinner, Dad and I event allowed fathers and sons to learn about engineering in a music recording studio. And her Math, You and Me tea party invited female engineers to talk to mothers and daughters about how math is used to make Nike products.

"It's much more than 'Let's be here for an hour to make sure kids have something to do,' " Madison says.

And yet, because the three-woman majority on the Multnomah County Board of County Commissioners is halving its SUN schools' funding, the prime example of how to run a community-service program that stabilizes families, gets children excited about staying in school, and recruits partners to pour resources into improving the lives of low-income children is leaving her job.

The instability, Kellum says, "definitely did play a part in that."

Friday, Kellum's last day, George Middle School is celebrating with pizza, ice cream and soft drinks. The party ends at 1 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., Kellum will be on a plane to Guatemala.

"I am notorious," she says, "for booking my days like that."

When Kellum was in the Peace Corps in 2003, she co-founded a project called Connecting Educational Communities. It draws college students and teachers to Guatemala to learn Spanish and exchange information about best teaching practices.

Kellum is taking $3,500 she raised at raffles and a Mississippi Pizza fiesta to set up a computer lab in Guatemala. She'll be there three weeks and then will return to work for a federally funded project that helps low-income students get into college. Kellum will still work with George and other North Portland students.

"I sort of get attached," Kellum says. "I'm very loyal."

Lucky for us.

S. Renee Mitchell: 503-221-8142; rmitch@news.oregonian.com

When this story was posted in July 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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Support the US-Peruvian Trade Pact Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, the Peace Corps President, has been lobbying both Democratic and Republican legislators to support the US-Peruvian trade pact before July 28, when his term ends and a US congressional recess begins. If President Bush fails to get approval before Congress goes on recess, it will be a case study proving that the United States does not reward its friends. Please call your representatives.

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