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As an undergraduate, Erin Collins was committed to social justice, whether it was delivering food to people with HIV/AIDS or volunteering to assist poverty-stricken families in Appalachia. But a series of heart-wrenching tragedies diverted her outreach efforts. While working with at-risk youth in Washington, D.C., two teenage boys in the program died after becoming victims of gun violence; one of them was shot over an argument about a bicycle. That same year, Collins’s friend was also shot and killed. “It was all so painful,” she says, “after that I moved away from volunteer work.”
Instead, she took an administrative job with the Government of Puerto Rico. But after a few years, she felt unfulfilled and dissatisfied, so she steeled herself and went back into outreach, working with homeless men in a medical recovery facility. Here, her dedication to helping others was reignited, and after a while she moved to Boston to get her Master’s in Social Work. Degree in hand, Collins came to Children’s Hospital Boston’s Inpatient Psychiatry Service, where she honed her clinical skills and became known for developing creative treatment plans to help even the most compromised children. She also worked with Children’s Latino Outpatient Psychiatry Team, where she was able to put her Spanish skills to use.
In 2004, Collins took a position at the John Marshall Elementary School, through the Children's Hospital Neighborhood Partnerships Program. In this role, she's been able to combine her clinical and outreach skills with her passion for violence prevention. The large Boston Public School is located in the Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood of Dorchester, an area that boasts physical beauty, strong intergenerational families, many churches and religious groups and rich diversity. However, it also struggles with poverty and violence. The area has seen a surge in community violence in recent years, especially around the school; last year, a former Marshall School student was found shot to death in the parking lot during the school day. It's also an area close to Collins's heart. "My grandmother and father grew up around the corner from the school," she says. "They talked about the neighborhood so fondly and lovingly and the neighborhood has so much to offer."
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Collins works closely with students' parents to help families resolve personal issues. "I love having the chance to collaborate with families who are struggling to find ways to solve problems and make life better," she says. "Families work hard and want the same things everyone wants for their kids—for them to have a good education and move on to college—but their resources are limited and their kids are dealing with issues like gunfire in their neighborhoods and worrying about playing outside."
Collins is most proud of the enormously well-received community violence-prevention initiative. "Rather than pretending violence isn't happening, teachers allow me to come into classrooms and address it in a direct way," she says. "It's freeing for the kids to have a venue to talk about living with the zstress of poverty, negative influences and how violence impacts their lives." During these sessions, students often share stories about having lost a parent or sibling due to gun violence, and Collins helps them find ways to cope. "We also talk about each child's goals and how they can change what's happening in their neighborhoods," she says. "Kids really want to push themselves to look for happiness and growth opportunities; that's what keeps me going."
A few years ago, Collins instituted Peace Night, which is now the school's biggest annual event. During this event, families share dinner, watch students' performances about peace and listen to their essays about people who have inspired them in their peacemaking efforts. "It's been amazing to see how the students are responding," she says. "It's also a great way for parents and the community to know more about their kids' hopes and dreams and reflect on ways to support them."
Despite how well these efforts have been received by the teachers, students and the community, funding for Collins' programs has been scarce. So the call Collins received in December letting her know she won the annual David S. Weiner award, a grant given each year to a Children's employee in honor of its former president, couldn't have come at a better time. The $30,000 award—an increase of $10,000 from last year—will fund her programs for three more years and allow her to expand them with new offerings, like a panel discussion for students and their parents about college, field trips to local colleges and peace-promoting events for the younger students.
It's now been nearly eight years since Collins joined Children's, and her enthusiasm has only grown, despite the hardships and heartache that happens when a student or their relative is hurt or killed. "It's so important that we nurture kids' dreams and make the path to college more available to them than the path to a gun," she says. "They have hopes and dreams to become something great, and we have a responsibility to help get them there."
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