Stories

From Anxiety to Notoriety – Community Partnership Schools Offer a Path Toward Hope and Academic Success

February 25, 2021

Gabriel’s challenges began in middle school and by the time he entered high school, he was struggling emotionally and academically. Gabriel, primarily raised by his grandfather, moved across the country to live with his parents where he faced unfamiliar surroundings, unknown people and a brand new school. The stressful transition was weighing on Gabriel emotionally, […]

Nonprofit executive empowers Black students to excellence

February 19, 2021

Shining a Light: A series of stories for Black History Month highlighting people making a difference today in Central Florida’s Black community. As a teenager, Jarvis Wheeler worked 30 hours a week at a restaurant while balancing schoolwork and sports at Dr. Phillips High School. “It was empowering for me to stand on my own,” […]

Community Partnership Schools are the way through COVID-19 and into the future

February 1, 2021

When COVID-19 catapulted students into remote learning overnight, our kids lost more than an in-person learning experience. Children in frightening, unstable home environments lost precious hours of safety and certainty, and positive relationships with peers, teachers, principals and bus drivers. Students struggling with anxiety, depression or a host of other mental health issues lost comfort, […]

Eccleston Elementary, A Community Partnership School shifts students’ trajectories

January 22, 2021

Mia’s struggles with behavior and mental health began when she was only in Pre-K. Her immense anger outbursts involved screaming, crying, throwing and breaking items These behaviors persisted for years, reaching an all-time intensity throughout 3rd grade, when she received 4 out of school suspensions for threatening the safety of others. Mia lives with a […]

Mentoring Matters | Stacy’s Letter

January 20, 2021

In March of 2019, a friend of mine posted on Facebook about being a mentor and how the program could use some more people willing to become mentors. At that time, I was basically an empty nester. My daughter was grown and had moved out a few years prior and was living her own life. […]

“I love Mort. Love. Love. Love.”

January 5, 2021

Like most parents in 2020, Belkis Moya suddenly became the “principal” of her home when her children started virtual schooling in response to the coronavirus pandemic. She worried how the challenges of the pandemic would impact her children’s ability to learn and achieve … and how she would be able to support them along the […]

Positively Jax: Foster mom goes above and beyond for kids with trauma

December 21, 2020

Cheryl Miller makes a Positively Jax Difference by opening her heart and her home to children who have experienced trauma and may have severe emotional and behavioral needs. She is a “specialized therapeutic foster parent in Northeast Florida. Miller works with the Children’s Home Society to find kids with special needs who need special love […]

To Whom it May Concern

December 14, 2020

I’ll start by saying thank you to those of you who have helped me along the way. I’ve been helped by many people in many ways. I tell myself a lot it’s the little things that count and it’s true. When in the moment it’s often hard to see the big picture or the main […]

Empowering Amanda

December 13, 2020

Amanda and Christopher enrolled in Children’s Home Society of Florida’s (CHS) Early Head Start program (EHS) when their first child was just three months old. As a first-time mom, Amanda didn’t know a lot about child development and early school readiness. She leaned on her EHS home visitor, Sandra, for education and encouragement to track baby’s […]

Home for the Holidays | Reba Reunified