Fort Wayne Urban League Education and Youth Services

Need for Education and Youth Services

Poverty is linked to a number of negative outcomes for children in the areas of education, emotional development, and delinquency. Poor children need supplementary resources to assist them in developing their potential for a productive life.

The summary and findings of the ‘Kids Count in Indiana Data Book 2000’, from The Indiana Youth Institute, report that many young Hoosiers are growing up in households with only one parent present. Most single parents are mothers, although a growing number of fathers are raising their children alone. Children who do not have the support of two parents may be disadvantaged financially and lack the social supports needed for healthy development. The percent of children living in poverty is perhaps the most widely used indicator for determining the overall well being of children.

The Report of the After-School Task Force (City of Fort Wayne, January, 2002) identified many of these same needs and problems in Fort Wayne, and presented data indicating that they are substantially greater for ethnic minority youths who live in the southeast quadrant of the city served by our Pontiac Youth Center (PYC).

The “achievement gap” between low-income or minority students and majority students has been well documented nationally and locally. National and state initiatives have also started to reduce the over-representation of minorities in special education classes. Most of the youth participating at PYC fall within these groups and are struggling to make Cs and better.

As our program demographics clearly demonstrate, we help children and their families who have the greatest economic need and least opportunity to become self-reliant. The vast majority of our PYC youth are low-income African-Americans and Hispanics who must overcome barriers of discrimination in their pursuit of a good education, which provides the necessary foundation for future self-sufficiency. Great numbers of them (54%) face additional barriers because they reside in households headed by single females.

Program Benefits

We provide educational, technological and esteem building activities that challenge and encourage youth ages 6 – 18 to practice responsible behavior and to achieve their full potential. Participating youth can receive homework assistance, computerized academic instruction in the tech center (computer lab), guidance in preparing for college, drug prevention education, sexual abstinence education and pre-employment training. They also participate in field trips and attend cultural events, while learning the necessary coping skills to grow into productive adults.

By working with indigenous neighborhood organizations and supportive community businesses in planning and implementing community programs, such as neighborhood cleanup, they develop social responsibility and a sense of community and inter-generational respect.

Education, social development, and community service activities are all essential to nurturing children and youth so they will become self-reliant, contributing adult members of the community. The Pontiac Youth Center‘s after-school program and activities provide the youth an alternative to the possible violence that may confront them in the streets.

Through regular communication among parents, PYC staff, and school staff, we seek to assure that any academic or behavioral problems are identified early and addressed in a consistent manner at home, school and the Pontiac Youth Center. Special attention is given to encourage parental involvement with their children and youth through school visits to meet with teachers and attend special events, as well as through participation in parent education/support groups at the center. The parents’ participation in meetings indicates their support for their youth, and provides an overall experience of healthy, social and emotional growth for the youth when they are at home. PYC works with parents and school personnel to have releases signed in order to permit open communication among all parties.

Our collaboration with Indiana Institute of Technology provides student volunteer mentors and tutors to assist the program’s regular staff, in order to give more individual attention to participants and provide exposure to positive role models for the youth. As a result, the children and youth at PYC have caring adults in their lives on a regular basis, and experience healthy social, emotional, mental and academic growth. Participants also benefit in the long term by:

• Not becoming a parent before high school graduation,
• Not being involved in the judicial system,
• Graduating from high school with a “C” average or above, and
• Attending college

Our services benefit not only the youths participating at the Pontiac Youth Center but also their families, other youths in the Hanna-Creighton and Oxford neighborhoods, and the entire community, which suffers when youths engage in personally and socially destructive behaviors, and fail to develop to their full potential.

New programming will help the PYC youth and their families become more self-reliant by providing standards-based academic assistance from certified teachers that includes regular interaction with staff and volunteer mentors who encourage academic achievement, conflict resolution and abstinence from drugs, violence and sex.

In recent years, our programming focus at PYC has been on providing homework assistance and improving the academic skills of participating youths. In order to build upon our experience and strengthen these services, we are contracting with certified teachers starting in June, 2004, to:

• Provide standards-based after-school and summer academic assistance to youths at PYC,
• Provide individualized instruction utilizing educational strategies tailored to the special needs and circumstances of our youths, and
• Train, coach, coordinate and provide resources for our volunteer mentors/tutors (most of whom are college students) to assist participating youths in developing the knowledge and skills required to meet the Indiana State Academic Standards for their grade level.

The instruction will be provided in reading/language arts, and math. The teachers have training in special education and/or the subject area being taught. This will provide students with instruction in both learning strategies and content to provide support in their educational progress.

Opportunities are also be available for other academic skill development, such as that provided by Project Read and building robots from kits. A variety of educational board and computer games, educational TV, books and movies are used to supplement formal instruction. Formal drug prevention education, sexual abstinence education, and conflict resolution training are available as resources permit, and are encouraged as well through informal messages to the youths from all adults at PYC. Snacks and other incentives are provided to encourage daily participation by the youths.

Pontiac Youth Center is open from noon to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Friday during the school year and as scheduled for special projects/activities on weekends and during the summer. The typical elementary or middle school PYC participant will spend up to 2 hours after each school day Monday through Thursday receiving academic assistance from the certified teachers and the tutors they have trained and supervise. During the school year, the focus will be on homework assistance and related skills required by the Indiana State Standards, based on the identified areas of weakness per their initial enrollment evaluation. Some of the instruction will utilize the tech center (computer lab). Fun Fridays will provide social, cultural and recreational activities as incentives for participation earlier in the week.

During the summer, the teachers and tutors will provide 3 hours of standards based skill development for six weeks, Monday through Thursday, that is focused on the specific needs identified by each student’s assessment results. On Fridays, students will take field trips to provide them with experiences that can enhance their academic skills and help them relate their academic learning to the real world.

We have received recent funding from United Way, INDMH, NE Indiana Workforce Investment Board, Foellinger Foundation, CDBG and other sources to maintain service provision.