- [Voiceover] Someone gave.

Someone donated.

Someone left a legacy.

Generations of generous someones have helped shape Rhode Island into this amazing place we call home.

How do you thank them?

By leaving your own legacy.

We can help.

(upbeat jazz music) - Welcome to another edition of In Another Opinion, a public information program, where our discussions are focused on the diversity of the state of Rhode Island.

I'm your host, Peter Wells.

My guest today are Ngina Johnson, Director of the Early and Learning Program at Genesis Center.

And Ny'Asia Lawrence, a student and parent of a child who attends that Early Learning Center program.

Welcome ladies.

- Thank you.

- Hello.

- Glad you could be here on a nice spring day.

- Yes.

Glad to be here and glad to be seen.

(laughs) - Well, listen, for those who don't know what the Genesis Center is all about, what is it about?

- Well, it's a nonprofit, community-based organization that welcomes anyone who really is looking to pursue culinary experience, medical experience, anything in the workforce.

They can continue their education, local colleges, get their GED where we provide wraparound services to anybody in the community who is in need.

It was started in 1982 by Sister Angela, Father Daniel, and ever since, our doors have been open to anybody who's in need.

- You know, I've had the pleasure of actually spending some time at the Genesis Center some time ago, doing some classes on law enforcement and the criminal justice system some time ago.

But the Genesis Center has evolved into a lot more things.

Now, you are the Director of the Early Learning Program.

So tell us a little bit about that program.

- Well, we service families that have children from infancy to preschool age, so that's zero to five.

And we believe that that is learning.

That is education.

So whether you're a baby or you're a four year old, you're developing and you're learning and we have qualified certified teachers who provide that care and education for young children, and which is essential to be successful in the future.

It's a known fact that children have a solid beginning and foundation that they will be more successful in the future.

- Well, this is true.

The earlier one can learn the better.

I was fortunate to go to nursery school before I went to first grade.

- Yeah.

- In fact, I didn't even go to first grade.

I went from nursery school to second grade because I knew how to read and write by the time I got out of nursery school.

- Yeah.

- So it was a jumpstart for me as a youngster.

- Yeah.

Now, Ny'Asia, you have a child at the center.

- Yes, my son, he's one years old.

Yeah, one and a half.

He goes there.

- He's one and a half?

- Yeah, one and a half.

- And how long has he been going?

- For a couple months now.

- Couple months now?

- Yeah.

- Have you noticed any difference in him?

- Yeah, he actually, he started walking a lot more since he's been there.

He's starting to say little words.

He also is very in tune of like, reading the books, and playing with different toys, and figuring out how they work.

He likes more now washing his hands after he eats 'cause at the daycare, they have like a little area for after the kids eat, or they change their Pampers, they wash their hands.

Before he would never let me just take him over to the sink and wash his hands.

I would always just have to wipe him.

Now, he'll literally, after he's done eating, run over to like the sink and try to wash his hands.

He's a lot more playful with others now, 'cause usually it's just like him and his sisters, but now he likes to play with other babies.

Just, I don't know.

He learns, he learned a lot.

His motor skills are like really improving.

- So it sounds like also his social skills are improving.

- Yes, social skills also.

Yes.

- Well that's important today.

Youngsters have to be somewhat aggressive in the environment that we live in today.

- Yeah.

- This is highly competitive.

Let me ask you a question, Ngina, when we start talking about youngsters zero to five, what kinds of educational tools do you work with in terms of youngsters that small?

- Well, at that level, it's about independence and autonomy.

Being able to do things for yourself, how to engage like Ny'Asia was mentioning.

He's able to wash his hands and then also interact with other babies and to, you know, find a delight in those experiences.

And so, it would not be something like, "Oh, you have to do this."

or "It's punitive."

or anything like that.

But it's actually something that we enjoy as being, - Yeah.

- you know, social and being human beings.

So things that we take for granted because we know how to have those interactions, that's what they're learning.

So they're learning their self-care.

They're learning how to communicate their needs and also listen to what their friends want.

So, it's a day of understanding how to cooperate and how to be comfortable in your own body and how to understand what is actually happening around you.

- Sure, sure.

How, how many youngsters do you have in the program?

- We have currently, I believe 43 to 45 children enrolled.

- Wow.

- In the, in the center and that's from zero.

We have four classrooms.

So it's the infants.

So that's like zero to almost two.

And then we have the toddlers who is two to like three, three and a half.

And then we have a pre-K classroom, which is about three and a half to four, turning five.

And then, we also house a state pre-K funded program, sitting in one classroom and those are four year olds turning five.

And then when they're finished, they'll go on to kindergarten.

- Now you made a distinction between state program versus not.

- Yeah.

So in the Genesis center, you know, we provide care for zero to five.

- [Peter] Yes.

- So if a child is not enrolled in the state pre-K program, which is a separate federal program, they can participate in the Genesis center Pre-K.

It's not funded in the same manner, but we do make sure we maintain equity throughout the center.

So we share our resources and we also make sure that everybody is getting an enriching experience.

Since I've been director there, we've created partnerships with the Providence Public Library where children are able to take field trips and have those experiences and the Providence Children's Museum.

- [Peter] Uh-huh.

- They come during our summer programming during the summer to do programming with our students.

So, we definitely try to make it, you know, engaging and enriching for everybody, whether you're a part of the state pre-K program or if you're a part of just the, I don't wanna say just the Genesis Center Program, but you know, it is two separate things, but we make sure we maintain equity.

- Now, 43 students are a lot of students.

- [Ngina] It's a lot of kids.

- So how many kids instructors do you have?

- I try to maintain three teachers in a classroom.

- [Peter] Oh, Okay -_ which is an anomaly.

- [Peter] Mm-hmm.

- Usually it's two teachers.

However, I think it's important to have that extra support and then children get that attention and the teachers aren't spread too thin.

And even with three, sometimes it's still, - [Peter] Sure.

- feels thin, but I love going in to visit the classrooms and holding the babies or engaging with students, and playing and talking with them.

The other conversation is getting lost, you know, everybody's on their devices, - so, - [Peter] Right.

- It's nice to have conversations and hear their questions, and, you know, keep them asking, keep on encouraging them to ask questions, and you know, think about what we notice.

- (laughs) Ny'Asia, as a parent, what do you think about the program?

- Oh, I love it.

Honestly.

I enjoy the fact that they have a class dojo.

So I get to see exactly like, what's going on in the classroom, what he's doing.

I know recently, they was like learning how to like mark papers with marker.

And they use like the little bingo dabbers, like working on the motor skills they have, like the little wall where you have to put the ball through or match the shapes.

Even like, as being a single mom, sometimes it's hard to like, get like Pampers and wipes.

So they help me out with providing Pampers, and Pampers and wipes for him while he's there.

Even like, with his like dirty clothes, they help keep it up for me.

Let's see, what else do I like about the program?

Oh, I have a nephew who goes there and his speech has improved a lot being there, and communicating with them.

So I don't know.

It's just like a really good program.

I feel like the way they interact with the kids is just, it's a lot more better than just sticking a kid in front of a TV screen or just a tablet and stuff.

- [Peter] Oh, sure.

- It's their interaction is like, they really love their job and it's not just a paycheck for them, so yeah.

- So, and you have just the one child that's in the program?

- I have my son and then a nephew that goes there also.

- How old is your nephew?

- My nephew is, oh man.

- Roughly?

- Two.

- Okay.

- Okay, yeah two.

I'm sorry.

I have a like a, - So he's a little bit older.

- He's in a toddler classroom.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - Yeah.

- Okay.

So do they communicate?

- My nephew and my son?

- Yes.

- Yes.

My son, he's not saying too many words right now, but like, he'll wave, like talk and then my nephew would tell him, "Hi, how are you?"

'Cause my nephew wasn't really a big talker until he started going to school.

And the way they communicate, it's like, I don't know how to describe it.

It's like they have their own little communication - Oh, sure.

- that they're learning from school.

'Cause sometimes I have to sit with them and I'm just like, I have to listen.

I'm just like, I don't know what you're saying, but I know you're saying something and it's like, they try to get out like, little letters.

Like now, when my son goes to the bathroom, he'll say "Kaka".

And he'll like, he'll point and he'll tell me.

And it's like, I think it's just like really good.

- Well it's true kids, you know, children do have their own way of communicating.

- Yeah.

- I know.

My daughter was extremely talkative and we used her as a translator for my son who didn't wanna talk.

- Yeah.

- He would point and make noises and we would ask my daughter, "What does he want?"

- That's exactly how my nephew and my son is right now.

- Exactly, yeah.

- Yeah, my nephew completely understands him and then he'll be like, "He wants this or he wants that."

Be like, "Okay, thank you."

- Now you have to watch him when they get a little older.

'Cause my daughter used to use that advantage, (Ngina laughs) (Ny'Asia laughs) (laughs) on her brother and get him in trouble.

- Oh man (laughs).

- Like, you know, "Mom said, it's okay to have a cookie," - Yeah.

- you know, before dinner, you know?

(laughs) - They're the only boys out of five girls.

So they're like, really close.

I'm waiting for it.

I think the little troubles coming as they get older.

- Oh sure, sure.

"Boys will be boys," as they say.

- Yeah.

- Children will be children.

- Children will be children.

- Yes.

- And they're thick as thieves.

- Yes.

- Yes.

- Well they know.

- Yes.

They know when something's not right.

- Yeah.

- I remember I did.

(laughs) And you learn early.

- Yeah, definitely.

- You're smart.

- You learn early.

So tell me what's the graduation?

Does it like a graduation program and what is their rate of success and how do you measure that?

- So for the, let's make a distinction, there's the adult learning.

- Yes.

- Division of Genesis Center.

And we, in that part of Genesis center, there's about a thousand students that are enrolled annually and who will move on like, 70 to 90% of the students will move on to, you know, jobs in their chosen profession that they've chosen to, you know, take courses in.

For the Early Learning Center, we have 18 children who will graduate from preschool and go on to kindergarten.

We provide services to families, so that they know what their choices are for public school, charter school, private school.

And we make sure that they have all of their, you know, paperwork in order so that they can, you know, move on to, you know, be on Genesis Center and to be in a learning environment that is right for their child.

And then, and same with the, you know, for pre-school you have to, in order to be enrolled in public education, you have to be five by September.

So depending on the birthday is when we can, encourage a family to seek out another school, you know, so graduation for the young ones looks differently.

- Sure.

- But you know, I am proud to say that they do go on to their choice of, you know, of school and learning environment, whether it's based on a certain approach to learning or if it's in their neighborhood, you know?

And it's a matter of convenience and availability, so, but we, - Just outta curiosity, does the Genesis Center, does someone follow these youngsters throughout, let's say, through all the way through high school to see how well they do?

- From my experience, I haven't experienced that.

I know as an educator, I used to teach in New York City.

I used to love seeing, the five year old I remember, and run into them on the subway.

- [Ny'Asia] Yeah.

- You know, seeing I was with actually with my family, we went bowling in the neighborhood at Lang's Bowlarama.

- [Peter] Yes.

- And I ran into a student who was at Genesis Center the previous year.

He's now, you know, finishing up kindergarten and going on to first grade.

So, I think it's more of how we are able to, you know, engage with people in the community.

And we see them.

We're a community based organization.

We see them in Providence, you know, just like I used to see them in New York City and, you know, as it is appropriate and as they get older, maybe you see them on social media or something like that.

You read about 'em in the newspaper, 'cause they're doing something extraordinary, you know?

It's really lovely, you know, being an educator and being able to see the success.

- How is the Genesis Center funded?

Is it direct funded through taxpayers or is it grants or?

- It's a nonprofit organization and is primarily funded through grant funding and federal state funding.

So we partner with the Department of Human Services, the Rhode Island Foundation, United Way, Department of Labor and Transportation.

So there's a variety of different organizations that help to fund our programs.

- Now some of that's funding and some of it I imagine is access to things.

- Well, it's, you know, it's a lot of grant writing.

(laughs) It's a lot of advocating, - [Peter] Okay.

- for our needs, so whether it be for like, food or if it's for maintenance, you know, of the building or, you know, salaries for teachers, all of it is, we have to campaign for it.

And we have to make sure that we are showing a need, you know, and that we are going to be using the money in a resourceful way that's going to benefit, not only just the people who are working there, but the greater community.

- Ny'Asia as a parent, let me ask you a question.

How has the program actually directly benefited you beyond just, you know, obviously taking care of your son and your nephew?

- So they helped me get involved in the early head start.

So I work with a lady who would follow me until my son is a, I wanna say about five or six.

And she basically like, helps me out with different resources that I need help with or like, job search.

They've also helped me out with getting a car seat for my four year olds.

Even with the summer program, they have a summer program there.

Miss Gina helped me out with getting my four year old into it.

So that way, she can do something throughout the summer instead of just being in the house and stuff.

They've also like, reached out to me if I needed help, with food or if I need help with just basically any necessity or even just like, with job searches and stuff, they're there.

I'll send an email like, "Hey, I need help with this job or I need help finding this program."

And within that day, I'll get an email back.

Like, "Hey, call this number and you can speak to this one."

It's just, they help like a lot of resources.

And I like really appreciate that.

- Well, that's important.

The support network, support system for parents.

- Yes, they're very supportive at the Genesis Center, very supportive.

- Now are most of the parents, single parents?

- [Ngina] No, no.

- [Ny'Asia] No.

- No?

- No.

- It's a wide range of families and we also have families who, you know, grandparents are the primary caregivers, who provide that support for transportation every day.

- [Peter] Sure.

- There's a lot of families that are working.

And so, I don't actually get to see a lot of parents.

- Yeah.

- But it's a wide range of family makeup that we have, to school.

- You know, you mentioned the partnerships with like Rhode Island Foundation.

How does that one work?

I'm just curious because Rhode Island Foundation is a support of this program, in fact.

- Yeah.

So when I was mentioning how we have to write a lot of grants to receive funds, these big organizations, whether it's an organization like CVS, you know?

A corporate organization or the Rhode Island Foundation, there's very specific things that we have to ask for.

And then, they would provide the funding if they felt it was worthy of the funding, so, - Okay.

- It depends on what our need is.

And we are able to apply for these grants.

There's other community-based organizations that would be doing the same thing, doing things similarly.

And at the end of the day we get the funding that we need for whatever it is that we're requesting, so, - Very good.

Now, how long have you been there, Ngina?

- I've been there for two years.

- Two years?

- Yeah.

- And where were you before?

- I've been in a lot of places.

(laughs) - Okay.

(laughs) - I'm a former classroom teacher.

- Okay.

- So, I began my career in New York City and then opportunities led me to Hong Kong and I taught there for almost a year.

- American students or Japanese students?

- Chinese students.

- I mean, excuse me, Chinese students.

- That's okay.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, Chinese students, and international students.

Hong Kong is a very international city, but it was primarily Chinese students.

And I was originally supposed to help to start kindergartens in mainland China, but that didn't actually work out.

So I was working in Hong Kong and it would be the equivalent of an after school in Richmond Program in Science and Math.

So it's to younger students and teaching those concepts and it was very structured, not really what I was, you know, - Used to?

- wanting to do and used to.

- Yeah, - Definitely different culture that way, but I still love my students and what have you, and then from Hong Kong, I moved back to the East Coast, had two years teaching at Gordon School in East Providence.

- Yes.

- I taught first grade.

And then, which led me to an opportunity in Massachusetts, taught there, 'cause I wanted to learn about really early learning and you know, childcare.

So I taught in a preschool there and also mentored there.

And it brought me back to Providence where I was trying to find my way again.

And I ended up at Genesis Center through being a foster parent.

My son goes there, he's a part of the state pre-K program.

And his little sister is also a student at Genesis Center.

- Okay.

- And during that time, I was actually a classroom teacher there, but during that time, and when COVID actually hit, I left the classroom to become an administrator.

So the last two years I been, I guess kind of holding it together with the team.

- Okay.

- And you know, really just kind of making the culture of the school, like Ny'Asia said, very warm, welcoming, and engaging with students and it's been great.

- Well, how do you recruit students?

- We don't need to.

- Okay.

- I have a waiting list, - Yeah.

- a very long waiting list of people who want to be part of our center.

And then the state pre-K program, we are a part of a network.

So when your child is of age, is of four years old as of September, you automatically can send your child to school.

So, we're another, it's as though you're sending your child to kindergarten or first grade in public school.

So people know that we are a fabulous center, they wanna send their kids there.

And Department of Education houses our, I mean kind of creates our list of students for enrolled students for that classroom.

But for the rest of Genesis Center, we have a long waiting list of people who want to be a part of our community.

- Very good people, like, "Go to the Genesis Center, like it's a waiting list, but just go."

- How did you find out about Genesis Center?

- I originally found out about them because of the work programs that they offer there.

I was supposed to take a medical assistant training.

And at the time, it was like only a selective few that got into it.

So as I applied there, I applied for daycare too.

So like, it would work out for me, go to class and my son downstairs.

- Right.

- And unfortunately, I wasn't selected for the training, but I was still able to at least, keep my son there for daycare and move on to the next step for myself.

- So what is that?

- I'm actually going back to school, I'm gonna become a child advocate and work with kids like in the fourth system, the system, because I've been a child myself and I've been to group homes and stuff.

And I feel like it's a good feel for me, 'cause for one, I like to work with kids, and I can relate to them.

And 'cause like I've been through things, similar things that they have.

So I feel like it's like a really good feel for me.

- So it's Rhode Island your home?

- Yes.

Born and raised.

- What city?

- Providence - In Providence?

Okay.

- Yes.

- So you're giving back so to speak, or at least you're hoping to give back?

- Yes.

Definitely, hoping to give back.

- Very good.

- That's my main thing to definitely give back to my community.

- Now this is gonna be a tough question for you.

- Okay.

- If you had a crystal ball and you wanted to do something to help the program, what is that you would do for Regina and the Early Learning Program?

- I would definitely provide extra funding because there is a lot of good programs, and they offer like a lot of help, but it's hard sometimes when like programs do are nonprofit and they work off grants because like sometimes it's a hit or miss with the grants.

So if I had it my way, I would definitely just give 'em all the funding they need because it's like I said, it's a really good place to send your kids, to go if you need like your GED because of the adults opportunities they offer upstairs.

It's just, I don't know.

I just can't.

I just have to keep repeating, like it's just a really great place to go, and they just really offer so many different resources and they have no problem helping you, you won't get denied, you won't get put out and they would just, they would go above and beyond to help you reach where you're trying to be.

- So do you aspire to work at the Genesis Center one day?

- Not necessarily there.

- Okay.

- But just a part of the community and like help out, yes.

- Gotcha.

Gotcha.

So what's next for the center?

Anything new coming up that you haven't implemented yet?

- Well, we are in the process of redoing the pre-K playground.

We've gotten funding from the state to have it resurfaced, have a new structure, I mean the old structure removed and have a new structure put in.

We're still seeking funding for the new structure.

However, we gotta get things started.

And so, that's what we're doing right now.

Getting ready for summer programming for the young ones.

And then in the adult learning division, we are building out in the process of, of creating a culinary cafe, a teaching cafe in the Providence Folks Library downtown, so - Ah, very good.

- Yeah.

And that program is called Chop.

So that's it kinda stay tuned for that.

- What is it?

Is that an acronym for something?

- It is and I'm sorry.

- It escapes you right now?

- It escapes me right now, but it is a culinary opportunity and where people will be able to, you know, gain culinary skills and it'll be an actual cafe.

So they'll be front of the house experience, back of the house experience and it's all through one of our workforce programs, so, - Very good.

- Again, stay tuned, 'cause it's coming.

- I know and periodically I drive down to, is it Potter's Avenue?

And I see the kids on the corner.

- [Ngina] Mm-hmm.

- [Ny-Asia] Yeah.

- And I see the playground area and I said, "Geez, it's too bad the parking lot across the street couldn't be the playground.

(laughs) - [Ngina] Mmm.

- But I know you need parking, too.

- Yeah.

Yeah, we have a lot of students that come in and out every day and the parking lot is usually pretty full, you know, non-COVID times.

(laughs) - Yeah.

- And that, and even now it's attendance, in-person learning and attendance is increasing, so, which is a great feeling.

- Well, is there something that you'd like to tell the viewers about Genesis Center that we haven't discussed or haven't mentioned?

- I just wanna reiterate what Ny'Asia says.

I think that we do our best to, you know, provide wraparound services for people and to make people feel welcome.

- Absolutely.

- Make people feel like they have a place in the world and they can be successful, and they don't have to do it by themselves.

They have a lot of people who are willing and who want to help them, - Yeah.

- succeed.

- [Peter] Yeah.

- And that's a beautiful thing to know that you are supported and not have to be in isolation.

- Well, listen, ladies, thank you so much.

Believe it or not, we've run out of time.

Half hour goes by real fast.

- Yeah.

- And we have run out time, but I wanna thank today's guest, Ngina Johnson and Ny'Asia Lawrence, and you, the viewers for tuning into another edition of In Another Opinion.

A special thanks to PBS for making this program possible.

I'm your host, Peter Wells.

Give us your opinion on our podcasts and Facebook at In Another Opinion and above all, for everyone, including my guests today, have a great day.

(upbeat jazz music) - [Voiceover] Someone gave.

Someone donated.

Someone left a legacy.

Generations of generous someones have helped shape Rhode Island into this amazing place we call home.

How do you thank them?

By leaving your own legacy.

We can help.