At 14 high schools in central Ohio, teens whose families can’t afford stylish backpacks, hair products or new clothes have been able to focus on classes instead of those other things.
“It sounds a little crazy, but if you think about being a 13-year-old…,” said Nicole Hebert-Ford, a former teacher, soon-to-be school counselor and co-founder of Student Success Stores. she likes to remind people. “We are able to keep those small problems small.”
Since starting at Champion Middle School, Columbus Global Academy and Mifflin Middle School in 2017, Student Success Stores have opened more locations in Columbus City Schools and Whitehall City Schools buildings, serving higher percentages of children living in poverty.
Not only do the stores offer dress code compliant clothing, they are also stocked with underwear and socks, jackets and hats, hygiene products and school supplies. The items are donated by companies, collected during support campaigns or purchased with financial contributions, and are free for children.
The idea behind it — first pitched at a United Way of Central Ohio “Pitch to Ditch Poverty” event in 2016 — is that young people who worry about their clothes or hair or other things that adults say they don’t care about worry about will be distracted from their studies.
“Our goal is to help students focus on their learning,” Hebert-Ford says. “In order to do that, our goal is to meet students’ basic needs.”
To date, Student Success Stores have delivered more than 37,000 items to young shoppers. There is no eligibility test for individual students; If there is a store at their school, all students may schedule a visit if their parent or guardian has not opted out.
Shops are placed in discreet locations in each school, Hebert-Ford said, and they are carefully arranged so young people don’t feel like they are rummaging through bins of discarded items. Clothing reflects the different cultural backgrounds of students and hair products are available for different hair types.
And who decides which clothing styles will appeal to young shoppers?
“I get a lot of help from our interns,” Herbert-Ford said.
rvitale@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Student Success Stores offer clothing and supplies for teens in Columbus
