YORK, Pa. — Lancaster is known to be a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities. That includes its schools.
“I’ve got a group from Israel, from Haiti, from parts of Africa," said Steve Sohonyay, the Principal at Fulton Elementary School.
But during the pandemic, the nonprofit organization Communities in Schools of Pennsylvania noticed that refugee and immigrant students and their parents were struggling more with re-engaging with their schools after virtual learning ended.
“School is back in session in-person, and these families are facing some additional challenges with coming back to school and succeeding," said Jessica Knapp, the Executive Director at Communities in Schools of Pennsylvania.
Communities in schools of Pennsylvania in partnership with IU-13 will be providing cultural navigation services to the students and parents at Fulton Elementary School in Lancaster.
“Getting a cultural navigator is a proactive way to involve the families with the schools and make a reciprocal relationship," said Sohonyay. "One that is both giving and taking in everything we do from learning to simple needs and just making sure everyone’s on the same page and everyone’s taken care of."
The cultural navigator will be based in the school building in order to better access the students and their families.
“So whether they need help with housing, whether they need help with food, maybe they need help making a medical appointment, or understanding some insurance information they received on the mail, whatever it is that, that need might be, the Cultural Navigator will be able to help them do that," said Knapp.
The organization and school say they are also preparing to help the incoming Afghan refugees that will be settling in the area.