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The Emmanuel Research Review is a publication of the Emmanuel Gospel Center. The Review features articles, papers, resources, and information that we believe are helpful and relevant to urban pastors, leaders, and community members in their efforts to serve their communities effectively.
by Rudy Mitchell
Senior Researcher
Emmanuel Research
Institute
Churches and Christian ministries can play a significant role advising, motivating, and equipping young people to obtain a college education. It is important that the Christian community work with young people in this aspect of their lives because decisions in this area can make a crucial difference in their spiritual, social, and economic lives. Guidance and mentoring from Christians can integrate the spiritual and educational aspects of students’ lives, enabling them to grow in their faith rather than abandon it during this critical transition from home to college. For most young people, some type of post-secondary education or training is essential to achieving a sufficient income and a satisfying career in the 21st century. In fact it can be the path out of poverty. Too often urban young people do not receive adequate guidance counseling on career and college choice and preparation because the school guidance counselor is responsible for hundreds of students. Churches are helping to fill this gap. The Christian community can go beyond basic after-school tutoring programs to offer more complete ministries, launching initiatives such as college readiness programs, which meet long-term educational objectives and also incorporate faith and character-building elements.
In this issue we present a case study of the church-based Boston Higher Education Resource Centers (HERC), entitled College Prep Ministry in Boston: León de Judá. This is one model of how Christian organizations and churches can focus their educational assistance toward long-term goals for young people. The Higher Education Resource Centers in Greater Boston and other urban centers (Brockton, Lawrence, Lynn and Worcester) provide academic help, mentoring, college and career advising, and support to pursue and complete post-secondary education. These centers bring together educational, spiritual, and community resources to prepare students with education and career exploration, leadership development, character building and life skills, and parent involvement. The desired results are not just improved academic achievement and college access, but also transformed lives and ultimately a new generation of young Christian leaders to make a difference in their urban communities. One student’s story is profiled by the authors of our lead article, Edward R. Davis and Dr. Amy L. Sherman. We have also included a sample community study prepared by Crystal Dixon, Director of the Boston Education Collaborative, for two urban centers, Worcester and Lawrence, Massachusetts, exploring the needs around the issues of helping youth to continue on to higher education. HERC is organized by the Boston Education Collaborative, which is a program of the Emmanuel Gospel Center.
Some of the other material presented in this issue briefly introduces other models of ministry in this area, specifically a church-based financial literacy and savings program for high school youth, designed by EGC and its partners to help them understand the costs of college and find ways to prepare financially; and we include a link to a study on the Boston Urban Youth Foundation, a parachurch program working with urban youth who are truant, helping them to change behavior so that many program graduates go on to succeed in college. With some of these ideas and the extensive resources listed on a separate webpage, a church or other Christian organization could develop a formal or informal ministry to guide young people in this aspect of their lives. In our resource list, we suggest resources on financial aid and on gathering information about colleges, because these are interrelated. Obtaining adequate financial aid is one of the main obstacles low-income and minority students face in obtaining a college education. While general resource books may be known, sometimes the specialized guides we list are not well known.
RESOURCES: An extensive list of online and print resources for this issue is found on this page.
by Edward R. Davis and Amy L. Sherman
It is 7:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night and the third floor of León de Judá is full of the hubbub, bustle, and chatter of young people. Stylish college students in T-shirts and bell-bottom jeans stand scattered in groups of twos and threes around the rectangular, brightly lit room. Nearby a group of Hispanic and African American high school students, engulfed in bulky down jackets, sit casually in blue chairs around a low white coffee table, talking. On one side of the table stands a wooden bookshelf. Inside its closed glass doors are shelves packed with books in a variety of bright colors: College Handbook 2002, Directory of Financial Aid for Women ‘97-’99, Barron’s Top 50. The book titles capture a large part of the mission for which these university students and urban teens are gathered. Here at the church’s Higher Education Resource Center (HERC) are young people who will likely become the first in their families to attend college.
Outside the church building, multiple signs indicate that León de Judá sits in a neighborhood in transition. Located on the fault line between the Roxbury community and the more affluent neighborhood of South End, the church’s surroundings are a study in contrasts, an odd juxtaposition of wealth and urban blight. Two lots on one side of the church are being transformed into upscale condominiums selling for $600,000 each. Meanwhile, on the church’s other side, a large liquor store does an active business, and low-income residents make their homes in subsidized housing. Behind the church sits Rosie’s Place, a prominent shelter for homeless women. Directly across the street, an eyesore bar has been closed down to make way for a clean new parking lot.
In some sense its physical surroundings mirror what HERC sees as its primary mission: mobilizing and equipping college students from some of the nation’s most privileged schools to provide college preparation and counseling to inner-city Latino and African American youth struggling in urban high schools.
HERC’s most readily visible mission is to get kids into college. But HERC also has a deeper, spiritual mission that it hopes to accomplish through its college prep and mentoring programs. It is to introduce the students to Jesus Christ. In the long run, HERC’s leaders hope, these young people will then infiltrate their schools with the gospel, helping to transform these institutions from the inside out.
HERC Director Samuel Acevedo traces the beginnings of the ministry to a critical decision made nearly twelve years ago by León de Judá’s leaders: to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit no matter the cost. As they listened, they heard God call them to make significant changes. One was to leave the congregation’s comfortable surroundings of affluent Cambridge and its debt-free building and move into the distressed Roxbury neighborhood. As Acevedo puts it, the church leaders began to realize that it was time to stop making mere “forays” into the tough Roxbury and Dorchester communities, and then “running back to the fortress [in Cambridge] and saying, ‘Gee, aren’t we evangelistic.’” The word from God, Acevedo says, was: “Go out there and stay out there.”
So, in 1993, the congregation did just that. It bought an abandoned warehouse in the Roxbury community. Then church leaders realized that they had been placed there in order to serve their neighbors with the tangible love of Christ. Thus began a new focus on what Acevedo calls “social evangelism.” It meant reaching into people’s lives with a healing touch and with practical ministries that met real needs.
The congregation was inspired by their new vision, but lacked an understanding of just exactly what they were supposed to do. Guidance soon came in the form of the Boston Education Collaborative. Originally created as a product of collaboration between Emmanuel Gospel Center, the Higher Education Information Center, and the Nellie Mae Foundation, the goal of the Collaborative is “to provide resources, develop programs, and build partnerships for meeting the educational needs of urban youth.” One of the ways that the Collaborative was doing this was by partnering with local churches to assist them in starting Higher Education Resource Centers. In the summer of 1999, León de Judá was asked to become a site for a HERC. Senior pastor Roberto Miranda seized the opportunity and a group of lay people got to work transforming the third floor of the church into the future site of the program.
At the same time, several hundred miles away in New York City, God was telling a prosecutor in the juvenile justice system, named Samuel Acevedo, that it was time to return to Boston. A former member of León de Judá, Acevedo had attended the church for three years while in law school. During that time he had grown close to Pastor Miranda and formed a deep attachment to the congregation. Acevedo recalls thinking to himself that revival was coming to the congregation; that the church had an exciting future ahead of it. When he graduated law school in 1993, he told Pastor Miranda to save him a seat in the new building in Roxbury.
Acevedo then moved to join the New York City Law Department. For the next six years, his job involved prosecuting youths 15 years old or younger for crimes ranging from narcotics arrests to robberies to attempted murder and manslaughter. Simultaneously, Acevedo was actively involved as a volunteer in youth and evangelistic ministries at a church in the Bronx. He also remained close to Pastor Miranda and made frequent trips back to Boston.
Eventually, Acevedo realized that God was calling him to leave his job as a prosecutor in order to enter full-time youth ministry. Pastor Miranda offered him the job of director of León de Judá’s new HERC ministry, and he leapt at it. Acevedo actually returned to Boston on the day of HERC’s grand opening. He remembers, “I arrived in town with my U-Haul, went in to the bathroom, shaved, put on my suit and came out for the cameras and the lights. I felt like Saul standing among the baggage train while being presented to Israel as their new king.”
HERC got off to a strong start because its leaders almost immediately made connections with a fledgling group of students from Harvard University who wanted to help inner-city kids prepare for the SAT—and they desired to partner with churches in doing so. “The timing couldn’t have been more perfect,” Acevedo smiles. Within weeks, the collegians were teaching SAT prep classes at the church.
HERC’s mentoring program seeks to “cultivate integrity and excellence in urban youth” and to “empower them academically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually, thereby inspiring a vision for success in higher education.” Acevedo explains, “The theory behind the mentoring program is to awaken a vision in these young people that college … is both possible and desirable; that [it] is something that normal people go to—it’s not just [for] astronauts and brain surgeons. That’s important,” he adds, “because we’re working under the premise that most of these kids [are] the first to go to college. So there are no points of reference. The mentor becomes the point of reference.”
The program focuses on youth from 8th through 11th grade and matches them with current college students, or recent college graduates, as mentors. Currently, twenty-eight teens are enrolled. Mentors commit to serving a full year. They attend a five-hour training program designed in collaboration with Mass Mentoring, an organization that helps foster faith-based mentoring programs. They also receive training from the Navigators in one-on-one discipleship. Meanwhile, HERC staff educate them in advising the students about colleges and financial aid.
At the beginning of the school year, mentors help their students to set goals for where they would like to be by the end of the year. These include relational, spiritual, social, and academic goals. Mentors then help each student work toward these objectives during the course of the year. They meet once a week with their students for at least 90 minutes and are expected to talk weekly with them by phone. Mentors and students usually meet at HERC but may meet elsewhere if it is more convenient. Mentor pairs also choose for themselves which day of the week is most convenient for them to gather.
The basic structure for the academic preparatory work is provided by the “ Let’s Get Ready!” program. Let’s Get Ready! mobilizes and equips teams of Harvard college students, or “coaches,” to offer free SAT preparation and college peer-advising. Founded in 1999 by Harvard student Eugenie Lang, it functions as a student club and has since spread to other universities. At HERC, during the school year, Let’s Get Ready! offers SAT and MCAS prep classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night’s tutoring focus is on language arts while the emphasis on Thursdays is math. Throughout the semester the program also provides “college choices” sessions that cover topics such as writing college applications, interviewing effectively, and essay writing. These college sessions are held for an hour each week during one of the regularly scheduled Tuesday or Thursday night tutoring sessions.
To gauge students’ improvement over the course of the semester, four diagnostic exams are offered on Saturdays from 10:00 to 1:30 p.m. The program currently utilizes 22 coaches and sees approximately 40 to 50 students each week.
The coaches for Let’s Get Ready! also enjoy the benefits of excellent training. For four hours at the beginning of each term they meet with a trainer from one of the testing companies that produces the SAT or the MCAS. At this time, coaches are given the opportunity to both observe other coaches teaching as well as to practice tutoring themselves.
HERC leaders eventually recognized that while Let’s Get Ready! was an excellent tool for strengthening the urban teens’ academic skills, they longed for a more holistic outreach that was evangelistic and could complement the academic program. Consequently, in February 2000, HERC added a “drop-in” center for the students, with help from Chaletta Clark of Cambridge Community Fellowship. (Chaletta had been familiar with HERC’s work after hearing a presentation from Greg Bishop, León de Judá’s associate pastor, the year before.) Initially, Chaletta recruited ten volunteers who made themselves available weekly for any students who might drop by HERC. But she and Acevedo realized within a few months that this approach was not working. “The volunteers were there but the kids weren’t; sometimes [the kids] were but [the volunteers] weren’t. It was like two ships passing in the night,” Chaletta explains. So, the two leaders abandoned the drop-in center idea and began designing a more intentional mentoring program that would connect Christian college students to middle and high school students.
Chaletta remembers being struck by the realization that this new approach “upped the ante.” The mentoring ministry would facilitate real relationships—friendships demanding the volunteers’ investment in prayer and weekly contact. “You can’t just go and run,” Chaletta explains. “There’s more responsibility.” The original drop-in center volunteers were asked whether they would take on this higher degree of responsibility, and Chaletta also contacted associations of Christian college students to ascertain their interest. Soon, ten mentors were matched with students.
Students are recruited into HERC’s mentoring and Let’s Get Ready! programs in a variety of ways. Within León de Judá, the programs are heavily publicized. Seemingly every week there is some announcement about HERC during the Sunday service. HERC is also active in promoting its ministry at other churches serving urban youth. Shortly after he assumed his role as HERC’s director, Acevedo invited 30 youth pastors throughout the city to a meeting to hear more about the new ministry. A few months later, HERC sponsored its first open house. Some 200 kids and their families showed up and had opportunities to meet one-on-one with university admissions representatives from about 20 different colleges. The open house also included workshops on financial aid. At the open house, students could formally register for HERC’s SAT preparation classes. Thus, the majority of teens initially involved in HERC’s college preparation ministry were from area congregations. HERC has continued to host two open houses each year at the beginning of the school semesters.
To expand participation to youth outside the Christian community, Acevedo has also intentionally joined the boards of several community organizations where he can spread the word about HERC. He also has worked hard to develop positive relationships with nearby high schools. This has required much perseverance. “Our first year, I virtually gave up on trying to reach the schools,” Acevedo admits. “I didn’t know anybody and they didn’t know HERC from Adam. [So they would say] ‘Sorry, give us a flier,’ and I knew the flier would end up in the circular file.” But he continued to try by identifying access points through whom he could gain entry into the schools. “In one instance,” Acevedo reports, “the headmaster of a particular middle school was a member of our congregation and that provided access.” Let’s Get Ready! program staff also give presentations at area high schools. Over time, as HERC’s reputation has grown, Acevedo has been able to forge relationships with three public high schools: Madison Park Vocational High, Tech Boston High, and Brighton High. Today, HERC is the primary agency helping to prepare students from these schools for the SAT.
After establishing their college preparation programs, Acevedo and other leaders at HERC began to realize that if they were going to make a difference in the lives of the urban teens, they needed to engage entire families. While the youth were learning English in school, their parents often lagged behind. “The majority of the people we work with are Latino,” Acevedo explains. “We discovered one of the major barriers these folks have is their lack of proficiency in the English language.” The teens were also becoming proficient in computer skills through classes at school and at HERC, but parents lacked such skills. And, as noted earlier, many of the students’ parents were not college graduates, so they lacked knowledge of the preparatory steps required. For all these reasons, HERC decided to institute various initiatives to try to engage parents more fully. For example, HERC now offers ESL classes and computer literacy courses for adults.
What does it take to create an effective mentoring/college preparatory program? HERC leaders identify several important elements:
HERC’s leadership highlight several lessons learned as they have grown their college preparatory ministries:
As noted earlier, one of Samuel Acevedo’s greatest initial challenges was gaining access into the public school system. Another challenge the ministry faces is the lack of men to serve as mentors. HERC’s leaders strongly desire to recruit more men, since many of the students in the college prep program lack a positive male figure in their lives. A third challenge is tracking kids once they’ve left the program. A fourth is the fact that HERC shares space with León de Judá’s children’s ministry. The increased use leads to wear and tear on the facilities. As Pastor Bishop admits, “[These] classrooms get beat up pretty quickly.” Sunday School classrooms are not always left in pristine condition following HERC’s program, and this can frustrate the children’s ministry leaders. Finally, security has been an issue. Because of HERC, literally hundreds of people pass through the church every week. Inevitably things turn up missing. One of the mentors, for example, had items stolen from her pocketbook during an MCAS class.
León de Judá’s leaders view HERC as an integral part of the church and say the ministry is crucial for ministering effectively in their urban context. As Pastor Bishop notes, “In the Latino inner-city context, you just can’t ignore social issues, because they have all kinds of screaming needs, housing, etc. Latinos’ lives are not as compartmentalized, and they look to the church to meet more of their needs.”
Pastor Bishop believes that HERC benefits the church in several key ways. First, it is an effective means of evangelism. Most of the people who utilize the resources HERC provides are not members of the church. Yet, for those from the congregation who do take advantage of HERC’s programs, it is an aid to discipleship. Bishop explains, “You get people who become Christians who are then putting their lives together. HERC is one practical tool to help them do that.” He continues, “It’s important for people’s discipleship for them to feel the confidence that they can get an education and get a job; how they view themselves [is important], and that’s going to influence all kinds of other decisions in their lives.” Ana, a single mother in the church who never finished high school, is one such example. Through HERC and the church’s discipleship classes, she has gained the confidence to learn English. Now she wants to go back to school to get her GED (high school equivalency degree). At the same time, HERC is providing a mentor for one of her sons. In addition, having the resources of HERC right at the church has been a blessing for the pastors. As they counsel people and learn of their different needs, they do not have to send them elsewhere for help. HERC is a “huge resource right at my fingertips,” Pastor Bishop says enthusiastically. Finally, HERC has also helped León de Judá to foster productive relationships with other local churches and it has raised the church’s profile in the community.”
León de Judá’s creative and effective college preparation ministries are ripe for imitation by others. As Pastor Bishop reflects, “There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of educated Christian college students in InterVarsity, Campus Crusade, Navigators who want to help and just don’t know how. There are inner-city kids whom we have learned will respond to virtually any adult who will love them. It’s only an issue of connecting these two groups. It’s as easy as providing a place and a structure to come together. It doesn’t have to be so complicated.” Chaletta Clark agrees. For her, the key thing is to find the right people. Then, as she puts it, you just “give them structure, give them a vision, and let them go.”
This article was reprinted with permission of Dr. Amy Sherman, Faith in Communities initiative. All rights reserved. The article is also available as a pdf file from the Hudson Institute website at http://www.hudsonfaithincommunities.org/articles/Boston_final.pdf. It was originally published as one of eight Hispanic church-based community program profiles. See the entire list at http://www.hudsonfaithincommunities.org/. Scroll down to “Profiles of eight…” to select an article.
Edward R. Davis is a former Deputy Director of the Faith in Communities initiative. He currently lives in northern Virginia with his wife and three children, where he is active as a church planter.
Dr. Amy L. Sherman is a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, where she directs the Faith in Communities initiative. She also serves as Editorial Director for the FASTEN initiative (http://www.fastennetwork.org/Display.asp?Page=Home). Dr. Sherman received her undergraduate degree from Messiah College in 1987 and her Ph.D. in foreign affairs/economic development from the University of Virginia in 1994. She is a frequent speaker at church and public policy conferences on welfare reform, and provides on-site consulting services to churches starting or enhancing their community ministries. She has served as an advisor to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Dr. Sherman is the author of 70 articles and four books: Reinvigorating Faith in Communities (Hudson Institute, 2002); Restorers of Hope: Reaching the Poor in Your Community with Church-based Ministries That Work (Crossway Books, 1997); The Soul of Development: Biblical Christianity and Economic Transformation in Guatemala (Oxford University Press, 1997); and Preferential Option: A Christian and Neoliberal Strategy for Latin America’s Poor (Eerdmans, 1992). In 1996, Dr. Sherman was named by Christianity Today as one of the “Top 50 Evangelical Leaders Under Forty.”
See the HERC, Leon de Juda, webpage here.
by Edward R. Davis and Amy L. Sherman
Manuel Andujar is a sophomore at Hyde Park High School in Boston, Massachusetts. Lanky and still growing, he is a shy young man who loves to play baseball. School has not come easy for him, however, and he has struggled in several subjects, especially math. His long-term goal in life is to join the Navy after high school. His current goal is to ensure he doesn’t strike out before he gets there.
One person who is committed to seeing that he doesn’t is his mother, Ana. Although like any mother she wants to see her son succeed in school, her ability to help Manuel is limited. An immigrant from the Dominican Republic, she is a single mom who dropped out of school at an early age. And while she is currently taking English classes through her church, León de Judá, her English is still somewhat shaky. She therefore is not able to help Manuel with his homework as much as she would like. She also admits to having some difficulty understanding the public school system or knowing what her rights as a parent are within it.
Because of this, when Samuel Acevedo approached her two years ago and asked if she would consider enrolling Manuel in HERC’s mentoring program, she jumped at the chance. For his part, Manuel thought the program sounded interesting and was willing to give it a try. Shortly thereafter, Brandon Bayne—the husband of Nidia Flores-Bayne, HERC’s office manager—was assigned as Manuel’s mentor.
Because the goal of HERC’s mentoring program is to help students to grow intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally, Brandon and Manuel’s weekly meetings over the past two years have included academic tutoring, Bible study and prayer, push-ups and sit-ups, and discussions about a variety of topics. Along the way, a strong and deep relationship has developed between the two.
Manuel feels his friendship with Brandon has helped him in several areas. Though still struggling at school, he credits Brandon with helping him to improve his academic performance, especially in math class. It’s not just helped him improve academically, though. “It’s gotten me closer to God,” he points out. His deepening relationship with Christ was expressed by his decision to be baptized four months ago. Manuel looks forward to his weekly meetings with Brandon because, as he puts it, “it’s pretty good. [Brandon] helps me with my work a lot and some times we just hang out. It’s a lot of fun!” Over the past twenty-four months, the two have gone to movies, attended baseball games at Fenway Park, and spent hours talking about life.
Brandon is positive about their time together as well. He remarks, “Though the mentoring has had its ups and downs, I think the long commitment has helped [me] to earn the right to speak into his life to both motivate and challenge him to grow into maturity.”
For her part, Ana has no doubts about what Brandon’s relationship has meant to her son. Having an older male who can speak into her son’s life has been a tremendous blessing. “My boy doesn’t talk a lot to me about what’s going on [but] he talks to Brandon. Brandon is like a big brother or a best friend. They understand each other.” Over the past two years as a direct result of HERC’s mentoring program, she has seen her son grow academically, relationally, and spiritually. As she puts it, “I can see a future for Manny… and I am so glad and happy!” No mother could ask for more.
by Rev. Dr. Brian Gearin, Director, Network Savings and Training Program, with Dana Wade
The Network Savings and Training Program of the Emmanuel Gospel Center (EGC), cosponsored by EGC and United Christian Financial Services, has offered its financial literacy and savings program for several years to adults who are saving to purchase a house or begin their own micro-business. In 2004, The Network offered a version of the program tailored for high school students.
We trained 10 students for 26 weeks in financial literacy for their own personal budgeting. Additionally, we challenged the students to aggressively save (according to their ability) from $5 to $15 a week for the duration of the program. We encouraged sponsors and mentors, who matched the savings of the participants on a one-to-one basis. In addition to creating a personal budget, participants in this program were also enabled to research various colleges that they were interested in and then create a higher education budget they would need should they attend these schools in the future. On June 15, 2005, ten students graduated from the pilot program.
Ten students attended 52 hours of training over 26 weeks. Participants were recruited from two churches in Everett, Massachusetts: First Baptist and Zion Baptist. Training was offered at Zion Baptist. In addition to the trainer, a facilitator reviewed homework assignments and checked savings account deposit slips. Part of the training included participation in a peer accountability support group. Participants elected officers who had specific responsibilities for the administration of the support group.
Each week, the program director, trainer and facilitator met to discuss the
students’ progress and to refine the curriculum for the specific needs of these
participants. The program staff also met monthly with the Zion Baptist pastoral
staff to evaluate the program and to discuss how the church could take the lead
to operate future cycles of the program more independently.
Participants were
qualified to graduate from the program if they met the following objectives:
Certificates were given at graduation for students who saved $300 or more. Some students saved more than $400 in personal savings, which was doubled by the sponsor contributions.
We learned that it is much more difficult to implement this type of program with youth than with adults. Whereas adults are motivated to succeed in a financial literacy course because of their own realization of the financial issues in their lives, many youth seem to have an “entitlement mentality” about finances, feeling that parents or guardians are responsible for meeting their needs because they are under age 18.
We also learned that we had to make the program “fun” for the youth. Whereas the adults in the program saw the intrinsic value of managing their finances and working towards an asset goal, the youth had competing interests that were vying for their attention.
We adapted the program as we became aware of these issues. We went with the youth to deposit their savings in the bank. We provided food at the weekly meetings. And we adapted parts of the curriculum into a game format.
There are two areas where we should have been better prepared. One obvious setback was that we had only one facilitator for the program. And although she did a fantastic job, the program was hampered by the lack of facilitators that would, ideally, come from the churches that were involved in the program. Operational financial resources for the program were low and therefore there were many instances where materials for the program were purchased by members of the program out of their own pocket. The ability to pay the trainer was compromised because of the lack of resources for the implementation of the program.
The two churches that collaborated with this program were able to make the program more “church-based.” This means that both organizations took responsibility for the implementation of the program in this pilot phase, and desire to create a program next year that would impact more of the youth of Everett through the High School. The program leaders met with the church leaders a few months after graduation to form plans for the future of the program.
This program is designed to be replicated in other churches. To learn more about the church-based Network Savings and Training Program for youth and adults, contact Rev. Dr. Brian Gearin at the Emmanuel Gospel Center, PO Box 180245, Boston MA 02118-0994. Call during business hours at 617-262-4567. Email Rev. Gearin at bgearin@egc.org.
The Boston Urban Youth Foundation (BUYF) is a community-based organization that seeks to prepare socially and academically disadvantaged Black and Latino youth for college and successful futures. BUYF’s central mission is “to help young people develop spiritually, emotionally, academically, and economically.” BUYF’s organizational structure and programs revolve around key social and educational scaffolds that engage and empower low-income disadvantaged urban youth toward promising educational practices. Youth in the program, once considered truant, attend school more regularly and begin to develop a pro-academic ideology. Most significantly, BUYF graduates are admitted into two and four-year colleges and thrive socially and academically.
Read a Harvard Univ. Grad. School report on the School Success Truancy Prevention Program entitled: “Engaging Urban Youth through Community-based Action: How the ‘School Success’ Truancy Prevention Program Motivates Middle Graders,” by Gilberto Q. Conchas, Assistant Professor & Louie F. Rodriguez, Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Education, available as a pdf file here. (The paragraph above is from the paper’s introduction.)
Learn more about the Boston Urban Youth Foundation at http://www.buyf.org/.
Resources: For an extensive list of print and online resources for this issue, and to learn more about how churches can foster and support the higher education goals of its youth, see this page.
Emmanuel Research Review, copyright ©2005, Emmanuel Gospel Center. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint any or all of this newsletter, contact rmitchell@egc.org by email or write:
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