Education & Youth Development
From elementary to high school students, Urban League of Greater Cleveland is molding the future direction of Cleveland youth and helping them become successful and prosperous young adults. Our partnerships with local and national organizations allow the Urban League of Greater Cleveland to build a portfolio of programs and services for youth K-12 throughout the City of Cleveland.
Project Ready-Career Beginnings helps 250 students grow academically/socially
Urban League’s flagship education program is Project Ready-Career Beginnings (PR-CB), a high school retention and college access program that’s designed to make Cleveland Metropolitan School District more competitive in the global economy. The success has been phenomenal; results included increased school attendance, an increased interest and commitment to learning, and improved social skills.
Through a new AT&T Aspire grant, the PR-CB program has expanded. The PR-CB program works with 60 young ladies in the tenth grade at Glenville High School, giving them the additional support, resources, and exposure to broaden their horizon. The program centers around academic support, personal development, and cultural and global awareness.
United Way of Greater Cleveland funds 150 PR-CB students at Collinwood, East Tech, and Ginn Academy. The Project Ready curriculum for 9th and 10th graders provided by the National Urban League has been successfully integrated with the Career Beginnings model for 11th and 12th graders, a program which has been in existence for over 23 years.
21st Century Operation Urban Impact
Operation Urban Impact (OUI) is an after school, blended learning environment. Funded by ODE 21st Century Community Learning Center grant, the program’s design includes scientifically based research, best practices in youth development, and key strategies designed to keep students in school, achieving, and graduating. Students receive PSAT, SAT and ACT instruction and dropout prevention support.
HBCU-E3—Historically Black College & Universities—E3 Exposure, Engagement, Experience exposes young adults to advanced education
For the past 20 years, the Urban League has been instrumental in developing relationships with historically black colleges and universities across the nation. This dynamic program gives students the opportunity to actually visit college campuses, experience their rich culture and heritage, and talk to current students. Participants also have the opportunity to visit educational or historic sites, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta. An average of 50 young adults have the opportunity to attend each year. It is estimated that 50 percent of students who attend the college tour go on to advanced education. ***Registration for 2011 Tour Now Open***
Kid’s College helps 100 ffifth graders excel academically & socially
Urban League’s Kids College is an academic enrichment program for fifth graders. Funded by United Way of Greater Cleveland, the program is working with 100 students from Carl and Louis Stokes Central Academy and Robert H. Jamison Academy to help the children build academic, social, and personal development skills.
High School Internship Programs have reached over 200 students
Health Horizons – In 1997, the Urban League partnered with the Cleveland Clinic and East Cleveland City Schools on Health Horizons, an internship program that annually exposes students to healthcare careers. Later, Youth Opportunities Unlimited joined the collaboration as a valuable partner. Each year, students compete to take part in an eight- to 10-week paid internship at the Clinic where they are exposed to a number of hands-on occupational healthcare skills. The Urban League’s Health Horizons’ model was used to develop the Park Pathways Internship Program with the Cleveland Metroparks.
Wastewater Internship Program – In 2008, the Urban League developed a similar program for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. Twelve students participated in 2008 and 14 participated in 2009. As with the Health Horizons model, students gain exposure to an industry and have the opportunity to compete for paid summer internships.
MyCom—My Commitment, My Community helps students make life transitions
MyCom, launched by the Cleveland Foundation for K to 12 students, is a youth movement that provides positive experiences and caring adults to help students reach their full potential and become good citizens. Students learn how to effectively transition from home to kindergarten, elementary to middle school, middle to high school, and high school to college. It links them to appropriate resources and opportunities in their own neighborhoods.
The Urban League is working with Starting Point to develop youth with successful transitions in key stages of their development. The League is developing a curriculum and Train the Trainer model for supporting the work of Out of School Time Providers that work with youth in the MyCOM selected neighborhoods.
Community Collaborator
The Urban League operates in an extremely collaborative manner to offer a rich diversity of programs, services and activities for young adults. Urban League sees itself as a connector or bilingual broker that communicate across the lines of K-12 education, higher education, corporate America, governmental agencies, and more.
