| PHILOSOPHY, RATIONALE, & APPLICATION |
| Rationale: Over the last 30-40 years billions of dollars and countless
volunteer hours have been marshaled to attack the problems facing
inner-city youth. Yet, by many standards the problems have worsened.
There are no simplistic answers because the obstacles inner-city children
must overcome are both many and formidable. While every little bit
helps, unless there is a concentrated effort applied to each individual
child, large investments of time and money will produce sporadic and
inconsistent results at best. |
| YLLC
Program: In order to achieve consistent results among a large
majority of the youth being served the program has to consistently
address a variety of issues. In short, the Youth Life Learning Center
program takes a lot work. If you take short-cuts, the positive results
as a whole will diminish proportionally. |
| A.
ACADEMICS — Youth Life Learning Centers are not recreation centers
but after-school academies equipping at-risk kids with the fundamental
keys to success. |
| Rationale: If recreation-oriented programs alone could reverse the downward cycle
of Nashville’s at-risk youth, our problems would be easily or
perhaps already solved. However, no matter how much effort and how
many resources are devoted to recreational activities, they will never
be sufficient by themselves to reverse the deteriorating state of
inner-city, at-risk youth. |
| YLLC
Program: Youth Life Learning Centers’ after-school
programs focus on the fundamental keys to success — academics,
social and vocational-skills development, character education, spiritual
direction, and community service. |
| B.
COMMITMENT AND CONSISTENCY — At Youth Life Learning Centers
enrolled students spend three hours every day pursuing their dreams
for a better life. |
| Rationale: Inner-city neighborhoods are characterized by a drop-in culture.
Social and religious workers come and go. Family units are often incomplete
or inconsistent. Kids drop in and out of school and community programs.
Those habits are often carried over into adulthood. Many people live
close to the edge with little stability or security. At any level,
long-term commitment and consistency are very rare. |
| YLLC
Program: At Youth Life Learning Centers student involvement
is based on commitment and consistency. The entrance requirement for
the CORE after-school program is a signed contract between parents/guardians,
the child, and YLLC. Parents must agree to participate in student
learning assignments and Life Center activities. School teachers have
proven to be eager to work in coordination with Life Center objectives.
Though any child from the neighborhood
is free to drop in for tutoring from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., the Youth
Life Learning Center CORE STUDENTS attend the Learning Centers from
3:00 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. Monday through Friday. Those who complete their
weekly assignment participate in Fun Fridays. |
| C.
Focus On Transformation — Youth Life Learning Centers staff
are committed to changing one life at a time, focusing on the effect
it will have for generations to come. |
| Rationale: Many social programs focus on expanding the number of people receiving
some form of service or assistance. The point, however, is not the
number served but the number changed. |
| YLLC
Program: Youth LIfe Learning Centers concentrate on doing
whatever it takes to change one life at a time. Student-teacher ratio
in the after-school programs averages 15:1. That ratio is often further
improved by the presence of volunteers. |
| D.
Individualized Learning — Youth Life Learning Centers address
a child’s unique strengths and deficiencies through individualized
learning programs, insuring that they receive a solid academic foundation
to build upon. |
| Rationale: Because of their socio-economic background, at-risk children
face numerous obstacles in the traditional classroom. Many fall behind
and cannot catch up; so they give up. |
| YLLC
Program: Each child is evaluated with four assessments that
measure academic progress, learning styles, community and family relationships. |
| E.
Measurements & Accountability — Youth Life Learning Centers
are not concerned with simply measuring services delivered but constantly
accessing effectiveness and progress toward individualized learning
objectives, instilling in children the confidence that they can become
whatever they want. |
| Rationale: Measuring services delivered is an important aspect of social and
educational programs. However, that data is less meaningful without
corresponding measurements of results. |
YLLC
Program: At Youth Life Learning Centers a comprehensive plan
is formulated for each student based on strengths and weaknesses of
the eight assessment areas. Each student’s Objectives, Procedures,
and Status (OPS) worksheet includes long-term goals and daily objectives
for YLLC staff, parents, and public school teachers. YLLC staff and
students complete an assessment of each objective every six weeks.
Quarterly comprehensive reports track the overall progress of all
Youth Life Learning Centers.
|
| F.
Strategic Approach — In order to prepare children for a life
of purpose and productivity Youth Life Learning Centers begin working
with children before they have a chance to get involved in gangs,
drugs, and crime. |
| Rationale: According to Tennessee Congressman Jim Cooper, it takes more money
each year to house an inmate in a Tennessee correctional facility
than to send a student to Vanderbilt University. The actual costs,
however, are far greater because those numbers do not take into account
the financial and emotional costs of crime on the victims, the families,
and the community. They do not include the lost potential of a person’s
life or the effect on future generations. Statistically, without intervention,
a child with an incarcerated parent is 70% more likely to follow their
parent’s footsteps into prison. |
| YLLC
Program: Youth Life Learning Centers’ primary strategy
is to capture children’s hearts and minds before they are lost
to gangs, drugs, and crime. Students may enroll in the Youth Life
Learning Center CORE after-school program in the first five grade
levels. Students already in the CORE program may continue through
high school. Students of all ages may come in from 3:00 pm to 4:00
pm for tutoring sessions. |
| G.
Service and Self-Reliance — Youth Life Learning Centers are working
to free parents, their children, and their children’s children from
social and economic dependency, enabling them to fulfill their highest
dreams. |
| Rationale: Several generations of public assistance often leave children with
an entitlement mentality. Additional services provide immediate help
but by themselves will not refocus children fundamental perspective. |
| YLLC
Program: There is no tuition fee for any student at Youth
Life Learning Centers. However, students quickly learn rewards and
responsibilities through the Youth Life Learning Center micro-economic
system. YLLC Bucks are earned from their jobs at the center and are
used purchase special treats. Job performance is rewarded with promotions,
increased responsibility, and special incentives. |
| H.
Personal Vision — Youth Life Learning Centers are not about simply
helping kids stay out of trouble but cultivating each student’s special
gifts and interests, helping them to realize that they can become
anything they want. |
| Rationale: Many of the students at the Youth Life Learning Centers come from
long legacy of public assistance. Some are the third or fourth generations
of their family to live in a subsidized housing neighborhood. By the
time they are old enough to realize on their own what it will take
to be truly successful in life, they are far behind in school, running
with the wrong crowd, and enslaved to many self-destructive habits. |
| YLLC
Program: At Youth Life Learning Centers, students are enrolled
at an early age and given the foundation of education, character,
discipline, and respect. They are also taught to dream. Students participate
in INVENT TIME where they are given opportunities to explore and develop
their natural talents. |
| FAITH,
HOPE, AND LOVE are precious and often rare commodities in
the neighborhoods where Youth Life Learning Centers are located. That
is why the Life Center students are such bright lights in those places. |
