While working as a volunteer coach for a Charlottesville soccer team, 2007 University graduate Clay Broga realized his younger players also needed coaching off the field. Three of the children on his team were Somali refugees brought to Charlottesville through the International Rescue Committee and they were having trouble adjusting to their new lives.
Broga said he enjoyed getting to know these "really great kids" through the Madison House coaching program, yet he noticed they were having difficulty coping with the language barrier and the trauma of being refugees. The more time Broga spent with the boys, the more he realized just how much the language barrier had thwarted their attempts to settle into their new lives.
Hoping to help the boys adjust to life in a new country, Broga began to mentor them off the soccer field, taking them to various recreational activities as often as he could. During his third year at the University in 2006, Broga organized his efforts into a program called Bridging the Gap. What began as a small group of fraternity brothers eventually grew to become a contracted independent organization.
Bridging the Gap is a mentoring program that pairs University volunteers with refugee children, ranging from 4 to 15 years old, who have come to Charlottesville from countries such as Somalia, Burma and Thailand. One of the 12 rescue centers used by the International Rescue Committee is located in Charlottesville, so the city is home to a sizable number of refugees.
To accomplish the program's goals of general literacy and communication, volunteers spend time with their partners once or twice a week, helping them with homework or talking to them about life in America in hopes of acclimating them to American culture.
Although the program grew well under Broga's tutelage, the student leaders involved wanted to ensure the program's long-term feasibility. They found a solution by partnering with Madison House. This semester, Madison House has added Bridging the Gap, its 18th program, to the ranks of its other community service initiatives. Madison House assumes the responsibility of raising funds for the program, freeing volunteers to focus on more immediate concerns.
"We're really excited about this new partnership," said Ben Eppard, director of communications for Madison House. "The students involved with Bridging the Gap are really great and they've done an amazing job. Both Madison House and Bridging the Gap will benefit from the two coming together."
Madison House is a non-profit volunteer center independent from the University, but the volunteers are all University students. About 3,500 students volunteer at Madison House on a weekly basis every year, Eppard said. The Bridging the Gap program brings about 90 student volunteers to Madison House.
The program has come a long way from its origin to its current place within the Madison House structure. Broga initially established a small group of mentors for the refugees through his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, and soon a group of 15 to 20 people from Pi Kappa Phi, as well as Alpha Phi sorority, formed. They started an ongoing drive for clothes and books, and with the scores of books they received, Broga and his friends created a "library" in the back room of Pi Kappa Phi.
At the end of last year, Bridging the Gap moved the library with the help of a community social worker, Linda Khaleelah Il-Deen, to its own space at the Blue Ridge Commons community center. With money from the University's CIO initiative, the organization purchased new books, DVDs and videos to create a more adequate library, which children and volunteers can visit at certain hours during the week to check out reading materials.
Bridging the Gap has also started a program called The Reading Train, an incentive-based initiative designed to promote critical thinking skills and general English literacy. For every book a child reads, he fills out a worksheet catered to his skill level in the shape of a train car, which is taped to the library's wall. Children win individual points for each train car displayed, redeemable for prizes, and when the train reaches all the way around the library, the children will be rewarded with a group prize such as a pizza party or an ice-skating outing.
"This new program is a great way to encourage the kids to read, but it also creates a team mentality that helps bring the kids together as a group," said Bridging the Gap President Maggie Poandl, a fourth-year College student.
According to fourth-year College student Evan Parter, Bridging the Gap program director, the program's flexibility draws many volunteers to work with these children.
"We recommend that volunteers meet with their kids once or twice a week, but other than that it's totally on their time," Parter said.
While many students find the program's open parameters appealing, after its first year, volunteers felt it would benefit from more structure. The partnership with Madison House has helped the program to create a better balance and provide adequate support for the volunteers while still allowing them ample flexibility, Parter said.
Bridging the Gap has also created more structure by creating subprograms, such as the Reading Train program and additional ventures in filmmaking and soccer. Parter also sends biweekly e-mails to volunteers suggesting activities for them to pursue with their partners, such as venturing to local community events.
"The partnership with Madison House has exceeded all our expectations," Parter said. "At first, we were hesitant. We grew so quickly and seemed to be doing just fine being independent but we didn't realize all the help that Madison House could give us. They didn't compromise our autonomy but helped us to do more."
Now as a part of Madison House, Bridging the Gap has access to resources such as funding, office supplies, meeting places and supportive advice.
"Through our partnership with Madison House, we can really focus on helping the kids to grow comfortable with the transition as a resettled refugee," Poandl said. "The things they struggle with in this strange, new environment on a daily basis are the simple things that we all take for granted. I really feel that we have made a lasting impact on their lives"
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