Over three million students drop out of high school each year, according to Statistic Brain. And although there have been many successful efforts to prevent future dropouts, such as Chicago’s After School Matters, few programs exist that give opportunities to students who have already quit school.
So that’s where Engage Santa Fe comes in. The idea behind it is to entice students to resume course work by enrolling in a program that’s more attractive to them and realistic for their lifestyle.
“[Dropouts] work 8 to 5. They have families. Who’s going to take care of the baby? Some of them are taking care of their brothers and sisters,” explains local resident Korina Nevarez to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Given these challenges, creating just the right program has taken creativity, and getting it approved has taken a lot of perseverance. Luckily, Santa Fe’s educators never gave up, despite working on it for a while.
First approved by the school board this spring, Engage Santa Fe was originally going to be funded by the state and run by a private educational company from Florida — though after criticism from Santa Fe teachers, that company withdrew its bid to run the program. That didn’t stop it from moving forward, though; with a combination of funding from the Department of Labor, the school district, and the Santa Fe Community Foundation, the program is currently kicking off enrollment.
To help bring dropouts into the program, the school district has enlisted none better than the dropout’s own peers to canvass neighborhoods. Valerie Alvarado, 18, a recent graduate of Santa Fe High School, and Udell Calzadillas, 19, a student at University of New Mexico, are both peer recruiters. Their goal is to get at least 75 16- to 21-year-old dropouts to resume their education through Engage Santa Fe.
“I want to graduate,” one candidate for the program told them, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Hopefully, with the continued work of volunteers in Santa Fe, completing their education can be a reality not only the dropouts in the southwest city, but the millions of dropouts across America.
MORE: A Simple Solution For America’s Achievement Gap
Tag: Chicago
This Startup Uses Urban Relics to Serve Up Local Food
As more and more people get their news online, it’s not just newspapers and magazines that are going out of business. So is the ubiquitous newsstand.
But instead of bulldozing these small spaces or allowing them to become derelict, Chicago is allowing e.a.t. (which stands for education, agriculture and technology), an Illinois nonprofit dedicated to innovating local food systems, to convert its defunct newsstands into food kiosks.
The very first “e.a.t. spot” is a 45-square-foot healthy food option that opened this week in Chicago’s downtown Loop neighborhood — bringing local produce and grains to residents and workers in the Windy City five days a week. Partnering with the food delivery service Irv & Shelley’s Fresh Picks delivering food and Streetwise, a workforce development agency, four more healthy food stands are set to open in downtown Chicago before year’s end.
Chicago issued its very first Emerging Business License to the initiative, whose menu includes a tofu scramble wrap and an Asian kale salad with shitake mushrooms. The founder of e.a.t., Ken Waagner, says that the menu will probably change quarterly, and that he doesn’t “want too boutiquey food stands. We want it to be for everybody.”
Waagner also stressed the effort’s focus on sustainability. “We want to make it sustainable. Before we say we’re going to open eight, we want to make four work.”
And the good of these “e.a.t. spots” doesn’t end with serving healthy meals. According to DNAinfo, the kiosks are staffed with workers at risk of being homeless.
“It’s a neat social enterprise-meets-social experiment,” says Waagner. “That’s what it ultimately is, so we’ll see.”
In our opinion, bringing healthy food and jobs to those in need sounds like recipe for success.
In This Tough Chicago Neighborhood, Kids Are Choosing to Box, Not Fight
The Chicago Youth Boxing Club (CYBC) is tucked in a church basement in the Windy City’s Little Village neighborhood, providing one of the area’s few after school activities. Since it was founded in 2006, the gym has become much more than a place for kids to hang out. “It isn’t enough to get kids off the street,” says Ana Patricia Juarez, programming manager for CYBC, “you have to build them into leaders and people who will eventually give back to their communities.” The boxing club now provides counseling, nutritional education, and college readiness programs.
These 3 Urban Farms Provide the Formerly Incarcerated an Opportunity to Grow
You can’t argue with the benefits of urban farming. Not only does it provide fresh, local food, but it also helps to unite a community.
While most of these farms focus exclusively on the sprouting fruits and vegetables, a few are looking to grow better lives for a group that is commonly forgotten: former prisoners and at-risk youths.
With 2.2 million people currently in jail, according to the Sentencing Project, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. But even after being released, life for many of these individuals doesn’t get much (if any) better. Many employers don’t want to hire ex-convicts, so the former prisoners fall back into their old life, committing crimes and returning to jail — continuing the cycle.
Which is where these urban farms come in. They employ those that are formerly incarcerated and at-risk youth, offering job-training programs and putting these individuals on a path towards higher education and full-time employment.
Here are three standout urban farms (according to Sustainable Cities Collective) working towards this goal.
1. Recovery Park: Detroit, Michigan
Started in 2010, Recovery Park currently has a fully-operational 30-acre farm on land that used to be an empty parking lot. That isn’t all though, as the group is now working to create a three-tiered business model that will produce fresh food for the neighborhood as well as create jobs for those unable to find employment, such as former inmates and addicts. Eventually, the farm plans to have 2,475 acres of land, plus a food processing facility and an indoor aquaponic farm. Over the next 10 years, the goal is to create 18,000 jobs.
2. Seattle Youth Garden Works: Seattle, Washington
On the west coast, you will find the Seattle Youth Garden Works. Since 1995, this group has been providing employment and education for young adults who are either homeless or involved with the juvenile justice system. Positive reinforcement and an education in agriculture, cooking, nutrition, entrepreneurship and resume building are provided to the group of 16-21 year olds.
3. Windy City Harvest Corps: Chicago, Illinois
From 2009-2013, the Windy City Harvest Corps offered 13-week transitional jobs in the urban farming industry to 60-90 recently-released inmates. During that time, the individuals were taught job skills and given the opportunity to better their lives. After completing the program, many went on to work for Windy City Harvest or to other full-time jobs.
However, with the start of 2014, the group has switched their focus to at-risk youths. Through a partnership with the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, the group will work to create employment and education opportunities to curb the rate of imprisonment among 17-21 year olds.
To check out a few more promising urban farming programs, click here.
Opportunity can arise from anywhere, and as those that participate in these initiatives are experiencing, it can come in the form of farming. Sometimes a little dirt is all it takes to live a clean life.
MORE: This Inmate Has Become a Diving Expert in Prison. Here’s Why That’s Good for America
This Woman Fought The Tough Chicago Streets and Won
Sally Hazelgrove grew up in the safe, affluent Chicago suburb of Naperville, but that didn’t stop her from moving her family to one of the city’s worst neighborhoods.
After hearing story after story about gun violence in the crime-riddled community of Englewood on Chicago’s South Side, Hazelgrove decided she wanted to help make a difference in the lives of the children there. She first began volunteering and participating in Department of Children and Family Services programs but was determined to figure out what could get young men off the streets.
“I surveyed the boys on the corners,” said Hazelgrove. “I had my little pad and paper, and asked them what would get them off the corner. Something they wanted to do that they don’t have access to that would get them off the block for a few hours so they’re safe.”
The answer came in the form of boxing, and Hazelgrove hatched a plan to create a boxing club. Though she had no experience, Hazelgrove began boxing training before inviting students from a local elementary school to join her in 2009. Such was the beginnings for the Crushers Club, a boxing club to help rehabilitate Englewood and West Englewood’s youth and give them a safe and strong alternative to gangs.
In 2012, Hazelgrove won a $100,000 grant as well as a year of management support from A Better Chicago, which enabled her to expand the club and hire and train some of the boys as mentors for other students. Now, based in the Zion M.B. Church, the Crushers Club employs 21 boys between the ages of 14 and 24. The boys are not only providing support to other students, but also gaining valuable work experience.
“A lot of the boys that come here haven’t had a job before or even know someone who has modeled that for them,” said Hazelgrove. “We want their mistakes to come out here. Being late, conduct, clothing, engagement; we weed out the bad habits. After a year to three years here, they’ll go out and get another job, and not make the same mistakes there.”
But Hazelgrove hasn’t limited her support to boxing. Joseph “Jo-Jo” Cook was a young boy when Hazelgrove met him, warning her to go inside just before a shooting was about to happen. Recognizing his creative spirit, she pledged to open a studio for him if he would give up a life on the street. Keeping her promise, Hazelgrove built The Voice of Englewood Studio.
“A lot of people have lost hope, and we’re trying to bring people in and give them another option for what they can do in their life,” said Cook. “We got some guys who don’t even care about losing their life. But it feels safe here.”
Creating that sense of safety amid the fraught community is what drives Hazelgrove to keep fighting for the youth through the Crushers Club.
“I have to find a light that burns brighter than the street,” she said. “I have to find something just as exciting.”
MORE: This Inspiring Former Inmate Teaches Yoga in an Unlikely Spot
How San Francisco Is Tapping Big Data to Measure Neighborhood Sustainability
What comes to mind when you think of San Francisco? If you’re like most, it’s the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatrez prison, and liberal social views.
But you should also think about San Francisco’s civic technology. The City by the Bay is often considered a trendsetter in this field — and now, it’s enlisting help from the Midwest to help engineer its latest investment in a digital government tool.
Partnering with the University of Chicago, San Francisco’s Citywide Planning Division is creating a neighborhood dashboard to measure each community’s sustainability by measuring statistics such as energy, water usage, materials management, health, local habitat, community investment and mobility, according to Government Technology.
The “Sustainable Systems Framework” will regularly update metrics on individual neighborhoods through department datasets, which will then give insight on future urban development and resource management, according to city planner Lisa Chen.
While a variety of components inspired the framework’s design, Chicago’s WindyGrid provided a template for San Fran’s system. WindyGrid is an open-sourced data hub that stores seven million rows of data in real-time across the city’s departments and is considered one of the largest municipal data ventures of its kind.
Matthew Gee, the U of Chicago’s project coordinator and a member of the team that developed WindyGrid, explains that San Francisco’s deployment of the technology could provide data-driven accountability for individual neighborhoods for the first time in its history.
“That kind of insight into how local programs, initiatives and investments have changed and improved the area around us hasn’t been possible in the past — or at least openly available — and that’s really exciting,” Gee said.
But building the technology is the easy part. Coordinating datasets and mapping out communities pose major challenges to the groundbreaking project. The university will help city officials comb through department data to extract the most meaningful stats to use in sustainable metrics, which entails even minute pieces like block parties or historic preservation.
While breaking down neighborhoods may seem like an easy task, mapping will take more into account than zip codes or geographical borders. Instead, the project team will separate neighborhoods by eco-districts as well as communities that share residential, commercial and industrial traits. These defined terms were first employed by Portland in 2010, and Chen contends the methodology is well-researched.
“Getting agencies to coordinate efforts even in a single neighborhood can be a real challenge,” Chen said, “and I think having performance metrics is one way to really engage agencies as well as the broader community.”
San Francisco will join more than 20 cities to begin exploring the idea of governing tactics by similar areas rather than one centralized plan for the whole city, The beta version is expected to roll out by the end of the first quarter in 2015, and residents will be able to check out a public version shortly after.
“We want this to be a demonstration project that shows cities the power of data and citizen-facing technologies that change the way cities grow,” Gee said.
MORE: How San Francisco Got Its Residents to Care About Sewers
Neighborhood Blight Is No Match for These Pop-Up Gardens
Putting it bluntly, there’s nothing good about an abandoned lot. It collects litter and can serve as a congregating place where undesirable activity goes on.
Fortunately, in North Chicago, some vacant spaces are undergoing a makeover and sprouting some new and helpful additions.
Since 2010, resident Lamonda Joy has been transforming these lots into pop-up gardens, providing organic food to the growers.
Interestingly, Joy got her inspiration to create luscious green spaces from a vacant lot that she walked past every single day on her way home from work. After seeing a picture of a World War II victory garden in that same space, she had the idea to return the area to its former glory.
The Peterson Garden Project took root in 2010 and at the time, became the largest organic garden in Chicago and the first in a long line of pop-up gardens.
What separates Joy’s gardens from other community gardening projects? Hers are meant to only last for two to five years. (Hence the term pop-up.) The gardens will appear overnight and a few years later, disappear just as fast.
Their creation is very simple: When Joy spots an empty lot, she contacts the owner and asks to use the space for as long as possible. An agreement is signed with the owner, and the following day, the gardeners arrive with the 4’x8’ raised gardening beds.
The project only uses raised beds because the group is unsure what hazards lay in the city soil, and they do not want to risk infecting the produce. Further, the raised beds make it incredibly efficient to start and take down a garden. When a particular lot is no longer available, the beds are simply picked up and carried to the next spot.
In the four years since its inception, the project has grown extensively. This season alone, the Peterson Garden Project will be coordinating 4,000 gardeners in eight different lots across North Chicago. The gardens are open to everyone, and free classes are offered to beginners, as well monthly classes for experienced gardeners. Weekly, the group holds “in the garden” question-and-answer periods.
The majority of the food is consumed by the gardeners themselves, but five percent is donated to area food banks and nutrition programs through a group known as Grow2Give. The Peterson Garden Project is also working to make organic, sustainable food available for low-income families by providing scholarship donation plots.
Clearly, the Peterson Garden Project is transforming those vacant lots from eye sores into a valuable community asset.
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Many Politicians Are Dragging Their Feet on Immigration Reform. But This CEO Says It’s Time
Last week several news organizations including the Washington Post and Politico reported that many Washington insiders feel any hope for immigration reform in the near future is “dead,” following the defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in his primary race. But those outside the Beltway aren’t so pessimistic. In a recent speech at the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Greg Brown, the CEO and Chairman of Motorola Solutions, said, “Why is the timing not right for this? I find that unacceptable.”
According to Anna Marie Kukec of the Daily Herald, Brown plans to continue to advocate for immigration reform and rally other business leaders to do so, until it’s revived. According to Brown, it just makes good business sense at a time when the economy remains “fragile.”
Brown said that American businesses cannot find workers with the skills they need, due to limited visas available for high-skilled workers. He believes that hiring such international workers does not take jobs from Americans—on the contrary, it creates jobs for them.
“Immigrant workers are job generators themselves,” he said. “They have a job multiplier effect. So if our goal is to grow a dynamic environment for businesses to be created, grow and thrive, we ought to care about this as a state.”
Motorola Solutions runs programs to encourage American kids to become engineers, working with the Chicago Public Library Foundation, the Museum of Science and Industry, school districts and other organizations. “It’s about preparing the workforce for the jobs that will keep America competitive and enable kids to succeed in the 21st century,” Brown said. “But, unfortunately, it takes 18 years to make an engineer, and the crisis for talent is now.”
MORE: Can An Influx of Immigrants Bolster Michigan’s Economy?
Why Local Governments Are Becoming More Data-Driven
It’s no secret that data analytics and an emphasis on machine learning are easy ways to fast track efficiency when it comes to navigating the daunting processes of bureaucracy. That concept is gradually catching on, but in the wake of budget cuts and economic recovery, government officials in Indiana are understanding the important role data can play in saving costs.
Earlier this year Indiana Gov. Mike Pence used an executive order to create a Management and Performance Hub (MPH) to streamline and increase the use of data services across state agencies. In an effort to increase productivity and transparency, the MPH uses performance management tools and an analytic platform to identify to examine where agencies can improve and how to save money.
Supported by the governor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Indiana Office of Technology (IOT), MPH stands to serve as an example of agency coordination and cutting out some of the drawn-out, bureaucratic procedures that have long been in place. The state’s vast pool of data is now organized in a central place within the IOT, according to Paul Baltzell, chief information officer.
“We are seeing boosted productivity from standardization and cleaning of data, and also from new technology purchases,” said Sara Marshall, the MPH project director for OMB. “For example, a complex query that takes ten minutes on an SQL server takes less than one second on our new in-memory computing platform.”
The reorganization and clean-up of procedures also limits opportunity to corrupt data, Marshall adds. With few steps involved in a query, there’s less of a chance of error. That also adds to a better workflow.
The state agencies are also exploring more ways to implement a data-driven government, including improving real-time statistics on drug and alcohol abuse for local authorities as well as keeping up with updating resident addresses.
The success of Indiana’s implementation of the site is due in part to strong support from state leadership. The city of Chicago is another example where leadership backing has helped foster a successful model. The city’s Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT), which helps streamline data use across departments, has had strong support from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office. The agency is dedicated to identifying problems and making data-driven decisions through use of machine learning and analytics.
For example, the city recently completed a pilot project to predict rodent infestations for the Department of Streets and Sanitation. The department was then able to target areas where it should use rodent-baiting, saving on cost and time.
With more support from government leaders, data analytics can vastly improve the frustrating procedures that hamper government productivity. Perhaps Indiana’s success can serve as a future model for more states to get on board with the power of data.
Why Does This School Let Its Students Record Hip-Hop Tracks?
While some high school principals try to attract the best and the brightest to their schools, that’s not the case with Monica Haslip, founder of Chicago’s Little Black Pearl Academy, a public school focused on engagement in arts.
Instead, she asks the school district to find students who are headed down the wrong path and send them to her.
Little Black Pearl (LBP) grew out of an after-school arts program that Haslip expanded into a full-time school when she saw the need to reach out to students in Chicago’s poorest and most violence-prone neighborhoods in order to keep them enrolled.
“A lot of young people who dropped out of school, they’re still engaged in hip-hop and rap and drawing and tagging all the things that we see in our communities that are tied to the arts,” she told Hari Sreenivasan of PBS NewsHour.
What makes this school unique is that it’s infused with activities ranging from glass blowing to poetry to recording music in a studio. Haslip finds that these activities make the kids more than happy to show up for class.
Sreenivasan spoke to Samantha Peterson, a teacher at LBP whose students demonstrated greater academic gains than any other public school students in Chicago. “I dropped out of high school at 15 years old, and I have a GED,” she said. “I grew up on the streets in the South Side of Chicago, in and out of group homes, as a ward of the Illinois court, so I had a lot of problems in my life, and I can personally relate to all — a lot of the experiences that they’re going through.”
The goal of this arts enrichment is to not only help the students graduate and ease some of their trauma over the violence endemic to their neighborhoods through creative expression, but also to show kids that there are career paths open to them in disciplines that they might find more engaging than math.
“Just by providing them with the tools and the equipment and the professional support helps them to see that there is a pathway for a career,” Haslip said.