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Before seventh grade, Brooklyn Wakefield hated school. A self-described “black sheep,” she received low grades, found it difficult to make friends and lacked motivation. She felt lost in the system.
But that changed when Wakefield received tuition assistance to switch from a public school in Newport, Rhode Island, to All Saints STEAM Academy, a Catholic school in nearby Middletown. She struggled for her first year, but by seventh grade, she made more friends and had a better handle on the academics. She began working on a school project that solved an issue in her neighborhood — a motion-sensored LED dog vest to deter coyotes — which she presented at local universities.
Before this, “I dreaded [school] like an actual plague,” she said. “It was great to have people actually impressed by something I did, and feel like I was doing something right.”
She realized, she said, that “I could be smart if I’m given the right resources to get there.”
For Wakefield, that resource was Star Kids Newport/Fall River, a nonprofit that provides tuition assistance for low-income children grades K-12 with a parent who has a history of incarceration or substance abuse.
It’s one of three similar programs across the South Coast and Rhode Island: its sister programs are Star Kids New Bedford and Rhode Islanders Sponsoring Education (RISE).
One of Star Kids’ main goals is breaking the intergenerational cycle of issues that these children are at high risk for, including poverty, drug use, disease, depression and violence.
The program funded Wakefield’s tuition until she returned to public school for high school. After that, Star Kids connected her with a math tutor and counselor to help with college and financial aid applications.
In 2025, Wakefield graduated from the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham. The 23-year old now works in Boston as a full-time engineer, so for her, the “chain has successfully been broken,” she said.
“I don’t think any of that would have been possible had it not been for that intervention and accessibility to a private school when I needed the help and redirection that Star Kids provided,” Wakefield said.
What is RISE/Star Kids?
Star Kids Newport/Fall River and its sister programs in New Bedford and Providence provide tuition assistance, mentorship, and financial assistance for other support areas, such as sports and driver’s education, depending on the program. They’re for children from low-income families with a parent who has a history of substance abuse or incarceration. The three programs serve more than 300 students.
Tim Flanigan, the programs’ founder and an infectious disease doctor, said he chose schooling as the means to assist these kids because of the time commitment.
“Education is 180 days a year,” he said. “It’s hard to find a more impactful intervention than education.”
The program has funding for summer programs, but its primary focus is education during the school year. Depending on the program, students can join in kindergarten or in fourth grade.
The decision of where the student goes to school is up to them and their parent or guardian, but Star Kids and RISE both offer guidance for choosing a school. Some students might start in a private school and then transfer back to public school, depending on their needs. Regardless of where they go, the students remain part of the program until they graduate high school.
The goal is to find the best education and experience for each child, rather than reforming schools or saying one is better than another, Flanigan said.
The application process asks for a student’s backstory, the impact parental incarceration or substance abuse has had on them, and how they would use the scholarship.
The main source of funding for each program comes from individual sponsors, and the average cost per year for each student is about $11,000-$12,000. The overall cost for kids across their entire time in the programs, through high school, can reach up to about $160,000, said Karen Flanagan, executive director of Newport/Fall River Star Kids.
Outreach is mainly word of mouth. Social workers, schools and other community resources tell kids about the program.
The first program, RISE, launched in 1997. Flanigan had the idea after working at a clinic at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections and treating women with HIV and Hepatitis C and those struggling with addiction. He saw a cycle where a lot of the women had children who were also incarcerated. The women’s biggest concern was not their own health, but their children, he said.
“The community is often plagued by a whole number and host of challenges, and so these kids are really up against the eight ball,” Flanigan said.
In 2000, he expanded programming with Newport/Fall River and New Bedford Star Kids.
He said he has not seen any other programs offer scholarship support to families impacted by substance use disorders and incarceration, but would happily provide his 25 years of experience to interested organizations.
Johns Hopkins University study
A recent study conducted by the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Research and Reform Education found that most program alumni prospered and “broke the cycle.”
Over 90% of study participants graduated high school and had never been arrested, incarcerated or admitted to rehab for substance use disorder. About 86% are currently employed. The vast majority of participants said Star Kids or RISE helped them succeed educationally, become a better person and gain confidence.
“A lot of them felt like they were falling through the cracks at home or in their neighborhoods, because no one expected them to do that well or gave them accountability,” said Alan Reid, an assistant researcher at Johns Hopkins who led the study.
Two of Felicia Edwards’ daughters are currently Star Kids, and her son, Duwuan, is an alumnus. Edwards said the program has helped beyond tuition, including with summer programs, tutoring, transportation, school supplies and books.
“[Star Kids] gives them so much more opportunity,” Edwards said. “And [my kids] take every opportunity that they can get because they know what they want.”
Two of Eulanda Young’s three daughters went to an all-girls Catholic school through the RISE program. She said they realized the importance of education through the program and made connections with prominent families, which has led to even more opportunities.
Young said the program not only changed her children’s lives, but also hers and her husband’s by motivating them to be better people. Her husband, who was formerly incarcerated, now works as a state supervisor in Rhode Island. She said she wouldn’t be in the position she is in now — the director of operations for a law firm and the first homeowner in her family — without RISE.
“Our children being able to get the education that they did, and not having to worry about where they would end up, gave us the push,” Young said. “We’re both resilient and persistent, but it also gave us what we needed to try to do better for ourselves.”
The Johns Hopkins survey looked at life outcomes by asking questions about graduating high school, going on to higher education or trade school, employment, marriage status, starting families and buying homes.
Over half of the alumni said they experienced four or more adverse childhood experiences, which are potentially traumatic events that can have lasting effects on a child’s well-being. (The survey asked about eight common adverse experiences, including parental incarceration, feeling scared at home and not having enough food and clean clothes.)
Reid said poor life outcomes cannot be directly traced to adverse childhood experiences; they just raise the risk. However, he said there is a correlation between life outcomes and the number of positive experiences a child has, such as mentorship, belonging in a community, and having a support system.
The “catalyst”
Flanigan said Star Kids and RISE might be a “catalyst” for program alumni and participants. But he, the executive directors, Reid and parents all credited the students themselves for their successes.
“[The kids are] the ones that have to do the homework in middle school and high school,” Flanigan said. “They’re the ones who have to decide they want to take advantage of these opportunities. They’re the ones that have to say, ‘I’m going to get up and go to school.’”
Crystal Yormick is a recent graduate of Boston University and a frequent contributor to The New Bedford Light. Email her at cyormick@newbedfordlight.org.
