ive years ago, after fourteen years of working with
families struggling to improve their quality of life, I had developed a
program concept that I knew could improve the quality of life for
families at risk. I needed, however, the right resources to modify
it and funding for implementation. Cooperative Extension at the
University of Massachusetts, with its focus on community, family,
and youth, its many program support experts and its research base,
was the perfect setting for the model. Becoming a part of this
organization during the Massachusetts fiscal crisis and developing
the program from a concept level in 1985 to a program addressing
both rural and inner-city issues complete with this research-based
manual in 1990 was a very complicated process. Many individuals,
at the University level, in greater Springfield, Massachusetts, and
in the neighborhoods targeted for the program implementation,
deserve credit for its level of success.
W
ithout the willingness of Dr. Elsie Fetterman, Dr. Penny Ralston,
and Judith Glaser, Acting State Director of Community, Families and
Youth, to support me administratively, the Master Teacher in Family
Life Program would not be a part of Cooperative Extension of the
University of Massachusetts. Without the support of then trustee
Jeanne Bass, Director of Human Services for the City of
Springfield, and the patience of Paul Kerrigan, Director of
Supportive Services at the Executive Office of Community
Development, there would have been no funding for this program
effort. Raymond Asselin, Executive Director of the Springfield
Housing Authority, and Willie Thomas, Director of Supportive
Services, by recognizing the program as important in helping their
residents, opened the way to four years of successful programming
in their developments.
S
pecial appreciation goes to all who participated in the
program implementation aspect of the Master Teacher in Family Life Program
for the past five years including Extension staff, Springfield
administrators, agencies, professionals, artistic groups,
employment training programs, and individuals who lived in the
targeted neighborhoods. Thanks to the Reverend Willie Pearson who
encouraged me to stay with it when the going got tough. Thanks to
the first Master Teacher trainees, Marlene Barnes, Denise Stanton,
Margie Cheeks, Rachel Cheeks, James Rosemond, Mary Hill, Earlene
Taylor, Charlie Mae Simmonds, Angelina Molina, Madeline Ortiz,
Elaine Raifford, Lynn Belnavais, Lila Negron, Michelle Treadwell,
Ophelia Nash, Deborah Pablon, Al Sessom, and Charlaine Walters.
They taught me so much. Those of you who sincerely took time from
your very difficult lives to find ways to improve the quality of
lives for your friends, relatives, and neighbors, especially Irene
Crump and Ginny Green, will always have my love and respect. Those
few who created barriers or attempted to misuse the program to
enhance their own situation to the detriment of those in poverty
have enabled me to empathize with the oppressed and understand how
discouraging it can be to live without a community of support. It
has been a valuable lesson that, in spite of those efforts, the
poor can prevail and, with hard work and the support of those in
"the system" who truly care, families in poverty can indeed enjoy
a better quality of life and set goals toward a future of self-
sufficiency.
P
rogramming has been a piece of cake compared to writing a
research-based manual. I have appreciated the support and expert
advice of many people. The manual reviewers, Dr. Paula Dail,
Associate Professor in Family Studies and Director of the Child
Welfare Project at Iowa State University; Deborah Burwell, Director
of the Institute for Community Leadership and Development at
Cooperative Extension of the University of Maine; University of
Massachusetts Cooperative Extension Professional staff Mary Tyer-
Kelly, Virginia Green, Karen Barshefsky, and Administrator Judith
Glaser were all helpful in making sure the manual was practical and
useful to the audience. Thanks also to Director of Extension
Communications Pamela Garlick, editor Stacy Sparks, and typists
Jean Cowles and Carolyn Calabrese. Because of their expertise,
this manual WILL be able to make a difference.
