On a Wednesday night in Chelsea, two Harvard students sit in a classroom together with two women. They are reading stories together, surrounded by blackboards, maps and textbooks.

The scene might be repeated a hundred times a day in Harvard seminars or tutorials, but here it is performed with one important difference. On this night at a vocational placement center for non-English speaking immigrants, the students have become teachers and the adults students--and the struggle for learning in which they are engaged seeks a final goal of sometihing closer to achieving diginty than straight As.

Under the auspices of the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) Project Literacy, Harvard students in Chelsea and others in South Boston prepare area adults in basic language and math skills in one area and for high school and college equialency exams in another. The goals and shortcomings of the programs vary, but their purposes are the same: to help people return to school without shame and gain control over lives which have run upon hard times.

"These women are actively reaching out for help," says Theresa A. Finn '89, who heads the South Boston Outreach Tutoring Program for women aiming to earn a high school Graduate Equivalency Degree (GED). "And when there's individualized attention, we can really help them out with their problems."

Though the numbers vary, approximately 10 undergraduates since October have traveled to the South Boston Boys' and Girls' Club twice a week, teaching women 20 to 40-years-old academic skills. They work within a broader program that offers family planning classes, speakers on health issues, field trips and other activities. The projects aim to provide the women, who are frequently single mothers, a practical break from an often monotonous routine.

"We know what's necessary for the GED, but we also build a strong relationship with the students," says Finn. "That's something these women probably haven't ever had before, including in their past GED classes."

Finn should be in a position to know. A South Boston native, or "Southie" as she puts it, Finn says, "Throughout my four years at school I've seen the Harvard community not truly understand South Boston. It's a very tight-knit community--people pull for each other--and that can have advantages and disadvantages. Either way, I just wish more Harvard people could see what it's really like."

An area that has suffered from stereotypes of tough neighborhoods and inner city problems, South Boston does face real difficulties. In the Outreach program, "the women are mostly single parents from their 20s to 40s, usually with kids, and from disadvantaged backgrounds," says Finn. "Like in a lot of urban areas, they're trapped in a cycle of poverty. Sometimes they've had alcohol or drug problems themselves or in their family; some have dropped out of Boston schools, which often fail to meet their needs...Life just hasn't dealt them a good situation."

"The program brought me out of my shell," says Rita Urban, a mother of six. "Before this I was a sit-at-home housewife with an eighth grade education. It's great to be able to get a break and meet other people. When you're stuck in the house, your friends all seem to be gone."

For Patti Duquette, a single mother with four sons from ages two to seven, the Outreach program was the only means of both going to school and taking care of her children.

Duquette worked with Harvard tutors for four weeks before taking the GED exam, which she then passed; she now hopes to attend Bunker Hill Community College.

The effectiveness of the South Boston program stems largely from the focused attention provided for each of its students, Finn says.

"Working one-on-one was great," says Duquette. "They [the student tutors] were really patient, and they went at our own pace. It wasn't what they wanted to get done but what we wanted done.

"It's also nice to have adults to talk to after being in the house with the kids all the time," she adds.

Fighting Different Battles in Chelsea