Category: YELLS General

Our Shared Impact


“It takes a village to raise a child, and YELLS is like an extended family.”

– YELLS Afterschool Program Parent

We’re so blessed to have a community that uplifts our work at YELLS and wraps their arms around our Franklin Gateway neighborhood. The YELLS Family is truly powerful: 33+ partners and 154 volunteers invested over 6,970 hours empowering 102+ youth and hundreds more parents and community members last year. 

We’re proud to share the amazing achievements from the 2018-2019 school year, made possible by the hard work and dedication of our youth, parents, staff, volunteers, partners, funders, and an entire community rallying around Franklin Gateway.  Here are just a few highlights to celebrate from the 2018-2019 school year:

  • 91% of YELLS seniors graduated high school this year!
  • 85% of YELLS youth were promoted to the next grade level
  • 92% of youth reported high levels of self-efficacy
  • 97% of YELLS teens agreed they had made a positive impact in their community
  • 95% of parents reported that YELLS is helping their child show more care and kindness
  • 86% of parents felt more connected to their community

The true impact of YELLS is best expressed in the words of the families we have the privilege to work with each day. YELLS champion and mother of both an elementary youth in our YELLS Afterschool Program and a teen in our YELLS Community Action Cafe, Ms. Patrice Rogers, shares the following:

Where can I begin? My family was blessed the day YELLS came into our lives. I said this because being a single parent is one of the most hardest things a person can face. But this load becomes lighter when you have a program like YELLS in your corner. I have watched my 9-year-old son come out of his shell. He is no longer that shy little boy. He is confident and quite funny if I do say so myself and I know YELLS played a great big role in that development. I work long and early hours so it’s good to know my son is in good hands getting help with his homework and reading.


I also have a seventeen-year-old that attends the YELLS Community Action Café. She has learned so many things. She has become a great leader even in the home. YELLS have afforded her opportunities that would have otherwise been unattainable by my reach. She has a job and is very confident about her future endeavors and all this is possible because of the YELLS program and their phenomenal staff.


But that is just my kids, I have also benefitted personally from this program with the Achievement Club and being a part of the YELLS committee [Advisory Council] where I get to give my input about the program and what I think it needs more of to improve. Imagine this was with the principals and the big wigs of Marietta City Schools district among others, now tell how great is that. Anyway like I said before YELLS is a blessing and I count my family blessed to be a part of this program.

Summative Evaluation

These wonderful stories of the power of our community and the amazing stats that capture our impact are possible through a partnership with Kennesaw State University’s A.L. Burruss Institute for Public Policy and Resarch. Thanks to our Marietta YELLS 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, we’ve been able to work with an evaluation team to both capture our successes and help us identify areas for growth.

While the above data captures the impact of all three of our programs, our 2018-2019 Summative Evaluation provides even more in-depth analysis of our two daily programs that are a part of our 21st Century Community Learning Center program. We’re proud to share that we achieved 9 out of 10 grant objectives! These objectives area centered around three core goals:

  1. Improved academic achievement for youth,
  2. Youth develop the soft skills and positive mindset to thrive in school and career, and
  3. Increased parent engagement in their child’s education

Together, we’re truly creating 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.

Volunteer Spotlight: Mr. Dan

Our daily volunteers are a very important part of the YELLS team. Volunteers are needed to help make sure that everything runs smoothly and our kiddos receive the individual guidance to help them learn and grow.

Dan Moore, affectionately referred to as Mr. Dan, came to YELLS last year as a retiree looking for a place to donate some of his time. He learned of YELLS through some neighbors who lived in the area. Mr. Dan jumped right into the hustle and bustle with all of our kids, and now he is a rock star of managing the homework room, joining us at least twice a week. It is clear that he genuinely cares about our students’ success, which we greatly appreciate! He takes the time to work one-on-one with each student during homework time. His commitment and quality time spent with each student is so valuable, and is exactly the type of dedication that we need to help our students be successful. When asked why he keeps coming back, he said that he really enjoys interacting with the kids and seeing the difference he is able to make in their academics. Our staff even occasionally consult with him to find out how students are doing with their assignments. He is able to share valuable insight because he is a regular that sees our students often and cares about helping them to be their best.

He’s handy, too! When Mr. Dan noticed that we needed a place to hang our students’ reading certificates, he brought the supplies and hung a new cork wall in our homework room. When he noticed that a wall needed to be repainted, he offered some extra paint he had laying around and came to touch up the wall in his spare time. When he noticed that a few of our ceiling tiles needed to be replaced, he generously offered some extras from his home and helped us to replace them.

Mr. Dan is so committed to the achievement of our youth that he’s even working to recruit more volunteers like him! He wants to see every student receive the one-on-one support and attention they deserve.

When asked to share a favorite interaction with a YELLS student, he shared these moments with us:

YELLS student to Mr. Dan: “You dress nice.”
Mr. Dan: “Why thank you, why do you say that?”
YELLS student: “Because of the little animals on your shirt.”

One night during dismissal, students were given pizza once their parents arrived to pick them up. One student asked Mr. Dan, “Is your mother coming to pick you up?”

Thank you, Mr. Dan, for your dedication to helping our YELLS students succeed!

Youth Spotlight: Ansleigh Phillips

Last school year was a very successful year for many of our students, but we’re especially proud of one of our graduates who, after struggling with many family issues, wasn’t sure she saw a path to graduation before she began at YELLS.  Ansleigh recalls learning about YELLS from her two brothers who had been attending for a year before she decided to visit YELLS for the first time. She was nervous at first, telling us, “I just didn’t feel like it was something for me. Then I went one day, and I’ve loved it ever since.” She has made such progress both in her self-esteem, her community support network, and her academics since she first started at YELLS.

“I never knew I would get the opportunity to receive a diploma on May 25, 2019. My four years of high school were very rough. Family issues and friendship issues got in the way of my academics. I struggled my freshman year and that messed up all my four years.  I saw a huge difference in the grades I received in the beginning from the ones I received in the end. YELLS has helped contribute in an amazing way.  My self-esteem was extremely low until I came to YELLS. The activities helped me come out of my shell and do things that I would have never thought I would do. The tutors have helped me accomplish all of my goals. I am so grateful for all of the staff, new students and new friends I made.  For my senior year of high school, I got the opportunity to go to Marietta City Schools Performance Learning Center. If I did not go to PLC, I would have to do another year and wouldn’t have graduated on time. After receiving my diploma, I feel like I can accomplish anything I put my mind to. I am so grateful for the opportunities I was given in all my four years.” – Ansleigh Phillips, Community Action Cafe Graduate

Now a YELLS graduate, Ansleigh comes back to volunteer and pass on what she received at YELLS, and our community has an educated and invested citizen who will continue to give back.  She recently joined us as an assistant on the annual servant-leadership retreat to Camp Blue Ridge. It was amazing seeing just how much maturity and confidence she has gained. She was able to assist in creating workshops and lessons for our current high school students. The current students look up to her so much as a role model, and she takes it upon herself to support and encourage them to follow in her footsteps. She has a unique connection with the students because she has been in their place before. She is able to motivate and uplift them, and it has been amazing to watch the relationship between Ansleigh and our current students grow from peer to mentor.

Ansleigh recently shared, “Being a YELLS graduate makes me feel like I have accomplished something. It makes me feel like I did something right. I’ve loved YELLS since the first time I stepped foot in the building. YELLS is my second home.”

We’re so proud of you Ansleigh and all you have accomplished! Keep up the great work!

Partner Spotlight: Advanced MD, Assurant Solutions, and United Way

We want to give a big shout out to three of our partners, Advanced MD, Assurant Solutions, and United Way! Each of them played a role in making a very special afternoon for our students!

Advanced MD, a Global Payments company, first came to YELLS in 2017, and we are so happy that they keep coming back! The company organizes days of service in order to give back to the community throughout the year, and we are so fortunate that they continue to choose YELLS as a partner. This time they brought a group of 10 members to help to maintain an organized and uplifting space for our students to focus and learn in. We also had a few Global Payments team members stay to spend time with our K-5th grade students. Our kids enjoyed having new energetic volunteers to play games with and to help them with their homework.

We have been teaching our K-5th graders about the 5 Love Languages and helping them to discern which love languages pertain to them. For many of our students “Words of Affirmation” really help to encourage them to be all that they can be. The Global Payments team wrote an uplifting note for each one of our 55 K-5th graders. These special notes were taped to their cubbies as an exciting surprise when they got off of the school bus. The kids were so excited that someone would take the time to write a special message just for them! We were then able to discuss the power of uplifting others and words of affirmation with our youth. They will remember these messages for a long time to come.

Thank you, Advanced MD, for choosing to make an impact in the lives of YELLS youth!

To sweeten the pot even more, YELLS was thrilled to be a part of a snack pack making event hosted by Assurant and United Way. Thank you Assurant for assembling and donating 200 snack packs filled with a juice box, granola bar, gold fish, fruit snacks, and a fruit cup – each bag decorated with a hand-drawn doodle or message. What a treat! Advanced MD volunteers helped us to distribute the snack packs into each student’s cubby as a special surprise, along with their notes.

Partnership is all about teamwork. Thank you to each of these partners for playing a part in making a very special afternoon for our students! Teamwork makes the dream work!

Camp Blue Ridge Servant Leadership Retreat

Each year our YELLS teens embark on a journey of self-discovery and teamwork as the Mentoring “Bigs” and Community Action Café Scholars join together for an intensive weekend retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The retreat focuses on servant-leadership and building upon YELLS’s core values while strengthening family ties among our older students.

Welcome to camp!

As we arrived at the camp, students were instructed to remove their shoes and socks, as the initiation process began. The tone for the weekend was set, as each student was challenged to go “all in” and walk through a pathway of “guck” as they entered the threshold of camp. Our fearless YELLS teens encouraged and cheered on their peers until each student made it through. Let the games begin!

 Opening Ceremony

The first night, the students were introduced to our theme for the weekend, The Hunger Games! The teens were called up one-by-one as they were given bandannas and necklaces and placed in their “district” during the opening ceremony.  Each district was assigned a YELLS value that they pledged to demonstrate for the weekend: Servant – Leadership, Professionalism, Positivity, Energy & Enthusiasm, Uplifting Others, Going Above & Beyond. May the odds be ever in your favor…

Competition was fierce among the districts as they sent tributes to compete for their honor and the YELLS Hunger Games Challenge, but all represented well and lived out their YELLS Values even through the trials – and even when it got messy…

Bonding by Firelight

Each night our teens shared incredible personal stories of perseverance, forgiveness, and hopes for the future. The annual candlelight campfire ceremony was a powerful time of bonding and storytelling as each YELLS Hunger Games tribute was challenged to share “What are you hungry for?” and “How will you keep your light shining?”

 

Alive, Awake, Alert, and Motivated

Sometimes we need a little motivation, and no YELLS Retreat is complete without the voices of our Bigs and Cafe Scholars echoing through the mountains!

 

Reflecting and Sharing Our Stories

The beautiful Blue Ridge mountains provide the perfect environment for reflection and visioning.  Our teens were challenged to think about the important people, places, and values that define them, ultimately charting their Life Map.  Youth reflected on their Servant-Leadership journey, where they are now, and where they want to go.

   

More than Fun and Games!

Camp was a great opportunity to show that learning about leadership can be fun! The districts competed in a series of challenges throughout the weekend including messy games and water relay races. Each activity focused on teaching how to use the tools we have to make impact in our community and work together to uplift each other when things get tough.

 

The YELLS Mentoring Bigs had time to plan their service project focus for the year, while the Café Scholars found out which Apprenticeship Team they will be serving on this year as the manage their Community Action Cafe.  Teens had just completed resumes and interviews before the retreat, and they were eager to hear the roles they landed!

We ended the Games with an awards ceremony. The Red district took Grand prize for the most points earned during the weekend, but each district had a team member who was awarded for their dedication to upholding their district’s YELLS value. Once our young leaders had the opportunity to award medals to their peers who exemplified YELLS values, it was clear they had become a true family and true servant leaders.

The annual YELLS Retreat is just the beginning of our youth’s Servant-Leadership journey.  As they return to our Franklin Gateway community, they are prepared to bring the lessons they learned with them.  YELLS Bigs and Cafe Scholars will push through their trials, find their parachute, and continue to uplift others along the way.

Celebrating 10 Years of YELLS: A Look Back from Graduate, Bridget Reyes

Celebrating 10 Years of YELLS: A Look Back

My name is Bridget Reyes, and I’m a proud YELLS alumna and Board Member!  My reflection here is one in a series of  reflections leading up to YELLS’s Tenth Anniversary Networking Dinner. This amazing organization and the people who make it so incredibly special have pushed me to become a better version of myself, and I hope you’ll join us on October 18 to offer this opportunity to others like me.

 

Back in 2011, during our YELLS Retreat in a little apartment complex on Franklin Road, we woke early and circled the Community Garden for a morning reflection.  After, we started to work on the garden together – what we thought was an unsuccessful harvest, was actually A WHOLE LOT OF SWEET POTATOES!  I couldn’t believe it!  We could help provide nutritious food to those in need, while also learning the importance of healthy eating and bringing our community together.  It was such a humbling moment to reflect on the hard work put into the garden. It was hard work from people of the City of Marietta’s Parks and Recreation department, helpers from The Atlanta Community Food Bank, YELLS volunteers and members, my amazing team – but also me.

I realized how much good was put into the garden and how much I had grown in less than a year. When I joined YELLS, I knew I had what it took to be a leader, but I always compared myself to others.  YELLS pushed me to work in a group and appreciate everyone’s strengths and learn to grow each other. We had so many opportunities to practice leadership by leading special “CEO Days,” presenting to the community, networking with leaders, and constant activities that all led to us completing our service projects.

YELLS gave me the push I needed to be a better version of myself –  a version that has been impacted by all those who donated to YELLS financially and also with their time. Little did I know the passion I developed while in YELLS instilled self-motivation that has led me during college and in my professional life. I graduated high school with over $22,000 in scholarships, I studied abroad to two different countries in college, and I graduated debt free.

Bridget building relationships at one of our first Networking Dinners!

Six years after high school, I currently serve on the YELLS Board.  I have approved agendas, shared my opinions on programs and projects, and reviewed financials – a whole different world that I didn’t know existed when I was a student.  And though I serve in a different capacity now, I can honestly say I am still growing and learning because of my YELLS Family.  I’m glad to have been a part of the YELLS Journey, but also excited for what is to come.

The hard work that reaps a harvest is much like the servant leader’s path. By investing in others, it’s often surprising how much you grow yourself. A seed was sown within Bridget, and now she is nurturing others.

Volunteer Spotlight: Jenny, Cameron, and DJ

YELLS is so fortunate to have such amazing volunteers. This month, we want to thank the volunteer team that gave up their entire weekend to join us at Camp Blue Ridge for our Servant Leadership Retreat.  DJ, Cameron, and Jenny all started in different places at YELLS, but joined forces to make this special weekend a success.

Jenny, started with us as an Afterschool Program volunteer in 2016. After taking a short break from volunteering to focus on school, we are so happy that she has rejoined us as an intern in the Community Action Café! She said she was nervous at first about making the switch from helping with K-5th graders to High School students, but she is already helping to encourage our older students through challenging assignments.

Cameron started as a volunteer in our Mentoring program last school year. He has been a dedicated mentor, helping to show our high school “Bigs” what it means to be a good role model to others.  He took his role with us as a team leader on the retreat very seriously, leading his district to victory with the most points earned at the end of the weekend.

DJ is our newest volunteer in the Community Action Café. He joined us just a few weeks ago wanting to assist our Café scholars with their math homework. When asked to join us on the retreat, he jumped at the chance. DJ has an “all-in” attitude that has already connected with our teens as he continuously works to support and build relationships with them.

Thank you Jenny, Cameron, and DJ for being such amazing role models for our teens and support to our staff and community!

 

“Books & Breakfast” Strengthens Family Literacy

Our community took a multi-generational approach to reading this summer with our “Books and Breakfast” Family Literacy initiative. Each day, as parents brought their kids to summer camp, we offered a special opportunity to enjoy breakfast and a book together with their children.  Over breakfast, families would learn a new skill for promoting literacy and creating a supportive reading environment at home.  Then, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and siblings shared in the joy of reading together!

This strategy helps parents participate and celebrate family literacy. Research stresses the significant role a home environment that supports literacy plays in helping children develop literacy skills.  This shared reading promotion and celebration created a culture of learning and increased direct reading contact time, while positively shaping youths’ perceptions of reading and building camaraderie among families.

Even the family dog can join in the reading fun!  We brought our furry YELLS mascot to motivate our kiddos to read even more throughout the summer.  Read-alouds are one of the simplest, yet most effective ways for youth to develop reading proficiency. However, youth often feel insecure and self-conscious when reading aloud. We’ve discovered an unconventional approach to overcome these inhibitions to the point that youth beg for the chance to read!  Once each week during the summer, the “YELLS Reading Dog,” Flyer, visited YELLS for our young scholars to read to one-on-one.  Flyer made reading becomes a treat, and this will impact students’ reading attitudes for life.

At YELLS, reading is definitely fun for the WHOLE family!

Partner Spotlight: Life University

Life University transformed our entire Mentoring Program site back in 2012!

We’ve been blessed by the students and staff of Life University over the years.  They’ve mobilized groups to paint our spaces, help our youth turn the soil of their community garden, and serve during all types of community days and special projects.  We’ve been blown away by how supportive the team at Life University has been.  Ever since Rebecca Koch, Director of Service Initiatives, learned about YELLS in our early years, she’s connected us with just about every department and club to keep volunteers and groups of students serving in our Franklin Gateway community.  One Life University student shared, “It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a community to make a village.”  We’re fortunate to have Life U in our village!

 

 

Over the past several years, Life University has expanded our village and helped to grow the YELLS family by providing us with some of the very best college students to help support our scholars through the Federal Work Study program. The Federal Work Study program provides part-time work for undergraduate students with financial need, removing the burden of finding an off-campus job as they complete their degree. While these are often thought of as only on-campus jobs, Life University has partnered with YELLS to provide off-campus job opportunities for students to work in our programs.

 

Life University FWS student, Morgan, came out to support our YELLS Mentoring Program Bigs during the Franklin Gateway Soccer Tournament they organized last spring.

One of those amazing Federal Work Study students, Morgan Pierce, has been a dedicated, talented, and hardworking member of the YELLS family since November 2016. Although her title at YELLS is “Youth Tutor” her role here is so much more than that. She supports every aspect of our K-5th grade Afterschool Program, earning the additional titles of music, art, and outdoor choice club leader, homework room manager, summer camp counselor, and overall program assistant, to name a few. She takes on every opportunity and challenge she’s given with a tremendously positive and uplifting attitude, always being a perfect role model of core values at YELLS.  Morgan says “it’s the Ah-ha moments and the big hugs when the kids run off the school bus to greet me each day” that keep her eager to come back. You can often hear the kids loudly yelling her name, “Hi Miss Morgan!” as they excitedly meet her to share about their day.

Recently, Morgan has helped to grow our YELLS family even more by recruiting her roommate, Gillian Seibert, to join us as the newest member to the team.  Life University has embraced YELLS, and their students truly make our work a family endeavor.  Other amazing Federal Work Study students like Franchescia Conyers-Cole, or “Mama Freska,” have brought their own families into the fold – her twin daughters served as camp counselors this summer!  Netherland Joiner, another amazing FWS student, has mobilized her friends and network to connect with us as well.  Thank you, Life University, for your undying dedication and support!

Federal Work Study students, Morgan and “Mama Freska,” help youth learn and grow each day.

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.