$49,000 Grant Provides One-on-One Adult Mentors for 200 Youth in Grades 1-5
Dover – Friday, December 9, 2011 – On Monday, December 12, Lt. Governor Matt Denn, Chair of the Criminal Justice Council, will announce a $49,000 Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant to Big Brothers Big Sisters. This Byrne Grant, through the Criminal Justice Council, will fund a new collaboration between Big Brothers Big Sisters and Children & Families First that would deploy Mentor Coordinators, employed by Big Brothers Big Sisters, in three elementary schools that are part of the Eastside Community Schools initiative – Bancroft, Stubbs and Elbert-Palmer – to assist youth in achieving academic success and reducing delinquency.
Lt. Governor Denn will be joined by mentors and mentees who will share their stories; representatives from Eastside Community Schools; Mary Fox, Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters; Leslie Newman, CEO of Children & Families First; Drew Fennell, Executive Director for the Criminal Justice Council; the Delaware Mentoring Council (funder); United Way of Delaware (funder); JP Morgan Chase (funder); Christina School District (funder and host district).
These three schools, situated on the Eastside of Wilmington – with a combined 935 students – are facing serious challenges. All three of these Christina School District schools face high rates of poverty, disciplinary offenses and failure to meet minimum academic standards. The need for prevention and intervention services for these students and communities is critical.
In 2009, the Eastside Community Schools Project, led by Children & Families First was initiated to add centralized family support services to the communities served by these three schools. Mentoring is a crucial piece of the services needed for Eastside students and Big Brothers Big Sisters has been assisting all three schools in providing adult mentors for students. Over the past school year, several corporations have dedicated employee mentors to these three schools. However, results have been mixed due to the lack of resources to support the mentoring efforts.
The new Mentor Coordinators would provide on-site implementation of each school’s program in accordance with the highest standards of mentoring. They will make sure that resources targeted to the specific academic and social needs of these students are provided to mentors, in order to ensure the best outcomes for students. This expansion of services will also allow for after-school mentoring, as well as mentoring during the school day.
Children growing up in Wilmington’s Eastside neighborhood face significant risk factors for crime, including poverty rates of up to 61% and alarming rates of violent crime. All three schools in the Eastside Community School project are Title I schools, with percentages of low-income students ranging from 93.5 to 99.3% and special education enrollment ranging from 12.7 – 19.6%. We know that poverty puts children at increased risk for a wide range of problems, including lower cognitive abilities, lower school achievement, lower high school graduation rates and lower occupational status and wages as an adult. (Kids Count 2011)
The intended outcomes for participating youth include: increased commitment to school (improved grades, attitude toward school & classroom behavior); decreased disciplinary referrals/infractions; and improved attendance.
Monday, December 12, 2011
11:00am – 12:00pm Criminal Justice Council Funding Announcement
Stubbs Elementary School
Auditorium
1100 North Pine Street
Wilmington