Philadelphia | Children's Jubilee Fund

Talking with Kids about Gun Violence

Pop-pop-pop-pop. The unmistakable sound of gunshots. We thought them concerning, but more of a nuisance as they broke the silence in our Olney neighborhood 20 years ago. Back then, we might have heard them a block or more away from Fisher Park, which was notorious for drug deals. And, we only heard them about once a month, on average. Today, the situation in Philadelphia has changed. Dramatically. Philadelphia is the sixth largest city in the country, yet this year it has seen more shootings than much larger cities—including New York and Los Angeles. And 2022 is turning out to be the deadliest year ever for gun violence in the City of Brotherly Love. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the summer of 2022 saw nearly eight people shot every day. That’s a rate of more than twice that of just five years ago. And, more women and children were shot this summer than ever before. But the victims of gun violence aren’t just the ones who get shot. According to the same Inquirer article, During a single weekend this August, in three separate shootings across the city, children watched their parents getting shot. More than that, children can live with the paralyzing fear that they, or their loved ones, will become victims of gun violence. For students who receive scholarships from Children’s Jubilee Fund, the reality of gun violence hits very close to home. Not only do most of our students live in neighborhoods where gun violence is rampant, but many of our students have lost family members to gun violence. Some of our students have lost siblings, friends, and parents to gun violence. And like the children mentioned in the Inquirer article mentioned above, several of our students have witnessed their own parents being shot. It’s traumatic enough for adults to witness shootings. But children lack the social and emotional resources that adults have. For children who witness gun violence or even simply live in fear of gun violence, the effects can be profound and lifelong. So how can parents, teachers, older siblings, and caregivers talk with children about their fears concerning gun violence? Here are a few ideas.

Open up the conversation. Ask children leading questions about their perceptions, ideas, and fears concerning gun violence. Ask them what they’ve seen, what they’ve heard, and how they’re afraid they might be impacted. Don’t shut them down, minimize their fears, or offer easy answers. Engage in meaningful conversation with them and allow them to bring their fears into the light.
Give them permission to be afraid. Violence is something that is legitimately scary. And, the seeming randomness and lack of warning surrounding gun violence can be particularly scary for a child. Talk with them about the reality of violence. But help them see that the very worst things that might happen usually don’t
Help them discover alternate behaviors to deal with their fears. Ask your child what some things are that they can do when they feel anxious or afraid in order to feel less at risk. Some good ideas are to pray, remember a Bible verse, silently sing a song that reminds them about God’s love, or to write down in a journal one truth to counteract each fear or anxious thought that surfaces. You can also help them to learn some deep breathing exercises to slow their heart rate and help them feel less anxious.
Reassure them they’re not alone. As an adult or older sibling, reassure your child that they don’t have to face life and all of their inner fears alone. Identify yourself, and other trustworthy and mature individuals around them as safe people to whom they can come when they feel afraid. Tell them that you can help them talk about the things around them and the things inside them that feel unsafe.
Point them to God. Bigger human beings can help protect smaller human beings. But we can’t protect them from everything. There is someone who can, though—God. Help your child understand that God is always with him or her, and can help protect your child’s body and their thoughts. When your child feels anxious, remembering that God is good and that God loves them and takes care of them can help him/her feel calmer and safer. Julie Lowe is a Christian counselor who specializes working with children. She has some especially good strategies for doing this in this video and in this short book.

Gun violence is a big issue, and it seems to be getting bigger. But there are ways to help our smallest ones take control of their thoughts and find peace and hope in the Lord and in the presence of his people. Click here for a list of community resources available to help children and adults who have experienced gun violence

Impacting Philadelphia Students Through Jubilee’s Tutoring and Mentoring Initiative

My name is Serlin Devlin, and I am the Operations Coordinator at Jubilee, a role where I have the privilege to support the mission of Jubilee and serve Jesus. When the opportunity arose to participate in our new Tutoring and Mentoring Initiative (TAMI, for short), I was thrilled. TAMI is a program through which we
have volunteer tutors work one-on-one or in small groups with K-12 students in our Jubilee Network Schools.

I have always been passionate about working with children. TAMI provided me with that opportunity that I would not have had otherwise. I tutored two students, at separate sessions, over the course of six weeks. From the very first tutoring session, I noticed the impact it had on the students to be able to sit
with an adult one on one. Students were able to read books out loud with me, a task they would not have been able to accomplish in a classroom full of students. Tutoring allowed students to ask questions freely and focus on their assignments, free of distractions. They were able to work on developing specific skills that were vital to their academic learning.

Tutoring also provided students the opportunity to share about their personal lives. During my experience with one student in particular, the simple question of “How was your weekend?” opened the door for her to share about her family and the things that excited her in life. The student just needed someone to be a listening ear and I was grateful to offer her support in a simple way.

Not only did the students feel supported, but their teachers did as well. In the midst of managing a classroom full of students, it can be difficult for teachers to focus on the individual needs of each student. It was evident that the teachers cared greatly for their students and longed to see them thrive. Pulling a child out of the classroom to tutor offered assistance that teachers were very grateful for. Week after week, I watched the students return to their classrooms after tutoring with a sense of accomplishment after learning skills and completing their assignments. Their teachers shared that the students just needed a little extra support, and they could see improvement in the students over time.

TAMI opens the opportunity for you to bless a child with your support. A simple task such as sitting with them and listening to them read has a greater impact than we can see in that moment. It’s a chance to allow God to use you to minister to a child who may need extra help, and one that is rewarding in many ways.

Ways to Pray for Children’s Jubilee Fund – July 2021

Even though school may be out for the summer, our schools, their staffs, and our students have different prayer needs over the coming weeks. Here are a few ways you might pray for them.

1. Several of our schools have summer programs meant to benefit both their students and other children from the community. Here are three in particular to pray for:

Cornerstone Christian Academy’s (West Philadelphia) J-Rock Summer Camp
Blair Christian Academy’s (Mount Airy) Summer Camp (runs June 14 – August 20)
UrbanPromise’s (Camden) Summer School (for student academic credit recovery), and UrbanPromise’s Summer Camp (July 5 – August 5), an outreach to the community.

2. Many of our schools typically depend on last-minute summer enrollments to meet their student population goals for the fall. Because of the pandemic, this is an unusual year, though, and many schools need to enroll additional students because of higher-than-anticipated attrition. Please pray that the Lord would put our schools in contact with exactly the families whose students he wants enrolled for the fall. In particular, please pray for:

Olney Christian School (Olney) to find seven more kindergarten and five more first-grade students for the fall
Cedar Grove Christian Academy (Lawndale) to find more students to fill out their new ninth-grade class (previously, Cedar Grove was a K-8 school).

3. Several of our schools are looking for additional staff members before the start of the new school year. Please pray the Lord would provide them with the right candidates at the right time. You can find a list of job announcements on our website.

4. Many of our students live in communities that have been impacted by gun violence. Pray that the Lord would pour out his grace upon our neighborhoods, and that he would curtail that violence and protect our students and their families.

Tim Geiger (M.Div.) is Executive Director of Children's Jubilee Fund. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Tim has lived in or around the city most of his life. His undergraduate studies done at the Community College of Philadelphia, Tim went on to earn a Master of Divinity Degree from Westminster Theological Seminary. He is ordained as a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. Prior to serving at Children's Jubilee Fund, Tim worked for the Internal Revenue Service, The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, and Harvest USA, where he also served as Executive Director and then President from 2012-2019. Tim lives with his wife and daughter just outside of Philadelphia.

Children's Jubilee Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization established in 1997 to provide tuition grants to Christian schools in the Philadelphia metro area that serve lower-income students. These grants are then awarded by the schools as scholarships to students who meet income and residency guidelines. Each year, Jubilee provides hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants that, in turn, help hundreds of students in Philadelphia, Delaware, Montgomery, and Camden Counties achieve their God-given academic and personal potential. Children's Jubilee Fund is an entirely donor-supported organization.

Meet Jim Sovocool, Head of School for LOGAN Hope

Every school has a story. One particularly rich and remarkable story is part of LOGAN Hope, a K-8 Christian school in the Logan neighborhood of Philadelphia.

The “LOGAN” in “LOGAN Hope” simultaneously represents the community the school serves, as well as its mission: “LOving God And Neighbor.” The school is preparing to start its 19^th year of serving the community when the Fall Term kicks off later this month.

According to Jim Sovocool, Head of School since 2017, LOGAN Hope is the result of a mission God placed on the hearts of Ken and Anita McBain. 20 years ago, the McBains were teaching English to Cambodians who had settled in Logan, when they felt called to expand their ministry to the children and grandchildren of these immigrants. They not only wanted to teach children English, but they wanted to give this rising generation a knowledge of who God is. The McBains wanted to see these children develop not only strong minds, but strong hearts, as well. LOGAN Hope was started in 2002.

Jim, who grew up in the Main Line suburb of Wayne, PA, first came to LOGAN Hope when he was a high school freshman. A member of Wayne’s Church of the Savior, Jim went to work at LOGAN Hope’s summer camp for neighborhood kids—a program that continues to this day (even in the age of COVID!). It was there that the Lord developed a heart for these kids, and a heart for city-based education. After graduating from school himself, Jim interviewed as a teacher at LOGAN Hope, and taught Grades 3 and 4 for six years prior to becoming Head of School.

When I asked Jim what LOGAN Hope offers its students to help them succeed, he said two things. First is the discipleship that happens with each of the students. “School, at its core, is a discipleship process,” Jim told me. Teachers get to know their students personally as well as academically. This enables teachers to become familiar with the spiritual needs of their students and their students’ families. These kinds of supportive, encouraging relationships make a huge difference in the lives of children and their families, who might otherwise be considered “at risk” and overlooked by the larger culture.

Just from working with Jim this winter and spring, I can affirm that Jim’s approach is helpful. LOGAN Hope’s proactive interactions with students and their families throughout the spring COVID-19 stay-at-home order provided grounding, encouragement, and no small amount of practical help to the school’s students and families. Through regular interactions with students and parents, teachers attended to families’ spiritual needs as well as educational, social, and nutritional needs.

The second thing Jim said helps students succeed at LOGAN Hope is the school’s commitment to small class size. Classes typically consist of 10-12 students, fostering the close, personal relationships mentioned above. That kind of structure enables teachers to guide students based on the students’ own needs and strengths. It also fosters a sense of community within the class and the school—a sense of family.

And family is a strong concept at LOGAN Hope. Jim says that LOGAN Hope is rooted in serving the neighborhood, and to seeing the families in the neighborhood flourish. Students, most of whom come from Logan and two-thirds of whom are of Cambodian heritage, participate in service projects to improve the neighborhood where they live. The school also has a close connection with a neighborhood Cambodian church, and hosts the church’s youth group in the school building.

Looking to the future, Jim and the LOGAN Hope Board want to see the school draw parents more and more into the life of the school, making the school an even greater resource for the community.

Children’s Jubilee Fund is pleased to be connected with LOGAN Hope, and to support it financially through scholarship grants to help keep the school’s tuition affordable. Please pray for Jim Sovocool and for all of the staff and families of LOGAN Hope!