FEATURED RECIPIENT The Appalachian Women's Leadership Project, Inc., a former RMYF grantee, helps at-risk girls in rural West Virginia build resiliency. The program builds essential skills in girls through a variety of approaches -- such as entrepreneurship, service to the community and the arts. Hear a song written by the girls of the program. LISTEN >>

2008 Grantees

Girls on the Run, Chicago, IL
www.gotrchicago.org

Young girls’ participation in physical activity is linked to self esteem, body image, weight and eating behaviors, the likelihood of risky behaviors including drugs, alcohol, tobacco, early sexual activity, incidence of bullying and violence, and academic performance. Research links inactivity among children to sedentary living among adults, and shows that physical activity also declines strikingly as children age. GOTRC’s program improves physical activity behaviors over the course of the 12-week program, and this proposed evaluation will show that the program also has a longer-term positive impact as girls reach their high school years.

To demonstrate that we are fulfilling our mission to educate and inspire girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living, GOTRC plans to conduct a longitudinal evaluation of former program participants from 1999-2000 to show that, in fact, our early intervention has a lasting impact on the likelihood that girls will be physically active in their teenage years, maintain healthy eating habits, stay in school, and be less likely to engage in at-risk activities. We will measure physical activity rates, healthy eating and lifestyle behaviors, self-esteem, body image, prevalence of participation in risky behaviors (smoking, alcohol, sexual activity, etc.), and school graduation rates.

Media and Technology Charter High (MATCH) School, Boston, MA
www.matchschool.org

The first part of the dissemination project involves our efforts to share with other educators and policy-makers what we have found to be successful by hosting visits. Each year, we host over 100 visitors from all over the world and all over the United States who come to see many different aspects of the school, from our MATCH Corps tutoring program to our strict disciplinary code to the close relationships developed between students, teachers, tutors, and staff. MATCH’s success is well-documented, and its position as a leader in urban education reform efforts is widely acknowledged through results and rewards earned by the school.

We also plan to assemble and distribute a booklet containing approximately 15 teacher interviews. The pool provides a representative sample of charter schools, pilot schools, and traditional public schools, and the interviews shy away from any editorial slant (such as a pro-charter stance) and are not attempting to make a political statement regarding state-required testing, teachers unions, school funding, or any other controversial political topic.

The interviews are conducted to give a quick insight into what it is like to be a teacher in an urban school, and to give a varied look at different types of schools and how these schools are serving their students; what aspects of each school is working from the teachers' perspectives, what is most challenging at each school, and what teachers would do differently if they were given complete autonomy and control over the school. The finished product would be a 50-60 page booklet of interviews, offering policy-makers a chance to quickly gain insight into the daily challenges involved in urban education.

Mission Community Financial Assistance, San Francisco, CA

Youth Trainers for Economic Power (YTEP) is a new program designed to provide low-income youth with financial education through a youth-delivered training series; to provide savings accounts (with a $20 balance and 3% interest) at the Youth Credit Union Program; and to engage youth participants in a campaign to promote saving and/or affordable financial services. Because we will target the trainings to existing groups with an adult ally, we believe YTEP will raise the awareness of adult allies about the importance of promoting savings and use of low/no-cost financial services. We are currently implementing a 6-month pilot of this program, which provides us with an opportunity to strengthen the design from a process perspective, as we prepare for the January, 2008 implementation using a more sophisticated evaluation plan.

YTEP Youth trainers: ten Mission District youth will be recruited and prepared to deliver interactive age-appropriate training about financial services, financial institutions, how to budget and save and consumer rights issues to their peers. In addition to content about these areas, they will engage in community-building and leadership development activities. The training will take place in January and February, 2008, including an offsite retreat in February and two practice trainings with YCUP participants in March.

YTEP youth participants: YTEP staff will identify community-based organizations (CBO) interested in training for their high-school-aged youth groups. We are targeting CBOs that work with youth parents, foster youth and youth exiting the juvenile justice system, as well as immigrant youth and low-income youth. We already have relationships with many of these groups. We will schedule 12 groups for the year (approximately 200 youth).

PlusTime New Hampshire, Chichester, NH
www.plustime.org

PlusTime NH is proposing to disseminate key findings from the RMYF funded evaluation findings concerning Out of School Matters! NH. PlusTime NH Program Support Services will work in small group and one-on-one consultations to develop and implement specific strategies for retaining program participants for the amount of time required to impact academic preparedness. The ability of an afterschool program to maintain a consistent level of participation over time is at the heart of the findings.

There is a statistically significant difference in attendance duration level and the percentage of students improving in 4 out of 7 academic areas (overall academic performance, homework submission, homework completion, and class participation). In comparison, students who attended at a high intensity level are significantly different from low and medium attendees in only one academic area (homework completion).

These findings represent a new way of thinking for afterschool programs that will have a major impact on the field. Afterschool programs are generally under funded and must make hard choices about program design, activities, and schedules. For example, these findings indicate that is it a better choice for youth to spend limited resources on a program that runs for 9 months twice a week vs. a program that runs 4 days a week for only 4 months. That is very important information for the afterschool field.

It is our goal to disseminate these findings and build strategies for continuous improvement based on these findings. Our work with afterschool programs has shown the highest success rate when combining one-on-one consultation, group training, and peer networking. We are proposing to both broadly disseminate the work to a larger network in-state and nationally, and work intensely with the original sites involved in the original work to use this data to improve their programming.

Refugee Family Services, Stone Mountain, GA
www.refugeefamilyservices.org

The RFS School Liaison Program has demonstrated a successful way to work with a diverse community of international parents and metro-Atlanta schools to ensure that international youth reach their full potential for academic success. Specifically, the RFS School Liaison Program serves as the link between refugee/immigrant parents and schools by providing advocacy, interpretation, transportation, problem solving assistance, individualize cultural consultations and group cultural presentations. In the 2006 calendar year, the Program reached over 525 students and their parents directly, worked in more than 60 schools, and provided an additional 100 referrals to other needed services. More than 2000 direct services included: translation, interpretation and support for parent-teacher conferences and advanced parent meetings (academic and behavioral challenges); access to special education services; enrollment in head start, pre-k and international schools; and, parent-school communications assistance. In addition, the School Liaison Program has provided more than 12 cultural presentations to school personnel about the refugee cultures that it serves.

The proposed dissemination plan includes: a RFS School Liaison Program Manual, a RFS School Liaison Program web page, RFS will conduct a national best practices study, a local mailing campaign, a national & local conference presentation, publish articles, and provide technical assistance.

Youth In Focus, Oakland, CA
www.youthinfocus.net

Youth In Focus (YIF) will do an external evaluation of its youth-led action research, evaluation, and planning curriculum and facilitation process. With an 8-step curriculum and training process, YIF trains youth and their adult allies in how to conduct youth-led action research, evaluation, and planning. In this process, youth lead the process, making critical decisions through out each step of the evaluation – from identifying the research issue to be examined to developing surveys; from collecting data to analyzing and reporting out on findings and recommendations. Occurring over a 6 to 9 month period, projects involve teams of 5 to 15 youth team members meeting for 1-2 hours per week, along with an adult from the "hosting" organization and a YIF staff person.

2007 Grantees

Artists For Humanity, Inc. , Boston, MA
www.afhboston. com

Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL
www.chica gobotanic.org

Children's Health Education Center, Milwaukee, WI
www.BlueKids.or g

Coordinators2inc, Richmond, VA
www.c2daopt.org< /a>

Liberty's Promise, Alexandria, VA
www.libe rtyspromise.org

MYTOWN, Boston, MA
www.mytowninc. org

Urban Alliance, Washington, DC
www.urbanalliancefoundation.org

Higher Achievement Program, Inc., Washington, DC
www.hi gherachievement.org

PEARLS for Teen Girls, Inc., Milwaukee, WI
www.p earlsforteengirls.com

2006 Grantees

Refugee Family Services, Inc., Stone Mountain, GA
ww w.refugeefamilyservices.org

Doclink, Anderson, SC
www.doclink.org

PlusTime NH, Chichester, NH
www.plustime.or g

KIDPOWER•TEENPOWER•FULLPOW ER International, Santa Cruz, CA
www.kidpower.or g

Media and Technology Charter High (MATCH) School, Boston, MA
www.matchsch ool.org

2005 Grantees

Crittenton Hastings House, Boston, MA 
www.crit.net

Fitness Forward Foundation, Durham, NC
www.fitne ssforward.org

Higher Achievement Program, Inc., Washington, DC
www.hi gherachievement.org

PEARLS for Teen Girls, Inc., Milwaukee, WI
www.p earlsforteengirls.com

Media and Technology Charter High (MATCH) School, Boston, MA
www.matchsch ool.org

2004 Evaluation Grantees

Child Center & Adult Services, Inc. , Gaithersburg, Maryland
http://ww w.ccascounseling.org

Environmental Traveling Companions, San Francisco, California
www.etctrips.org

MATCH School, Boston, Massachusetts
www.matchschool.org

Resources for Indispensable Schools and Educators (RISE ), San Francisco, California
www.risenetwork.org

HealthStore Foundation (formerly Sustainable Healthcare Enterprise Foundation (SHEF)
New Brighton, Minnesota
www.cfwshops.or g