Youth Advisory Council Supports Achievement Gap Projects Across Country
YAC grants
For the first time in the National Youth Leadership Training's 25-year
history, this summer’s participants were eligible for funding to apply
what they’d learned in their home communities.
NYLC’s Youth Advisory Council recently selected eight projects, from Washington state to Michigan that will address the “achievement gap” during the 2008-2009 school year. Each will receive $1,500 — funding that comes from State Farm’s® Youth Advisory Board. NYLC’s YAC will oversee the project, using an extranet to help participants learn from each other’s experiences.
These projects grow out of NYLT, NYLC’s summer leadership training that draws high school students from across the United States to the Midwest for a life-changing week of adventure, self-discovery, friendship, cultural exchange, leadership-building, and service. Participants explore issues of community involvement, race relations, oppression, ethics, and strategies for closing the achievement gap.
NAACP Youth Unit
Bainbridge Island, WA
NYLT participants involved in NAACP are using their mini-grant funding to support The Reading Adventure Program, a youth-developed and youth-run program to assist students with reading and comprehension, along with other fundamental subjects.
Hmong Academy
St. Paul, MN
NYLT participants at the Hmong Academy are creating two programs to address the achievement gap: Project WHOA (Working Hard on Academics) and the Hello program. Project WHOA will pair local college students with Hmong Academy students as role models. The Hello Program will shadow WHOA, with high school students serving as role models and mentors to younger students at the Hmong Academy.
H.D. Jacobs High School
Algonquin, IL
Students are developing a tutoring program to provide customized assistance to underachieving elementary students from local feeder schools. The student leaders will develop their tutoring and mentoring, communications, grant-writing, leadership, organizational, community, and networking skills while providing additional learning opportunities for younger students.
Ionia County ISD
Ionia, MI
Students at Ionia County ISD are creating a program called Healthy Minds Healthy Bodies. Their goal is to improve the health of students and families in their community and strengthen family relationships by working with community organizations to plan activities.
Mentoring Partnership of MN
Minneapolis, MN
Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota's Executive Youth Board are strengthening relationships between mentors and youth by creating a multi-media training resource to be accessible to mentoring programs throughout the state. The resource will include ways for adults to support, relate, and communicate with their mentees, and ways for mentees to build trust and connect with their mentors.
Northfield High School
Dundas, MN
Students at Northfield High School are creating an evening homework help and resource center at a local school which will be staffed by local college students and AmeriCorps Promise Fellows. The goals are to improve student work, increase test scores, and see an increased desire for students to learn and stay in school. Student leaders are working with local partners to ensure the resource center is sustainable after this start-up year.
Harrison High School and Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN
Students at Harrison High School aim to close the achievement gap by providing a free and confidential place where students can go to get basic needs, including toiletries, school supplies, and winter gear. They are creating a "School Closet" of necessities that students have private access to, and are being mentored by another school that runs a similar program. Student leaders plan to work with teachers to make the "School Closet" part of their lesson plans.
Worthington Schools Youth Engagement Council
Worthington, MN
Worthington School's Youth Engagement Council is doing a needs assessment of their community to gain an understanding of what the achievement gap looks like to them. They anticipate developing a program that will address teenage pregnancy and disadvantaged youth, two of the factors that seem to be contributing to the achievement gap.
