April 29th - Bill Cosby’s daughter explains how the lessons of her father have shaped her life and the lives of countless others. DON'T MISS this heartwarming story by Erika Cosby with photos by Erinn Cosby. Click Here to read the full article.

ERINN COSBY DELIVERS CLASSROOM LIBRARIES TO MIAMI SCHOOLS

Erinn Cosby was on hand to personally deliver classroom libraries to under-resourced schools in the Miami area. DHL Express provided free shipping for this effort totaling 20,000 books.

“The excited faces of the children I saw at the schools when they opened the boxes demonstrate a love of learning that my brother Ennis had as his mission to foster as a teacher,” explained Erinn Cosby.

Hello Friend's Classroom Libraries program is made possible thanks to the generosity of Scholastic Book Clubs, which donates more than 250,000 high quality children’s books each year to the project and the JPMorganChase Foundation, which provides the financial support needed to ship books to under-resourced classrooms throughout the country. Retired schoolteachers and students in Putney, VT volunteer for several months each winter and spring in an apple orchard warehouse to organize and pack up the books for nationwide distribution.

TEACHERS BECOME LEADERS WITH COSBY PROGRAM AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

Cosby Scholars receive their certificates

When Bill and Camille Cosby established a foundation in the name of their son Ennis in 1997, their highest aspiration was to see that his love of teaching and his dedication to helping children who struggle to learn would continue in the work of others. As an educator, Ennis Cosby had a passionate mission to do whatever he could to prevent young learners from experiencing the difficulties he had suffered.

On January 31, 2008, 28 more New York City kindergarten through third grade teachers officially completed their graduate certificate training as Cosby Scholars, bringing the total to 210 (including the current cohort in progress). This collaboration between the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation and the Fordham University Graduate School of Education began in September of 2000.

The program equips the teacher with skills to identify and address the needs of young students at risk for reading difficulties before they experience the devastating effects of frustration and failure. Statistics show that children who fall behind in reading by the fourth grade rarely catch up, creating a domino effect of failure and diminished potential.
Cosby Scholars teach in over 100 high needs schools in New York City, including Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant and the South Bronx. To date, they have taught more than 20,000 children, the majority of which are entitled to Title 1 free or reduced-cost lunch.

Camille O. Cosby, Ed.D., a major funder of the program with her husband, believes the program has succeeded well beyond expectation and hopes the model can be expanded nationally via distance learning technology. “These teachers have become leaders and their positive impact goes well beyond the great benefits to the children and families. Unequivocally, they are change agents for the educational landscape as a whole.”

In a field where teacher attrition can be high (especially in inner city schools), Cosby Scholars are a dramatic exception. According to recent New York City Schools statistics, 12 to 15% first year teachers quit, going up to 25% in second year and 33% in the third. Only two of the Cosby Scholars have left active teaching—one teacher is a child advocate and the other is in a full-time graduate program in literacy education.

Dr. Joanna Uhry, the director of the program at Fordham, explains, “We encourage teachers to assume leadership roles and to share their knowledge of effective instruction for struggling readers with their colleagues. One has become a principal and one an Assistant Principal. Seventeen of the scholars work as literacy coaches and to train teachers. Many are intervention specialists. The rest remain committed classroom teachers. Their most frequently expressed regret is that they wish they could go back and reach the students they were unable to help before they went through the training.”

Preventing All Our Children from Becoming a Statistic

Hello Friend knows that a child who never falls behind in school has the best chance at success in life. Conversely, it is a tragic reality that for many children, the downward educational spiral begins so early in their lives. By the 4th grade, nearly 40% of all of our nation’s children score well below grade level in acquiring reading skills. Most of these students never catch up.

Can you imagine your child’s doctor telling you that your child will unable to walk or live a normal life? You would do everything possible to fight this. Similarly, it’s legitimate to ask why we as a society are turning a blind eye to a system-wide failure that fast-tracks a large percentage of our children to lives on the outside margins of promise and potential.

Here’s the wake up call: 80% of this American prison population are high school dropouts! (source: The National Dropout Prevention Network). The United States is now the world’s champion in having the most people in jail.—2.2 million people in total—737 per 100,000, according to government data published by The Sentencing Project. The competition is not even close—#2 on the list, Russia, lags behind at 661 per capita.

Hello Friend has put into action programs and initiatives to counter these negative factors and restore hope and opportunity. A showcase of this is the Cosby Scholars program at Fordham University that is transforming New York City K-2 teachers into master reading instructors and intervention specialists. They are able to identify reading difficulties and remedy them BEFORE they become problems. In the past few years, more than 16,000 children have benefited directly from Cosby Scholars. Hello Friend is dedicated to finding a way to expand this program through on-line technology so all interested teachers can access this training and certification as part of their continuing education credits.

The What’s Up planners for middle and high school students are simple but high impact tools to address the crucial skills that determine success or failure in secondary school. Students who drop out of high school are often the middle school students who fell in the cracks and became disengaged, disorganized, or overwhelmed. Using What’s Up planners in middle and high school is one inexpensive and effective way to help students stay on top of their work and master the study skills and work habits that are an advantage not only for success in school, but in life as well.

Every child that is helped and every teacher empowered with the tools and resources create a ripple effect that builds a fundamental wave of change. We welcome your support of our efforts.

Joel Brokaw