At Grand Prairie ISD, Academic Success Comes from Meeting Basic Needs

The district’s Social Work Hub includes a pantry, clothing closet, counseling, health care and other resources meant to equip students to thrive in the classroom.

Birthday cake, toothbrushes and new socks may not seem like necessary school supplies, but at the Grand Prairie ISD Social Work Hub, those items are just as important as the pencils and notebooks they supply to families.

“Everything we do here goes back to the academic success of our students,” says Vivian Phan, Social Work Hub Lead & Director foster care liaison. “If their basic needs aren’t met, they can’t be successful.”

The Social Work Hub’s pantry is a partner of the North Texas Food Bank and provides families facing hunger with access to groceries each month. Families receive fresh produce, canned vegetables and proteins, plus pasta and other nutritious pantry staples. If their child has a birthday coming up, they’re also given a “cake kit,” complete with a disposable pan, frosting, cake mix and candles.

Vivian says while the dessert isn’t a necessity, it is often out of reach for parents’ budgets and having a way to celebrate boosts a child’s self-esteem, which directly correlates to their ability to succeed in class.

The idea that all of a student’s needs must be met before they can learn and succeed in school is what drove Grand Prairie ISD to open its Social Work Hub about six years ago. It’s grown from serving around 100 families that first year to more than 3,800 last year and in recent months, it moved to a larger facility with more pantry space, a larger free-cost clothing closet and space to house even more wraparound services for families.

GPISD Family Service Center includes the Social Work Hub, a counseling office with space for play therapy, healthcare services, an office for LifeLine for Families Inc., a partner organization that provides rental assistance, PEIMS department to assist with school registration services, and more.

About 5% of the families they serve are homeless, which often means they’re living in hotels or with other families. Even for those with housing, Vivian says rental assistance is one of families’ biggest needs in recent years as housing costs have continued to rise.

NTFB Program Specialist Tyler Miller, who works with school pantries, says GPISD was among the first partners to champion the hub model and to bring their school pantry inside, rather than operating it as a drive through distribution. Doing that, she says, allows Vivian and her team to meet with families while providing them with food so that they can also assess what other services they might need.

She adds that GPISD has also found success in partnering with other organizations and donors so that they can grow what’s available for families. Their closet that provides new pants, shirts, undergarments and other items is run with Kids’ Inc. and other partner donors. GPISD Social Work Hub provide families with monthly food, supply hygiene items, cake kits and even extra food so that GPISD can send families home with more during holiday weeks when school lunches aren’t available.

“They were one of the first districts that came up with this mindset, and they do it so well,” Tyler says.

Vivian says they serve families from each of the district’s 36 campuses and that they hear from school counselors regularly about the positive impact on students of having regular access to food and other services.

“Our ultimate goal is always the success of the student,” Vivian says.

Said one mom who visited for food but was met with a host of support services, “I was very low on food. My 10-year-old daughter is growing daily, and I was a little nervous and scared to reach out for help. But I was blessed with more than enough. My baby is going to be so happy when she gets out of school today.”