Title
Honoring and celebrating Quibila A. Divine and The EARTHS, Inc. for 30 years of uplifting and nurturing parent-student relationships, and for working to support parental involvement in the education of their children.
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WHEREAS, The Educational Advocates Reaching Today’s Hardworking Students, Inc., (EARTHS) was founded in 1994 and has been serving communities across North Philadelphia in the thirty years since then. Started by Quibila Divine in the basement of her sister, Sylvia Simms’s home, EARTHS has nurtured student and parent growth through programs providing education on the joys of reading to children, fun ways for parents and students to learn math together, and complete creative art projects; and
WHEREAS, For each of their programs, EARTHS gives the parents and students the material involved, from free brooks to art supplies. The group’s mission is to foster positive interactions between parents and students, and to facilitate parental involvement in their child’s education. They have conducted hundreds of training sessions on issues ranging from Title 1 and school budget workshops to how to ask questions at report card conferences. More than 4,000 parents and students have benefitted from the information alongside the thousands of books and art supplies that The EARTHS has provided; and
WHEREAS, Quibila and her family, including Sylvia and her daughters, LaSkeetia and Allegra Simms, have worked together to expand parent involvement and support nurturing educational environments at home and in schools. They started the Positive Peer Program, PARENT POWER and the Parent Leaders Advisory Network together; and
WHEREAS, Since beginning her career working as a social service worker for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Quibila has worked for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, directed the Governor’s Institute for Family Involvement at the Department of Education, and served as the Director of Parent and Family Engagement at the School District of Philadelphia. At each step, she has focused on asking how students are doing and what she can do to help, questions that have culminated in the work of The EARTHS Inc., which currently works with parents at multiple schools including T.M. Peirce Elementary, William Dick School, and Kenderton Elementary School; and
WHEREAS, Quibila also serves North Philadelphia in numerous other ways, including on the Parent and Guardian Task Force as a representative of Councilmember Anthony Phillips, alongside Councilmember Kendra Brooks advocating for parents in public schools, and in partnership with the School District to help guide parents in supporting their child’s education; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Does hereby honor and congratulate Quibila A. Divine and The EARTHS, Inc. for 30 years of uplifting and nurturing parent-student relationships, and for working to support parental involvement in the education of their children.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Quibila A. Divine, Sylvia Simms, Laskeetia Simms and Allegra Simms as an expression of the gratitude and admiration of the Council of the City of Philadelphia.
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