Helping Children and Youth Succeed

Goal: Stimulate early learning and keep kids on track once in school.

Problem: There are growing behavior problems among children and teens, reflected in more drug and alcohol abuse, poor school performance and increasing violence. There is also a lack of affordable child care.

Solution:

• United Way, bringing together youth-serving organizations with two urban middle-schools, has established on-site, extended day community schools to keep students on track through tutoring, counseling and family participation.
• With additional youth-serving organizations, United Way helps youth to overcome problems and build self-esteem through conflict resolution training, counseling and mentoring.
• Working with a network of child care providers, United Way is giving child care scholarships to families of children with special needs, as well as to low-income and immigrant families.

Results: In the two community schools, 92% of the participants improved their school attendance, behaviors that could lead to dropping-out decreased by 94% and parent involvement increased by 12%. The child care initiative provided scholarships to 65 families.

Challenge: Although major strides have been taken, community schools in at least three additional urban schools and dramatically increased child care scholarship support are critically needed.

You can help.