Category: Afterschool Program

Funder Spotlight: GaDOE’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers

If you haven’t heard the big news, YELLS is a 21st Century Community Learning Center!  After many years of applying for this game-changing federal grant through the Georgia Department of Education, our perseverance was rewarded with funding beginning in the 2017-2018 school year.  The City of Marietta graciously serves as the fiscal agent for this five-year grant that strengthens our partnership with Marietta City Schools and positions us to move the needle for our youth’s academic success.  This collaborative, community-centered approach unites all stakeholders to bridge school, home, and community, resulting in 1) improved academic achievement for youth, 2) youth with the soft skills and positive mindset to thrive in school and career and 3) increased parent engagement in their child’s education.

Ask any YELLS student, parent, staff, volunteer or supporter and they’ll tell you YELLS is synonymous with “Being a Leader!” From our inception, YELLS has utilized our servant leadership program model to develop leaders who capitalize on their assets while building their skills, in spite of their challenges.  However, while our youth rise as servant leaders who invest in their community, they were still struggling personally in school.

Of course, we always provided homework help and creative academic lessons to help our youth grow academically. Now, though, as the Marietta YELLS 21st Century Community Learning Center, we’re supplementing our current YELLS Afterschool and Community Action Cafe programs through thoughtfully designed academic interventions informed by a stronger, more purposeful connection to school-day learning.  The 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant funds two new, innovative positions that bridge school-day learning with our work at YELLS.  A Scholar Success Specialist for our

Working hard during Genius Hour

elementary youth and Business Scholar Success Coach for our teens can be found during the school day visiting Marietta City Schools and connecting with teachers and our Scholars’ curriculum.  After school, they bring this knowledge back to inform their work with our YELLS Scholars as well as the work of an academic team, including a Reading Instructor, English Language Arts Specialist, and Math Specialist.  Academic support continues to utilize the YELLS hands-on and interactive delivery style, with lessons and interventions now targeted to better address identified student needs, in real time. These YELLS team members provide case management and support and offer academic interventions, but ultimately empower our youth to own their educational success, the same way they own their community’s success.  Check out the music video our teens made to see how community-building fuels this motivation for personal achievement for our teens:

This first year of funding has been an adventure and a learning experience for sure!  The federal reporting requirements and guidelines accompanying this funding are quite intensive, yet well worth the resources they bring to support our youth.  We’re proud to report we passed our first monitoring visit with flying colors.  The Georgia Department of Education lauded our successful first-year implementation, sharing: “Program leadership has a vested interested in providing quality programming to students and is wiling to do whatever it takes to have a successful program.”  They specifically called out our incredible retention rate of 126.67% regular attendees and long-term engagement over our promised enrollment.  Another benefit of the 21st CCLC grant is funding to engage professional evaluators to assess our programs.  This new partnership with the KSU A.L. Burruss Institute of Public Policy and Research provided invaluable feedback and data analysis to help us assess the effectiveness of our interventions and revise and strengthen our strategies.  We successfully achieved 7/10 of our objectives.  Some highlighted achievements include:

  • 82.1% (of 95 youth) improved by one letter grade (or more or maintained an A or B) in math or language arts.
  • 92.7% (76/82 surveyed youth) of youth reported improvement in at least one soft skill.
  • 77.6% of elementary-school youth reported that they have made better choices since participating in YELLS
  • 83.9% of high school teens agreed they can get what they want by working hard
  • 88.9% of parents report that YELLS helps them feel more connected to their community
  • 75.4% of parents indicated that they have learned at least one new strategy to support their child’s education at home

Keeping learning fun and engaging!

The full Summative Evaluation is available here.  Overall, these results demonstrate great progress, especially considering that 87% of our high school youth were failing a core subject at the start of the school year.  In this first year of implementation, we’ve laid the foundation to better understand the academic needs of our youth and are well-equipped to improve and grow our impact in year two!

We are so grateful to the Georgia Department of Education for their investment in our community and the City of Marietta for leading this initiative as fiscal agent for this funding, Marietta City Schools, and our dozens of other partners committed to working with us to offer dynamic, transformative out-of-school time programming to the youth of Franklin Gateway.  With these incredible partners, the Marietta YELLS 21st Century Community Learning Center is bringing together partners, parents, and residents to create a community center of learning, leading, and serving that puts our Franklin Gateway youth at a competitive edge in school, in the community, and in life.

Celebrating 10 Years of YELLS: A Look Back, May Edition

Celebrating 10 Years of YELLS: A Look Back

2018 marks the 10 year anniversary of YELLS!  My name is Kevin Keefe and I’m the treasurer of the YELLS Board.  My reflection here is one in a series of ten reflections over the ten months between now and YELLS’s October 18 Tenth Anniversary Networking Dinner. Next month’s reflection will offer a different perspective on the path of this amazing organization and the people who make it so incredibly special.

 

In 2009, just a few months after we were married, my wife told me she was going to leave her job as a teacher at Marietta High School. Laura had been running a Mentoring Program since 2008, and as the Great Recession only seemed to get deeper, decided it was time to quit her job and see where the non-profit world would take her. It didn’t take long for the need of an Afterschool Program serving Franklin Road youth from within their community to become apparent. While the need was evident, not much else was going to come so easy as funding, space, employees, and finances would need figuring out. After touring the community and listening to feedback sessions, a location for the ASP was found to be available.  YELLS Afterschool began its journey at 861 Franklin Road, Building #2800.

 

A devoted apartment manager convinced her property owners to not only donate an entire house to our cause, but also help remodel it! When we first visited the building that would become the Afterschool Program at Las Colinas, later called Woodlands Park and now demolished, it was like looking at an abandoned cabin – there was a lot of work to be done. However, the location within a dynamic community provided us with all of the resources required to bring the space to life. After quickly incorporating and obtaining our 501(c)3 status, we were left with a quick Winter season of renovating this 3,500 sq ft home into a fully functioning site for youth. There was lots to be done, and when it came time to furnish the space, both my and Laura’s old furniture from our college days became quite handy, as well as countless trips to Ikea. I even took a stab at some art projects to decorate the walls!

The first semester of the ASP was run on a shoe-string budget, and except for two employees, community volunteers made up the staff for the program. I vividly remember spending many weekends repairing furniture, painting tables, and other mundane tasks at the site. These tedious tasks, long days, and late nights became a lot more interesting as kids started showing up to help. Within a few minutes of our cars showing up, the YELLS home was always full of neighborhood kids! We quickly saw how much a community Las Colinas was, and were amazed as community members would come by and offer to help out in any way possible to get the new Afterschool program ready for their neighborhood’s children.

The building of YELLS naturally built community on Franklin Road, and what we call the “YELLS Family” grew along with it. YELLS became a family affair for Laura and I as well. It was also during this semester that Laura and I found that our dog, Flyer, enjoyed going to YELLS as well, and subsequently became a ‘reading buddy’ to students during their academic time!

As YELLS’s first home, the Las Colinas location became a magnet for community interaction and engagement among neighbors due to the support and efforts of families who had been looking for a space to make their own on Franklin Road.

Las Colinas space before YELLS.

Families bringing life to Las Colinas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

YELLS Youth Spotlight: Grace Imariha

One of the “High-Five Expectations” in the YELLS Afterschool Program is Choose Kindness. The idea becomes a self-standard, especially for how our Scholars treat others. We support our students in the development of a greater self-awareness of how their ideas and actions affect everything and everyone around them as part of their empowerment journey.  In this endeavor, YELLS Scholars define what it means to be a “good friend” and community member. One YELLS Scholar working hard to choose kindness is Grace Imariha, who has been with us since she began Kindergarten. Through an interview with 2-year volunteer, Mr. William, meet Grace, 3rd grader from Lockheed Elementary School:

Grace Imariha

Q: Do you think helping other people is important? If so, why?
A: I think, yes, because it’s important, because if you don’t help other people they might not help you back and it’s very important in general because it just makes you feel good on the inside.

Q: If you were the president of this country, what would you change? If you were the principal of your school, what would you change?
A: … as president I don’t want any of my fellow beings to get hurt. If I was the principal of my school I think I would change bullies…they make students not feel welcome and I would want my students to feel welcome.

 

Q: What qualities do you think make a great friend?
A: I think that you have to be there for your friend and you shouldn’t talk about them behind their back. You should have thankfulness and gratitude. You should be happy when they are happy and when your best friend is sad you should cheer them up and let them know that he or she has a best friend.

Q: What are the qualities of a great teacher?
A: Teach you well and they are supposed to tell you when you are doing something wrong and give feedback. And when you get feedback you should fix it quickly and not get mad. I think that a teacher should make sure she is teaching and that you know what you are doing wrong and what you are doing right and help you fix it if you get a bad grade.

Q: What is your favorite subject at school?
A:  My favorite subject at school [is reading], because I can read and reading helps me when I’m upset and when I need to calm down. So I read and it helps me because the words calm me down. I think YELLS has helped me with reading because when I get a word wrong they correct me and that’s good because when you get corrected you know next time not to do it.

Q: What are you interested in? What are your hobbies?
A: I’m interested in basketball. I actually play basketball with Coach T. and Moonan at YELLS. My nickname is “hoops.”

Q: What are some things that you want to get better at?
A:  I want to get better at math because even though I have improved with it, I still get confused by things like fractions. I still have a few days before my Milestones so I can ask my teacher questions about things I am confused about, like at the beginning of the year with rounding. My teacher helped me a lot with rounding numbers and now I am really good at it. I also want to get better at basketball because I like it.

Q: Is there anything you would like to say?
A: I am honored, and I am very happy. Thank you.

YELLS April Students of the Month

Our YELLS youth amaze us each day as they demonstrate servant-leadership. Each month, we honor youth in each grade level that go above and beyond.  Check out our students below from our Afterschool Program and Community Action Café who are constantly showing us great examples of how to be a YELLS leader:

Kindergarten: Llary Castillo
Llary entered YELLS as a bright-eyed and energetic kindergartner in August with a defined sense of self and personality. Throughout the school year, Llary has made leaps and bounds in both academic and personal improvement. She has learned to use her energy and spunk to influence her classmates in a positive way and be a true leader!  Way to go Llary!

 

First Grade: Lamaya Bates
IMG_3688Lamaya has been a YELLS student for the past two years. Lamaya is the April Student of the month because of her constant growth which shines through on a daily basis. Whether it’s in the homework room, book buddies or just striving for excellence in recreation, Lamaya is constantly showing growth and progress!  Congratulations Lamaya!

 

Second Grade: Talea Masterson
IMG_3689Talea is the student of the month for the second grade because of her persistence and determination. When faced with a task—whether it’s learning new skills in Capoeira or pushing herself in enrichment—Talea is persistent and determined. Great job Talea!

 

 

Third Grade: Christian Pineda
IMG_3690Christian is the student of the month for his continued dedication to excellence and showcase of leadership throughout the school year. Christian is always the first student to volunteer to assist, encourage his classmates or eagerly participate in YELLS activities. Keep up the good work, Christian!

 


Fourth Grade: Aryan Nayak
IMG_3691Aryan joined the YELLS Afterschool Program this semester and has been a member of the YELLS Mentoring Program all year. Whether it’s in Mentoring or in the Afterschool Program, Aryan is consistently showing YELLS P.R.I.D.E. through his enthusiasm, willingness to help others and his leadership skills!

 


Fifth Grade: Micah Boyd
 IMG_3692Micah is a long-time member of the YELLS family and Afterschool Program. Micah is the 5th grade student of the month because of his dedication to personal growth on the journey to becoming a better leader. Throughout the year, Micah has shown great maturity by personally identifying areas of weakness and working to improve them by great strides throughout the year. Micah is a wonderful example of a growing YELLS leader!


High School: AJ Hurts
 AJ HurtsAJ is the Community Action Café student of the month because of his dedication to academic excellence as well as his continued efforts to improve as a leader and entrepreneur. AJ regularly participates in activities in the Café while at the same time consistently attending tutoring and networking events where business leaders have recognized and praised him for his professionalism. Although he’s a new student in the Café, we know he’ll soon become a lifelong leader and example for other YELLS students to follow! Thanks for being a great YELLS leader, AJ!

YELLS Academic Pep Rally

On a warm September afternoon, YELLS youth burst through a banner that proudly proclaimed #welovefranklingateway to kick-off the first ever Franklin Gateway Academic Pep Rally! Music boomed around the courtyard as the teens from the Community Action Café and children from the Mentoring and Afterschool programs completed laps giving guests high fives. They succeeded in building spirit and hype around academics!  More than 100 people participated in the Pep Rally and cheered on educational success in our Franklin Gateway community.

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Several organizations came to the event, including the Marietta High School Student Success Center, LaAmistad ESL, Hands On Atlanta, Amerigroup, Alorica, the Latin American Association, Girl Scouts, and Franklin Road Community Association. Additionally, Stablegold Hospitality’s Ali Jamal came and engaged with YELLS youth by making a commitment at the Commitment Pledge table and checking out the Community Action Café. Mascots Scrappy the Owl and “Mari-Etta,” from Marietta Reads also made rounds at the event.

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YELLS Youth and Families Cheering

Highlights of the Academic Pep Rally include the Spelling Bee, math Competitions, and performances and speeches from local talent including Young Entrepreneur and Dat Gurl Secrete. Line brothers from the fraternity Omega Psi Phi stepped and danced in vibrant purple and gold for a captive audience.

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Shoutouts highlighted William and family for their involvement in YELLS and the community

Families had the opportunity to learn about educational opportunities available in the community, sign up for library cards, play educational games like brain teasers and giant checkers, and make personal commitments for their own academic goals. Once again, YELLS youth led all ages on Franklin Gateway in a movement of change – this time focused on uniting as a community to promote continued education and academic achievement for all ages.

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