Based on tracking of Getting Ahead graduates, there was a 15% increase in language resources, 11% increases in financial, emotional, mental, physical, motivation and relationship resources. One of the opportunity youth graduates is volunteering as a reading tutor and working, until she can resolve a debt and return to finish college.

 As part of Getting Ahead, disconnected youth identified a community problem, researched and presented the issue with potential solutions, and worked with resource partners to implement a strategy.  For example, graduates identified getting a driver’s license as a challenge. They worked with community partners and an FSU social work class to research the issue and promising models for consideration including: Transportation Coaching Model, scholarship funded through the state via a 1.5 percent surcharge on all traffic citations, and GEICO Foundation funding. They were successful in getting a scholarship established with private funds at ACM for graduates wishing to take the driver’s license course. 

This year we piloted in a targeted middle school, The R Rules curriculum to identify, access, build and apply resources for success in school, at work, and life.  It is our desire to implement this as part of a 2 Gen approach. Based on pilot results, the program author, Betti Souther, was contracted to train 18 additional facilitators and grant funds were awarded from the Community Trust Foundation to expand the program next year.

To increase engagement of the youth, we collaborated with the Allegany County Public Schools to host a poverty simulation with 92 Student Council members from middle and high school.  Having one of the students share in the debriefing, “I’ve experienced poverty in my life and can tell you this is 90% real”, really had an impact.

100% of the disconnected youth engaged in the class project developed capacity and motivation. 65% of the youth offered engagement opportunity with The R Rules pilot have gained a new skill.

The results from this grant will help guide our efforts going forward. We continue to engage more of the graduates and their ideas into the Steering Committee meetings. We will continue to recruit the target population through Getting Ahead and the R Rules, and identify resource building projects to engage them in addressing barriers in the community such as transportation, housing and child care.