Full Proposal

Dinner Program Proposal

I. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A. Problem to be addressed

While serving as a missionary in the DC metropolitan area, I spent my days knocking doors and visiting with families in a variety of different neighborhoods. I was often invited to have dinner with the family, and was thus privileged to observe many home and family environments intimately even though I was a relative stranger. I can still remember the sense of comfort and security I felt as I sat down to dinner with a family for whom family dinner was a normal, everyday affair. Dinner was generally nutritious but rarely fancy, but more importantly, at the dinner table I was able to see family members interacting with one another in a warm, nurturing environment. My experiences at these dinner tables helped me define what I wanted for my family in the future.

Another common experience, however, was knocking on a door in a poor neighborhood and having the door opened by a little child – a child who typically lived in a single parent household and whose parent was at work or simply absent. I gradually noticed that this tended to be a neighborhood phenomenon – I would visit neighborhoods where a large percentage of the children lived in single parent homes and family dinner was a rare or non-existent event. The difference between the two environments was striking, and I found myself wondering how a child who grows up in a neighborhood rife with poverty and single parenthood, who perhaps never sat down to family dinner in his life, could hope to create the kind of family environment I saw during those many family dinners with families from “the other side of town”? How could a child break the cycle of single parenthood – with all its associated ills - without ever seeing what a stable two-parent home was like?

The plight of such children was highlighted by WJ Wilson in his 1987 book, The Truly Disadvantaged, which discusses the growth of poverty and social problems in urban black ghettoes. Wilson described a trend of increasing unemployment and crime among ghetto men, which contributed to a rise in poverty and female-headed households. This problem was compounded by the selective out-migration of the most educated and skilled inner-city residents, leaving these communities with a dearth of role models and civic leaders. Wilson argued that these trends may have led to social isolation and to a shift in neighborhoods’ social and cultural norms. In such socially dislocated neighborhoods, violent crime, drug use, out-of-wedlock births, and single-parent families have become the norm.

Unfortunately, many of DC’s children live in socially dislocated ghettos with limited access to positive role models. As seen in the figure below, a significant number of census tracts in Washington, DC can be defined as ghetto neighborhoods (neighborhoods where 40 percent or more of the residents live in poverty).


The children who grow up in these ghettoes are disproportionately subject to the social dislocations that typically accompany neighborhood poverty. For example,

• Child abuse - The poorest fifth of District neighborhoods accounted for just under half of all substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect.
• Violent Crime - The poorest District neighborhoods have a violent crime rate six times higher than in the least impoverished areas.
• Teen pregnancy - The poorest fifth of District neighborhoods accounted for 40% of all teen births in 2001.
• Single parenthood - In 1989, most of the families in the District living in poverty areas (57 percent) were maintained by a woman with no husband present, while the rest were either headed by a married couple (35 percent) or a man (9 percent). By comparison, in the year 2000, 68.1 percent of the nation’s children lived in a married-couple family group.
• Absentee fathers - 48.4% of poor African American children between the ages of 10 and 14 never eat meals with both a mother and a father or father figure present. This is almost double the national average of 24.9% for all races and income levels, and over four times higher than the same statistic for nonpoor European Americans.
• Persistent poverty - Children living in mother or father-only family groups or with neither parent were generally between 2 and 4 times as likely to be living in poverty as children living in married-couple family groups.

While neighborhood conditions evidently play a significant role in a child’s well-being and behavioral outcomes, studies also demonstrate that family-level conditions (such as family income and family structure) play a much larger role. This suggests that negative neighborhood effects can be mitigated or even overcome by the presence of two parents in a stable family unit. Growing up with two parents at home has been shown to cut the risk of school dropout and teenage pregnancy in half. It also lowers the risk of juvenile delinquency, psychiatric disorders, physical abuse, and single parenthood. Unfortunately, a large percentage of children who live in ghetto neighborhoods also come from single parent households. These children lack role models of successful two parent families both within and without the home. As a result, they too often move from being children in unstable single-parent homes to heading similar households as adults, thus perpetuating a cycle of poverty, single parenthood, and the many social problems associated with such circumstances.

Various organizations aim to help these disadvantaged children break out of the cycle of poverty. Some of them focus on enabling these children mentally and physically, through tutoring programs and after-school programs. Others provide financial aid and incentives. Some organizations try to provide individual role models, through mentoring or job shadowing programs. These organizations do a good job of preparing children for success outside the home—but they do not prepare them for success within the home. Given the key role that family structure plays in shaping social and economic outcomes, lack of preparation in the latter may well torpedo chances for success in the former.

If these children are to break the cycle of single parenthood, they must first see what a stable two-parent home looks like. The family dinner table provides a casual and undemanding setting for them to observe family roles, responsibilities, and interactions, and is thus an ideal venue for such role modeling to take place. Since family dinner is often a rare or impossible event in their homes, the next best option is for them to experience this event in the homes of volunteer families.

Frequent family meals have been linked to a number of beneficial outcomes, such as better nutritional intake, improved communication skills, and a decreased risk for substance use, sexual intercourse, suicidal involvement, and unhealthy weight control practices. While some of these benefits may simply stem from belonging to the kind of family that has frequent family meals, I expect that some proportion of the benefit comes from the meals themselves and the interactions that take place at the dinner table. For instance, several studies have found that family meals have a positive effect on a child’s well-being even after controlling for family connectedness, parents’ marital status, race, social-economic status, and sex. These studies cite structure, stability, improved communication, and a greater proportion of supervised time as benefits that may come from the dinner itself.

Additionally, there is an abundance of evidence indicating that role modeling does not need to come from natural family members to be effective. For example, multiple studies have shown that having affluent neighbors has significant positive effects on a child’s IQ, behavior, and level of completed schooling. Studies of mentoring relationships also link external role models to positive developmental outcomes within the domains of education/ work, mental health, problem behavior, and health (including birth control). Frequent meals with stable two-parent families may allow role modeling and confer benefits through similar processes. Furthermore, youth mentoring programs that focus on developing social skills and trusting relationships between children and adults have been shown to be more effective than programs with solely behavioral goals, such as resisting drug use or achieving better grades. Mentoring sessions that involve structured social activities have been shown to be particularly effective. Once again, these studies indicate that participating in family meals, even with someone else’s family, can lead to effective role modeling with wide-ranging benefits.

In short, there is currently no organization that focuses specifically on providing a role model of a stable two-parent family. This need must be met. I believe that regular family meals with stable volunteer families will be an effective way of doing so. By raising the likelihood that a child from a single parent home in the ghetto will go on to successfully form and maintain a stable two parent household, we will help restore beneficial social norms and pave the way for future generations of ghetto-born children to be successful at home and in the world.

B. Goals and objectives

The central goal of this program is to provide children from single-parent households in ghetto neighborhoods with role models of stable two-parent households. I hope to pair each child with a volunteer family who would have the child over to dinner at their home once a week. The pairing would presumably last for at least a year, and the children would hopefully remain in the program for a number of years.

This program aims to benefit both the disadvantaged children as well as the volunteer families. The main benefits for the children are as follows:

• A vision of a stable, functioning, two-parent household – children will be able to observe individual roles and responsibilities within the family, and see how parents interact with each other and with their children.
• An opportunity to interact with people outside of their local community and come into contact with different social and cultural norms.
• An opportunity to develop a larger vocabulary and better communication and social skills.

The volunteer families also have much to gain from participating in the dinner program. Apart from the natural joy and satisfaction that comes from serving those in need, they will gain valuable exposure to different cultural and social norms in a safe and limited environment. They will be able to practice interacting with people of a different background in a casual, familiar setting. These interactions will better equip them to deal with differences outside of the home.

This program will thus facilitate beneficial cultural exchange between the parties. Both parties will be better equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed socially and economically. In the long run, having familial role models will increase the likelihood that these children from single parent households will go on to successfully form and maintain stable two parent households. Ultimately, this will contribute to the restoration of beneficial social norms in their neighborhoods.

C. Target population

The program aims to serve children from ghetto neighborhoods that are between the ages of 8 and 18. Candidates will be found through community centers, existing mentoring programs, after-school programs, boys’ homes, and other suitable channels. One existing partner is LifeSTARTS (http://www.lifestarts.org/), an organization that offers in-school, after-school, mentoring, and other family-strengthening programs to over 1000 youth and their families per year. Their service area covers Wards 7 & 8 ("East of the River") in Washington, DC and Prince George’s County.

Volunteer families will be screened and chosen using processes similar to existing big brother big sister mentoring programs. Families need not have children to be considered. Volunteers will be recruited from traditional mentoring channels as well as religious groups and the general community.

D. Project activities

The main activity will be a weekly dinner involving the target child and his/ her volunteer family. This dinner will take place on the same night every week for a year, and each volunteer family is required to commit to the program for at least a year. At the end of the year the pairs may be rearranged depending on the availability and preferences of each party. The children would hopefully participate in the program for multiple years until they reach the end of the targeted age range. The responsibilities of the organization administering the program, host families, and target children are as follows:


Administering organization:
• Recruit children and host families
• Match children and host families
o Matching will take into consideration mutually expressed preferences
• Administer background checks
• Provide training and support for children and volunteers
o Participants will be briefed on their responsibilities as well as appropriate behavior and program boundaries
o Procedures for dealing with emergencies, unexpected events etc will be set forth
• Provide transport for children to and from dinner each week
o Children will be picked up from a centralized meeting-point in their neighborhood, such as a school or community center, at about 6pm
o Children will be transported directly to the home of each hosting family, and picked up from the home about an hour later
o All children should be dropped off at home by about 9pm
• Review each electronic report and address issues as necessary
• Run quarterly feedback sessions, and provide training and address issues as necessary

Host family:
• Commit to a year-long program
• Pass background checks (parents and children over 18)
• Attend mandatory training sessions (compulsory for parents, preferable for the whole family)
• Host a child for dinner once a week for a year
o Dinner should begin sometime around 6.30-7.30pm and last for about an hour
o Exceptions will be made for holidays, emergencies, and two free absences – but the importance of frequency and regularity of the meals will also be stressed
o Notify the administering organization of any cancellation or problem at least two hours prior to dinner, though more advance notice is preferable
o Host families are required to pay for the meals, though exceptions can be made under special circumstances
• Host an additional member (or members, if circumstances permit) of the target child’s family on the fourth week of every month
o The goal of this monthly expansion is to reduce any potentially divisive effect of the program and help foster the practice of family dinners in the target child’s home
• Submit a brief electronic report after each dinner and any other interaction with the target child
o Families build credit each time they fill out the form. Accumulated credits can be exchanged for gift vouchers (grocery store gift cards, movie passes etc)
• Attend a feedback session every 6 months

Target child:
• Sign up for program after obtaining consent from parent(s)
• Attend a mandatory training session
• Be ready for pick-up by 6pm each week at designated meeting-point
• Bring a family member to dinner on the fourth week of every month
• Submit a brief electronic report after each dinner and any other interaction with the host family
o Children build credit each time they fill out the form. Accumulated credits can be exchanged for gift vouchers (grocery store gift cards, movie passes etc)
• Attend a quarterly feedback session

II. PLAN FOR MEASURING PROJECT RESULTS

Short term results

Before they begin the program, each child will be assessed by a qualified speech-language pathologist to determine the approximate level of his/ her vocabulary and communication skills. This assessment will also be performed on a control group of children from the same neighborhood with similar backgrounds. At the end of the program, the assessments will be repeated and the difference in performance between the target group and control group will represent the effect of the program.

Long term results

Before they begin the program, the children and their parents also will be surveyed for information regarding the family’s socioeconomic status, the child’s academic and extracurricular performance, and any behavioral problems the child might have. The questions will be modeled upon existing surveys used to assess sociodemographic characteristics of families and neighborhoods. This survey will be conducted on a yearly basis throughout the course of the program, and administered every two years thereafter for the next 10 years (this is conditional upon available funding). The children who went through the program will be systematically compared with the average performance of children of a similar sociodemographic background (ideally, children from the same neighborhood) who did not go through the program. The latter data should be readily available from existing, ongoing federally-commissioned surveys.