Gads Hill Center selected by Chicago Board of Education as one of 20 Chicago nonprofit collaborations to provide mentorship services to at-risk students
Published: July 1, 2010
Gads Hill Center selected by Chicago Board of Education as one of 20 Chicago nonprofit collaborations to provide mentorship services to at-risk students
Chicago, IL Gads Hill Center, with our partner, the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, was selected by the Chicago Board of Education as one of 20 Chicago nonprofit collaborations to provide mentorship services to at-risk students in Chicago high schools.
The School Board conducted a comprehensive assessment of the violence-related risks posed to CPS high school students both inside and outside of school. In response to extensive data-based research and community discussions, the Board then created a three pronged strategy to advance the protection, safety and security of high school students. That strategy includes mentorship and advocacy for high school students at risk of engaging in, or becoming victims of, aggressive behavior, truancy, suspension, and expulsion.
Mayor Daley announced that 13 city high schools will receive services under CPS’s comprehensive anti-violence Student Mentorship and Advocacy Services Program, funded in part by federal economic stimulus funds. See link below for more information. http://mayor.cityofchicago.org/mayor/en/press_room/press_releases/2010/june_2010/0622_cps_mentoring.html
In partnership with the Chicago Public Schools and with the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, 100 at-risk high school students in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood will receive services this fall. Gads Hill Center’s program, called Building Leaders, uses two approaches: an asset building model approach and a social justice approach. The program will focus on helping the students turn around their behaviors and roles in their community. This program design, based on the SEARCH Institute’s framework of Developmental Assets research, leads to a higher level of student commitment to the school, the immediate environment, and the community. The Brighton Park Neighborhood Council will provide specific counseling services and will serve as the liaison between Gads Hill Center and Kelly High School, where the Council has a long-standing and well respected presence.
The social justice approach reaches high school students where they live by engaging them with their own interests, their own issues, and the issues they see around them. “With the Mayor, we are proud to be part of this all-out effort by the community to save our children from violence,” said Gads Hill Center CEO Barbara Castellan.
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