If you’ve watched PHL17 recently you may have been greeted by a chorus of “Good morning, Philadelphia!” delivered by a bunch of children clad in blue and armed with bright and smiling faces. These children are fourth-grade students at Webster Elementary (3400 Frankford Ave.) who participated in filming a public service announcement (PSA) highlighting some of the lessons they learned under the tutelage of CADEKids experts on Wednesday, May 20.
The students make their way to their seats and settle down once Steve Highsmith, anchor at PHL17 and board member at CADEKids, spins around a chair and sits down in it leaning on the back. He loosens the kids up with a few jokes and then gives them some simple instructions before going on to patiently answer their questions. Once the students are satisfied with their questions the cameras begin to roll and the PSA is underway.
CADEKids was founded in 1986 following a series of opinion pieces in the media exploring the deaths of star athletes Pelly Lindbergh and Len Bias due to their struggles with substance abuse. CADEKids organizers were able to gain the support of Philadelphia’s four major professional sports teams and received an endorsement from the Mayor after a number of organizations (ranging from commissions at City Hall to the Archdiocese) came together to perform a needs assessment on the children of Philadelphia. According to their website, the organization’s name stands for “changing attitudes, decisions, and environments for kids.”
CADEKids has eight specialists who work with students inside Philadelphia’s public schools: Seven who specialize in helping students learn how to make good decisions regarding drugs, alcohol, tobacco and violence and one who focuses on preventing problem gambling. Doug Alderfer, Executive Director at CADEKids summed up CADEKids’ goal succinctly:
“The primary goal is to teach kids the skills they need to make decisions that are going to help them be successful.”
How this is accomplished gets a little more complicated. Sometimes it can be teaching kids about the difference between right and wrong. Sometimes it can be guiding children through an ethical quandary, trying to pass on the importance of the subtle details. Ultimately, everything works towards creating a positive association between the instructors and the children, encouraging them to stay in school and off the streets. Ideally, children will be exposed to CADEKids a few times throughout their K-8 education experience, although occasionally due to budget and personnel constraints this isn’t possible.
Khareema Thomas is one of CADEKids’ specialists working with students inside the classrooms. Thomas has an associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education and has worked in the school district for about a decade, although this was her first year with CADEKids. She encourages children to make short-term goals for themselves as well as long-term ones, something that makes it easy to see how progress is possible. She utilizes a number of techniques in the classroom, sometimes role-playing situations with students, sometimes guiding them in a conversations and sometimes having students complete activities based on the lesson of the day. Perhaps most importantly, she tries to build connections with the students she teaches, appearing not only as a role model but a person they can trust.
CADEKids is a non-profit organization and they do not charge the school district to have their specialists come in and work with their children. In a school district strangled by budget constraints this is invaluable. Jennifer Sanabria, guidance counselor at Webster Elementary, emphasized how important free programs like this are to the success of their students:
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity…I wish there were more things like CADE. Sometimes we have to get creative about what to do with the kids.”
