Project D.E.E.P. Mission Statement

The mission of Project D.E.E.P. is to foster the educational, athletic, and social growth and development of middle school children of all races, creeds, and ethnic backgrounds throughout the Dorchester community.

Project D.E.E.P. Overview

         The Dorchester Educational Enrichment Program is quite possibly the best thing that has happened to Boston’s largest borough since it joined the city in 1870. Within ten years of full operation at the Murphy Community Center the program has transformed a community. Before Project D.E.E.P. many parents in Dorchester felt that there was little they could do about their children’s sagging test scores; the program has now provided those parents with the tutoring services their children may need. Before Project D.E.E.P. many parents felt that there was little chance their children could enroll at such prestigious schools as Thayer Academy and Boston Latin School; the program has now given those parents hope. Finally, before Project D.E.E.P. many parents felt there was no way they could send their children to summer sports camps; the program has now undertaken that heavy task for them.

         And the program has been able to do all this—and more—because the people at Project D.E.E.P. truly care about the children. The organization’s assets do not involve the awards it has received, but the dreams it watches over. Children everywhere have dreams, and Project D.E.E.P.’s main concern is that those dreams do not go to waste. That is why every child who takes part in Dorchester’s ground-breaking educational outlet is treated as the most important person involved in the program. Besides, if that child is not treated with such importance, if that student is not nurtured educationally, if that young dreamer is not urged to chase after his/her goals, then who will do these things?

• The One-on-One Tutorial Program: Each student in the program is assigned one tutor to work with throughout the year. The student and tutor then meet for 90 minutes each week (usually during the same time slot—for example, Tuesdays from 4:00-5:30). During these sessions the tutors are responsible for helping the students in all of their subjects. They are to help with—but not do—the students’ homework, and then push the students ahead of where they are in class (if possible). Finally, the hallmark of the tutoring element of the program is that extra emphasis is placed on reading and writing. Every student is expected to have an outside reading book at all times, and they must write about this book on a weekly basis.
• The Summer Camp Program: This is the bonus of the program, the incentive for the students. Every child who maintains a certain level of diligence during the school year receives a full scholarship to a summer camp. In the summer of 200 Project D.E.E.P. was represented in the enrollment of 16 different camps, which ranged from a horse-riding camp in Milton to the program's own baseball camp. This aspect of the overall program is the one element which defies the belief that Project D.E.E.P. only runs during the school year. Extensive work and finances are directed toward making sure every deserving student receives a ticket to the camp of his/her choice. The months of June, July and August are busy times for what has become a year-round organization.
• The Community Service Program: The students of Project D.E.E.P. are educated in terms of classwork and study skills, but they are also educated in the skills necessary to become active in their community. As a formal requirement upon enrollment in the program every child in Project D.E.E.P. must complete five hours of community service. Many of the students choose to do so at the year-end Community Service Day, when both the staff and students of the program come together to do something for the community. Countless others spend their time in the winter shoveling for the elderly in their neighborhoods. Just about any example of community service is accepted by the program, and every time a student does something for the community he/she receives credit for it.
• The Private School Placement Program: This has now become the smallest of the five elements of Project D.E.E.P., but this is where the program began. Starting in 1995, Project D.E.E.P. has held seminars during the autumn months to expose the Dorchester community to the wealth of educational opportunities that are out there. On a given night every October, representatives come to the Murphy Community Center from as many as eleven different private schools: The Belmont Hill School, Boston College High School, Boston University Academy, Buckingham Browne & Nichols, the Dexter/Southfield School, Fontbonne Academy, Milton Academy, the Noble & Greenough School, The Roxbury Latin School, Thayer Academy, and the Winsor School. Their purpose on that night is to talk to the parents and students of the program, in order to possibly recruit children from Dorchester. And once the children become interested in these schools the program takes it one step further by helping them with the application process. Project D.E.E.P. becomes the children’s advocate for their admission into the schools of their choice, helping them with intense interview preparation sessions, and promoting their eligibility for financial aid. If nothing else, this program at least opens the eyes of many people who would otherwise keep at a distance from these prestigious institutions.
• The Examination Preparation Course: This is the aspect of Project D.E.E.P. that helps students to do well on the placement tests used by these institutions. The course actually involves two different courses: a math class and a verbal/reading comprehension class. These classes span a period of eight weeks (one 90-minute class per week) and cover all the pertinent material which will be included on the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE) and the Secondary School Admissions Test (SSAT). The program is offered to fifth, sixth, and eighth graders at a cost of $70—the only fee ever accrued by the parents of Project D.E.E.P. students. In its ninth year last fall, the course succeeded in helping more than 40 students achieve admittance into private schools like Thayer Academy and public schools like Boston Latin.
• Finally, two lesser programs were added to Project D.E.E.P.’s array of services last year: a Learning Latin Class and an Exam School Math Support Component. The Latin class meets once a week for an hour each time, and it is actually divided into two classes: one for students taking first-year Latin, and one for those in their second year. The Math group also meets once a week, for an hour to an hour and a half each time. This program is designed to help those students who are struggling to make the transition into the difficult math that is taught at the local exam schools.

History

         Project D.E.E.P. is a nonprofit educational program located in Dorchester. The program has been in operation since 1995, when it began in the home of a Dorchester resident. At that time the main objective of the program, which was run entirely by President and Founder Brendan McDonough, was to expose the children of Dorchester to the wealth of educational opportunities available to them. Specifically, the organization was geared toward placing Dorchester students into private schools such as Buckingham Browne & Nichols, Fontbonne Academy, Roxbury Latin and Thayer Academy. From those modest beginnings the program grew, and by the following school year—1996-1997—it operated out of the Murphy Community Center in Dorchester. Project D.E.E.P. also instituted the One-on-One Tutorial Program and the Summer Camp Program that year, and these have since become the calling cards of the organization. By 1997-1998, two more elements were added to the program: the Examination Preparation Course and the Community Service Program.

         All of these different educational outlets rolled into one have made for a large—and a largely impressive—organization. There were over 250 middle and high school students involved in the program last year—a number that is more than ten times the total membership of its inaugural year. Many of these high school students are part of the enormous tutoring base that has become integral to the program’s success, and quite a few of them are students who somehow benefited from their own enrollment in Project D.E.E.P. in the past and are now returning to help other children, just as they were helped years ago. The fact that there are now so many young men and women coming back to D.E.E.P. to give back to a program that gave so much to them is an indication of how much the program has truly grown.

         And yet the growth of Project D.E.E.P. is far from over. There are two certainties involving the ground-breaking educational program on the second floor of the Murphy Community Center:  its history is modest and strong, and its future is bright and limitless.

Key Program Achievements, 2005-2006

         Eleven years ago Project D.E.E.P. was just a slim shadow of what it is today. There were roughly 25 students loosely involved in a loosely organized program back in 1995; now there are over 250 students heavily involved in a heavily organized program. The program has grown almost beyond anyone’s imagination, and the achievements keep piling up.

         The original programming of Project D.E.E.P. assisted and educated families in the community as to alternative educational opportunities. To that end, the Private School Placement Program has, in eleven years, successfully placed over 100 children from the Dorchester community into some of the most distinguished educational institutions in Greater Boston—schools like Boston College High School and Milton Academy. The success of the Private School Placement Program has supported the development and implementation of the One-on-One Tutorial Program (150% enrollment increase from 1996), an Examination Preparation Program (assisted in the placement of over 40 children into Boston Latin School and Boston Latin Academy last year alone), a Community Service Program and an extensive Summer Camp Program. In addition, Project D.E.E.P. has collaborated with other public, private, and nonprofit corporations in the development of a community-based computer center. The immediate impact and success of these programs has led to a substantial need for additional funding, to be dispersed among a wide array of operating expenses.