THE SCENT of freshly brewed coffee mingles with the rustle of papers as the Home Visit Team convenes. Outside, the sun casts long shadows, reflecting the shades of hardship they are about to address. But within this room, a different light shines — the unwavering determination to bridge the gaps, one family, one need at a time.
They are the cracks created by life’s hardships, which deepen with time if not repaired. Financial difficulties, loss of work, homelessness, and food insecurity threaten to deepen the cracks, impacting students’ ability to focus and thrive at school. They are our most basic needs for shelter, clothing, food, and safe sleep. Beyond these lies our longing for social connections and belonging, including love, friendship, and acceptance.
Some struggles follow children like silent shadows whispering insecurities. “You’re different,” they hiss. In Fayetteville City Schools (FCS), however, Dr. Claudia Styles and her team fight back against these echoes of exclusion.
They rewrite the narrative with open arms and a determined spirit, replacing whispers with choruses of support and belonging.
Styles said, “At some point in our lives, we have all experienced hard times; however, some need a little assistance to get them back on their feet. These situations can greatly affect our students and their ability to learn.”
FCS focuses on the whispers, the quiet struggles unseen by others. Their motto, “Big enough to make a difference, small enough to care,” isn’t just a phrase; it’s a promise to listen, support, and nurture every child’s potential, one story at a time.
It’s a caring that goes deeper than meeting the most basic needs of students and their families, and Styles meets those needs with Home Visit Teams in each Fayetteville City School. Teachers and support staff make up the teams from each school who meet regularly to address the needs of their students.
“This team communicates with our students and their families to discuss specific concerns and needs. The team makes special visits to the families to periodically check on them and provide the necessary items to make the child successful in school. These include the essential items that provide basic needs according to Maslow’s hierarchy to include shelter, shoes, clothing, and other things,” said Styles.
But they don’t stop there. They strive to meet the deepest needs of students and their families.
“The Home Visit Team is unique in that it also touches additional needs according to Maslow’s hierarchy,” said Styles. “The face-to-face element not only serves as a type of wellness check but also gives us a chance to interact with the family more intimately.”
School isn’t just bricks and desks for many kids caught in the storm of homelessness. It’s a life raft amidst the chaos, a steady hand in the churning waves. Beyond equations and essays, it offers something priceless: a semblance of normal. A regular rhythm of chimes and classes, a predictable map guiding their days. Here, familiar faces greet them not with pitying looks but with a genuine, “Hey, how are you doing today?” These walls hold echoes of laughter, the clatter of lunch trays, the hum of focused learning — a symphony of everyday sounds that drowns out the silent screams of uncertainty bubbling outside these walls.
Helping others isn’t just about them; it’s about all of us. When we invest time and resources in someone struggling, we’re not just giving them a boost but investing in a stronger community. Their improved self-worth and sense of belonging ripples outward, creating positive change that lifts everyone higher. Together, we can build a future where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential, and that’s something worth investing in.
“I take this job very seriously to ensure that we are being good stewards of our federal dollars as we support our families experiencing homelessness or financial burdens that may leave them without a permanent place to lay their head at night,” said Styles.
The team’s attention to the students’ needs pays off.
Styles said, “You know you’ve done something right when you later see the family you have worked with and know they have a secure income and a home for the child to lay their head down at night.”
The students’ futures are brighter, and their hearts are lighter. Their heads are held higher as they walk the halls and, later, the graduation lines. What once seemed impossible becomes more than possible; it becomes an investment that they will one day pass onto another, followed by the whispers of “different.” GN
