Free Help for St. Louis Seniors Entering College

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Kiana Fleming

The transition from high school to college can be daunting! That’s why, this summer, St. Louis Graduates is opening the St. Louis Graduates High School to College Center where students can get free counseling in the Delmar Loop. Students will be encouraged to come into the Center, but assistance will also be available via phone and e-mail.

National research shows that 10% of students who graduate high school with an acceptance to college will not actually enroll, a phenomenon referred to as “summer melt.” A survey of St. Louis area counselors found that one-third of their students are at risk. The goal for the High School to College Center is to prevent summer melt and help more students enroll in college and ultimately persist to a degree.

“Having an acceptance letter or financial aid award letter can give the mistaken impression that all a student needs to do is show up on campus in the fall,” notes Faith Sandler, Executive Director of The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis and Co-chair of St. Louis Graduates. “[The Center] will help students through the steps they need to take to ensure their financial aid is in place, they are enrolled in classes, and they are ready to go in August.”

WHERE: 618 N. Skinker Blvd. in the Delmar Loop
WHEN: Open daily 12 Noon to 5 p.m., June 1st through August 18th

St. Louis area students can visit the free St. Louis Graduates High School to College Center if they are recent high school graduates and:

Need assistance with financial aid, where to live and how to get to college,
Are having trouble accessing the college online enrollment and course registration system, or
Need help completing necessary paperwork.

The Center will tailor its counseling to students who recently graduated from high school, have plans in place to continue their education, and have questions over the summer and aren’t quite sure where to turn. The Center is designed to work primarily with low-income and/or first-generation college-going students. All services are offered free of charge.

“We want to make sure that all students who are enrolled in college for the fall have the information, encouragement and guidance they need to make it to campus. We launched the Center because we believe there are potentially thousands of students who don’t make it to campus, despite their best intentions,” said Jane Donahue, Vice President of the Deaconess Foundation and Co-chair of St. Louis Graduates.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Phone: (314) 932-6956
E-mail: info@stlouisgraduates.org
Website: www.StLouisGraduates.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HStoCollegeCenter
Twitter: @STLGraduates

Participating counselors include representatives of Wyman Center, College Summit, Missouri College Advising Corps, St. Louis Community College and The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis as well as individual counselors from several area high schools, nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions.

What Does ‘Readiness’ Mean? : Live Chat with Forum CEO Karen Pittman

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Kiana Fleming

On May 16th, Forum CEO Karen Pittman will host a live radio conversation tonight about what it means for young people to be ready for college, work and life! She will be the guest on Real Talk for Teens, a call-in program for young people that airs on BlogTalkRadio. Pittman will speak and take calls about what teens are doing to ensure that they are ready; what teens need from the people and institutions in their lives; and why businesses, colleges and young people themselves say that so many teens are not ready.

Tune in tonight at 7 pm.. ET. Click here to listen live or hear the recording!!!

Enter the 2013 Lights On Afterschool Poster Contest!

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Kiana Fleming

The Afterschool Alliance is seeking youth artwork in afterschool programs for this year’s Lights On Afterschool poster! On Oct 17^th, 2013 communities nationwide celebrate Lights On Afterschool to shine a light on the afterschool programs that keep kids safe, inspire them to learn and help working families.

The winning image will be printed on 70,000 posters sent to afterschool programs from coast to coast for Lights On Afterschool celebrations. The artist and/or program will be credited on the poster, and the image will be featured on our website.

The winner will also receive $500 in Art Supplies from Discount School Supply!

Applications due June, 1 2013! Click here for details on how to apply!

TED Talk: Every Child Needs a Champion

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Allison Williams

Last night, PBS hosted a hour long episode of TED Talks specific to education. As I watched last night, I was inspired by the clarity of the messages, and the alignment to the work that Wyman team members do everyday. I was especially moved by the messages that Rita Pierson, a teacher in New York, shared with the audience. This was the first “talk,” and it truly set the tone for the evening. In a passionate and eloquent way, Rita reminded everyone that the foundation of ALL learning is in the relationship, and is in the connection between the educator and student, and that “every child needs a champion.”

Please take seven minutes and 48 seconds to watch her talk and be inspired! If you wish to be further inspired, watch the entire TED Talks Education program, here.

TED Talks Education on Nine PBS May 7th

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Kiana Fleming

American Graduate - TED Talks Education

For many, education is the single most important issue when they think about the future of our youth. Tuesday, May 7 at 9 p.m. CT, TED and WNET are collaborating on a 60-minute television special featuring inspirational speakers sharing fresh and inspiring ideas that address education transformation and the high school dropout crisis on Nine PBS – TED Talks Education.

Featuring talks from Bill Gates, Geoffrey Canada, Sir Ken Robinson and hosted by Grammy Award-winning artist John Legend, the show will include short TED-style talks on the benefits of education, two short films featuring high school students discussing the importance of education, and a musical performance by John Legend.

This presentation is a part of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, a long term public media commitment, supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and led nationwide by the Nine Network. Click here to see a preview of TED Talks Education on the American Graduate website.

A New Hub for Juvenile Justice Research

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Kiana Fleming

This blog was originally published by SparkAction.org and is reprinted here with permission.

Juvenile justice professionals take note: a new resource launched this week that will make it easier—and more engaging—than ever to get in-depth journalism stories together with key research, data, guides and tool kits on critical issues in the juvenile justice field.

The Juvenile Justice Resource Hub provides visitors an accessible, user-friendly point of entry to a repository of years of research into juvenile justice issues—with particular focus on the best practices and lessons from the MacArthur Foundation-funded Models for Change initiative which examines systems change approaches to make juvenile justice more fair, effective, rational and developmentally-appropriate.

The Hub is a project of the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE.org), published by the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University.

Since its formation three years ago, JJIE.org has earned a reputation as the go-to source for juvenile justice news. The Hub builds on this, adding “layer upon layer of research into issues pertaining to youth and justice,” said Leonard Witt, executive director of the Center for Sustainable Journalism.

Practitioners, researchers, policymakers and journalists can now navigate seamlessly from the comprehensive journalism produced by JJIE.org to the underlying research and best practices in the Hub, deepening their understanding of the treatment of youth in juvenile justice and of innovations that make juvenile justice approaches more responsive and effective.

The Hub will “put juvenile justice information and resources from Models for Change and other reform efforts into the hands of those who need them,” says Sarah Bryer, director of the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN). NJJN is curating the Hub in partnership with JJIE.org.

“When we first put the words ‘information exchange’ on our site, that’s what we aimed for,” said Witt.

Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Juvenile Justice Resource Hub focuses on six reform areas identified with Models for Change: mental health, disproportionate representation of minorities, indigent defense, evidence-based practices, aftercare and community-based alternatives for youthful offenders.

Watch the video to learn more about the hub from JJIE:

Host CDC Information on Your Website for Free

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Kiana Fleming

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Syndication offers the ability to add CDC content directly to any organization’s web site with automatic research updates coming directly from the CDC. From public health partners, non-profit organizations and academic institutions, the syndication provides over a hundred topics to choose from that directly relate to your organization’s mission or focus. The content syndication allows you the choice and control of information, provides access to CDC information on your website and is hassle free.

Topics include:

Homicide and Violence Prevention
Adolescent Pregnancy and Childbirth
Child Development and Public Health
Domestic Violence

Click to view the Syndicated Content page to browse over a hundred types of content available for syndication.

Share Positive Stories About Teens

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Emily Black

Help Change the Conversation about Teens

Wyman teens took to the streets of their neighborhood to share positive messages about causes they care about. Sharing positive stories about youth can contribute to their positive development.

At the Regional Youth Violence Prevention forum, teens from across the community shared their insights on what would make a difference in reducing violence in St. Louis. One unanimous request from teens:

“Validate what we do well, and share positive stories about teens.”

Their words echo the research, and ring true in every community. Holding and supporting young people to high expectations is a powerful and necessary contributor to their positive development, while low expectations and assumptions are leading risk factors for negative behavior. In other words, consistent and negative press and discussions about teenagers will only exacerbate the problem.

Together, let’s change the conversation! At Wyman, we personally know hundreds of young people in St. Louis, who are doing great things for themselves and their communities. We know tens of thousands of teens across the country in Wyman’s Teen Outreach Program® (TOP®) that are rising above their circumstances and achieving some truly amazing things:

In recent weeks, a group of teens in Wyman’s TOP® spent a day with children in a local day care, leading them in activities, singing songs, playing games, and being great mentors and role models. Meanwhile, their classmates were busy preparing for an upcoming service project, in which they’ll conduct conservation projects with grade school students.

Another group provided structured activities and lots of Valentine’s Day fun for students at an early childhood education center while parents participated in the school’s PTO meeting. Their consistency in volunteering to provide childcare at this school has significantly increased parent participation in PTO meetings!

We’re immensely proud of the contributions and success of Wyman teens. And like these young people, many others are being productive, giving back, and are positively engaged in their communities.

Do you know someone who needs to hear about the great contributions teens make in our community? Please pass this along, or share another positive story about a teen you know!

Email it to us, share it on our Facebook page or tweet it using #realteens!

Together, we can support and encourage teens to make a real difference, and it can start by acknowledging and rewarding their success

Demand a Plan to End Gun Violence and Build a Civil Society

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Dave Hilliard

Today – 100 days after the Sandy Hook tragedy – citizens, coalitions, organizations and government officials are participating in a National Day to Demand Action to end gun violence in our country.

While many of these conversations are around how to specifically and literally keep our young people safe from gun violence – a very critical part of the conversation must also be our ability to create opportunities and environments that support and prepare our young people to lead healthy, productive lives. The discernment we need to make rises from a single question: what steps can we take now and into the future to re-establish and sustain a safe and civil society in the United States?

I have spent the past 47 years working with and on behalf of tens of thousands of teens from low-resource environments in St Louis and through our partners across the country. I personally know of too many youth who have lost their lives in incidences of gun violence. In not one of those cases I could personally chronicle would we find automatic weapons as the instruments of violence nor would we be likely to find severe, untreated mental illness or fixation on violent media as primary causative factors.

Causes of crime are complicated: concentrated, isolating poverty; educational deficits; low expectations; inadequate developmental supports in families, institutions and community. Prominent researchers in criminology, sociology, human development and economics help us understand that behavior has a biological basis and is linked to key developmental experiences. Experience impacts individual character and individual characters impact community.

At Wyman, we believe the vast majority of violence we encounter and deaths we suffer are preventable if we take a public health approach to addressing the complex causes of violence in our society and create a movement around developing the positive potential of our youth.

By helping young people develop fundamental and essential social and emotional skills, and build resilience, positive youth development programs enable teens to grow into healthy, productive, and contributing citizens – and in turn, reduce risky and violent behavior.

Instead of drastic and counterproductive short-term solutions, we advocate for the long view. Let’s offer a sustained, collective community approach of stability, opportunities and better alternatives to equip young people for success.

This is the nation that eradicated polio, sent men and women to explore space and ocean depths and has connected the world with universal access to knowledge and data. We can do this.

Let the tried, but not true, approaches go. As articulated by Karen Pittman of the Forum for Youth Investment, it’s time for broader partnerships, bigger goals, better use of data and bolder actions to produce the young people and communities we want.

President of Wyman since 1975, Dave works with the Board of Trustees to define and achieve the agency vision, mission and strategic goals, which has resulted in establishing the agency as a recognized national expert in teen leadership and development.