When I was invited to speak to you all about the ‘exponential impact’ that PVSS makes, I couldn’t help but make a connection to a teaching strategy that is used in classrooms daily. It is a strategy called ‘scaffolding’. This is a process in which a teacher or a more competent peer supports and enables a learner to solve a task or achieve a goal that would be beyond her unassisted efforts. This specific and well-timed support moves students toward mastery and then independent application of a skill.

At the shelter, the amazing staff supports families when they can no longer go about certain aspects of life ‘unassisted’. They are given specific support to reach critical short-term goals and once those short-term goals are met, then different tools and strategies are offered so families can move closer to full independence. Eventually, just as it is in education, support is tapered-off as it becomes unnecessary, much as a scaffold is removed from a building during construction.

Children from families that are served by the “scaffolding” PVSS offers get to witness and be active participants in it’s outcomes. They see what it looks like to accept support in a time of dire need and move carefully toward stability. And because we know that parents are a child’s first and most important teachers, children learn how to be resilient and seek help through the process just like their parents did. Once again, profound and powerful modeling that is good for families and our entire community. Everybody wins.