Sophia Project

By Carol Cole and Robert McDermott

Sophia Project, a member of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America from 1999 to 2010, and an affiliate of the Camphill Association of North America, has served mothers and children at risk of homelessness for thirteen years. For its first eleven years it was located in the inner city of Oakland, California. For the past two years it has continued its work in San Rafael, California.

At the invitation of John Beck, editor of being human, we plan to tell the story in three parts of how a wise education within a loving community has brought deep and remarkable transformations to fifty families and 140 children. The story begins and is sustained by the project’s response to the needs of these families. It is based on the conviction that insights of Rudolf Steiner and Karl Koenig show how to create a community that enables individuals—children, mothers, and coworkers—to heal, strengthen, and build necessary capacities.

From the first day to the present Sophia Project has been anchored in the Waldorf approach to early childhood education specifically adapted for these children. This combination of a Camphill community and Waldorf education has realized profound results: the children and mothers had been homeless and had suffered abuse prior to joining this project; to date not one of these families has returned to homelessness, all but one of the mothers are employed and live with their children in their own apartments, and all of the children are performing successfully in school.

This is the story of the transformation process by which the children and their mothers who suffered from toxic levels of stress, alienation, poverty, fear, and abuse are now well. The Sophia Project required unfailing dedication, a profound ideal of a live-in community, an equally profound approach to early childhood education and transformation, and a loyal network of donors and supporters. This is a dramatically successful story of hard work based on and within anthroposophy in response to inner city families; it can be replicated.

Vision and Approach

Many friends with experience of the challenges of American inner cities advised that the kind of project the founders were envisioning could not succeed in west Oakland. Where they saw no end of trouble the founders saw protection and transformation of children and mothers.

The children and mothers for whom Sophia Project was created are on the front lines battling some of the most intractable problems of our society. As they become well, they develop capacities to transform the harshness and chaos that fomented many of these problems.

The founders knew that to be effective they and the live-in community would need to be available 24/7 in the same neighborhoods as these extremely vulnerable families.

In every respect, this project has been informed by the anthroposophical image of the human being as cosmic and earthly with a spirit flowing through the past, present, and future. This approach presupposes and in turn deepens the dignity and healing resources of mother and child.

Founding

For five years prior to founding Sophia Project, Carol Cole had been director of children’s services at Raphael House, the first family homeless shelter in San Francisco. (Prior to her work at Raphael House, Carol founded a multi-racial Waldorf early childhood program in Camphill, South Africa, at the end of Apartheid, and before that she was a kindergarten teacher at the San Francisco Waldorf School.) Raphael House, led by Father David Lowell, had a live-in community devoted to Russian Orthodoxy. From the beginning of their collaboration, Father David and Carol worked with an understanding that Carol would eventually create a project based on anthroposophy and Waldorf. After four years at Raphael House, Carol’s husband, David Barlow, who had been a Camphill co-worker in South Africa for twenty-two years, became the operations manager.

When the time came to start Sophia Project as an independent tax-exempt (501(c)(3) institution, Carol and Father David created an agreement for collaboration. A pro-bono team of management consultants at Stanford University School of Business studied and then praised the mutually beneficial relationship between Raphael House and Sophia Project: a) Raphael House agreed to fund much of the direct program costs for three years, not including capital costs; b) priority for inclusion in Sophia Project would be given to families that had lived at Raphael House and had moved to Oakland for financial reasons; c) Carol would continue as full time director of children services at Raphael House for three years and David would continue as part-time operations manager for two years. It is difficult to imagine how Sophia Project could have launched successfully without the generous collaboration of Raphael House.

Equally indispensable was Ellie Wood’s generous gift of the down payment on a large, neglected house in west Oakland and her guarantee of the mortgage lent by Rudolf Steiner Foundation. The founding board consisted of Robert McDermott (chair), Ellie Wood, Kathy Gower (secretary), and David Barlow. In 2000 Sophia Project officially opened with 8 children in daily programs, 6am–6pm and overnight respite care for 5 children on 3 weekends a month. It held art days and festival celebrations for the neighborhood children, many of whom came to play on other days.

Houses and Neighborhood

Sophia House was located in west Oakland. Five years later the project purchased Myrtle House, two blocks away. In general, the neighborhood was violent but specific experiences can tell a different story. Shortly after the sale, a neighbor warned against taking a photo of the house. He said, “I have a lot of friends who don’t like pictures.” Five years later his infant daughter joined the program in our second house. Two years later, when we at- tended his funeral, his daughter, on seeing us, brightened and ran to us to be held. In a similar way, David had a visit from several of the neighborhood women opposed to what they thought would be a safe house for battered women because abusers inevitably locate a safe house. When they heard that the project would be serving vulnerable young children they immediately lent their support.

In the entire 11 years the Sophia community did not experience a break-in or any violence. This is a testament to the neighbors who in unseen ways worked to keep the community safe. The neighbors also appreciated the painstaking restoration of two dilapidated but once beautiful houses (see photos below and previous page). For its part, Sophia community members observed very strict protocols on dress and behavior when outside the houses. Despite the violence and the overhead police helicopters whose frequent presence sent children and adults alike scrambling inside, the houses and gardens did become safe houses for neighbors, children, mothers, co-workers, and visitors.

The Board and Funding

In addition to its official responsibility for the financial and legal oversight, the board served the mission and integrity of the program. A few board members volunteered on a weekly basis in the programs and made enormous contributions to the program. At its meetings six times a year, Carol explained some of the ways that she and the staff were applying the Waldorf approach to early childhood in the work with the children as well as in the lives of the co-workers.

Sophia Project families were struggling to survive. Their meager income was needed first for rent and secondarily for food. Sophia Project, which received no government funding, offered its services free to its families. In all, Sophia Project raised more than $5.5 million dollars. Most of this amount was provided by philanthropic foundations. Two thousand individuals supported the project, approximately thirty-percent of them from within the anthroposophical movement. Less than 1.5% came from anthroposophical or Camphill organizations. Camphill Beaver Run, parents in the East Bay Waldorf school, as well as mothers in the San Francisco Waldorf School parent handwork group and the Secret Santa group (both led by Sharry Wright), all contributed to the Sophia Project families. Sophia Project actively collaborated in programs with Children’s Hospital of Oakland, Rebuilding Oakland, Child Protective Services, and Habitat for Humanity.

The Live-in Community

Essential to the work of Sophia Project is the live-in community of co-workers. All program staff and interns lived at one of the two houses. Living out of Camphill principles, the staff worked to create a vessel of physical and soul safety. The long-term co-workers, as well as any intern who so wished, agreed to strive to live up to the “Sophia Project Leading Thought”:

Out of love for the children, children who together with their mothers have experienced inner and outer poverty, violence, abuse, homelessness, and a lack of human dignity, we strive to live and work together in such a way that our community striving in service of Christ is manifest in ways the children can imitate and in which the mothers can participate and in so doing can develop the inner capacities needed to transform themselves and the world around them, serve the good and gain evermore strength and courage to transform that which robs and degrades human dignity.

Interns came from around the world through the Waldorf movement, Camphill, and AmeriCorps. Before arrival, they received a detailed agreement describing service to which they were committing. At the start of each year the entire community underwent a five-day orientation concerning the structure of community living and working together.

Carol led the interns and staff in studies concerning the principles of the Waldorf approach to early childhood education, aspects of curative education, child study, family support work, as well as specific workshops on topics such as licensing requirements, domestic violence, and many aspects of power, rank, and privilege. Every coworker took up an education plan of varying level and intensity.

Teacher education took place both inside and outside the project. Two teachers completed their certification in Waldorf early childhood education. Sophia Project became the first satellite location for the bachelor’s degree in curative education at Camphill Beaver Run. The entire live-in community engaged in outings, artistic activity, the study of anthroposophical ideas, and inspiring biographies such as Martin Luther King Jr. Through these activities each member of the project collaborated in deepening his or her free spiritual life. To the extent possi- ble, the entire community strove to realize the ideal of the three-fold social order. Each member endeavored to honor the responsibilities and needs of each community member, including care of the houses and gardens, shopping and cooking, as well as health insurance, outside counseling, and education. Every co-worker was aware of the project’s finances, with a clear understanding of the need to live simply in order to ensure that the resources could be directed to the needs of the children and families.

Results

By 2013, Sophia Project served over 140 children and 50 families in its five-day and weekend programs. It also served dozens of neighborhood children. All but one family served by the Sophia Project daily programs remain housed and stable and have become agents of change in their own neighborhoods. Teachers regularly comment on the harmony that Sophia Project children bring to their class. Eighteen children have grants to private or parochial schools. Four are now in college and in the next few years several more will attend college. Thirty-five interns who worked for the Sophia Project and received training from Carol continue to work in organizations committed to serving vulnerable children and families.

The work continues.

Carol Cole (carol.cole@sophiaproject.org) co-founded and directs Sophia Project. Robert McDermott (rmcdermott@ciis.edu) is board chair of Sophia Project and president emeritus of the California Institute for Integral Studies.

First of all it was a drug house here...

before Sophia Project came. It was violent, rowdy, loud, dirty. I was afraid a lot. And when Sophia Project came things started looking up….It is cleaner, it even smells better. The whole neighborhood seems to have lit up. The flowers are around here. The natural habitat, the snails, the butterflies and things are appreciated by me coz they weren’t around before. It seems like our neighbors are being more respectful of just general people walking the streets. Before they were pretty rude and disrespectful and now that they see that somebody from another part of their world has come into ours, per se, and is trying to help, what I’ve seen is that people that see people help, they start helping themselves and helping each other. Its been a blessing this place being here.” - Londa, Myrtle House next-door neighbor

When Luis, 3 years old, arrived...

he and his family were still struggling with homelessness. His mother was overwhelmed with the care of her other child, a 10-year-old handicapped girl, and was unable to do more than meet Luis’ basic needs. They had all experienced domestic violence. It took consistent, careful guidance for Luis to learn to trust others and to interact with the other children without hitting. After a half year he has become much more peaceful and found his way through the trauma. He spends a lot of time on the swings singing. With his arms extended to the side to hold onto the swing, it is easy to see his disfigured arm, which healed poorly after it was broken in a violent incident—a painful reminder of what he and many of our children endure. Less visible but equally powerful are the inner capacities Luis is now building which enable him to wait for a turn on the beloved swing, ask for help for a starting push, and immerse himself in the swinging movement and in his joyful (and quite loud) song: “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider went up the waterspout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain, and the Itsy-Bitsy Spider went up the spout again.” Perhaps Luis recognizes some of his own tenacity in that of the spider he sings about with such enthusiasm. - From the 2005 newsletter

Some of our families stay...

in the neighborhood and make changes here, one step by courageous step. Having learned at Sophia House the importance of daily life, Joan now has a dinner table where most evenings she eats with her children. “The neighbors can’t believe I am still doing it,” she laughs. Some of her neighbor’s children join her family for a “sit-down” dinner. “They’ll be making their folks do it too one day” she smiles. Painfully, this new order does not suit all of her extended family and some do not come around much anymore. “I miss them,” she tells me, “but we have to do this now, the kids don’t need to act like nothing matters.” - From the 2004 newsletter