It is hard to believe we are quickly approaching the announcement of the 2010 Finalists. So at this time, let’s revisit our 2009 winners of the Impact 100 grant of $103,000 and the progress they have made.
The Anthony House Outreach Program for Homeless Young Adults project had a three part effort. The first was to hire an Outreach Worker to assist the Anthony House Coordinator; the second part was to increase the hours of the Anthony House from 3 days a week to 5 days a week; and the third part was to increase the hours of the staff nurse from 10–20 hours. As of November 2, 2009 The Anthony House officially expanded their services to 5 days a week. A hot meal is served each day from 4–5 p.m. In addition, the staff nurse increased her hours to 20 hours a week beginning in November 2009.
By the end of February, over 1700 meals have been provided which demonstrates the impact of the Anthony House being open 5 days a week. Increasing the hours of the staff nurse has resulted in an increase in community outreach to local health clinics — i.e. Anthony House youth received H1N1 vaccines. With the increase of hours, Anthony House is better able to connect youth to housing opportunities. Currently, Anthony House is interviewing for an Outreach Worker.
Roland Kocsis, Program Director , “With the increase in hours we have consistently seen more new youth drop in each month which has led to increases in caseloads for the outreach workers. Most importantly, we offer these youth consistency during a time of transition and inconsistency.”
The Economics Center for Education and Research’s goal for the Impact 100 grant was to expand the StEP program to five new schools over a three year period resulting in reaching approximately 1000 additional students. Since the grant was awarded in September 2009, the StEP program (empowers students to make wise choices and celebrate the consequences of those choices) will be introduced to the five schools in the 2010–2011 school year. From the time that the grant was awarded until the present, Dr. Val Krugh, StEP Director, and her staff have been collecting data about the students in the five schools in order to establish baseline information for project evaluation. Tools utilized for program evaluation include: academic performance records (standardized test scores), students’ performance on benchmark tests (given every six weeks to measure knowledge gained in most recent period of instruction), teacher qualifications, student attendance rates, students’ disruptive behavior, students’ home environment, and positive involvement by a parent /guardian with students.
The five schools that will have the Step program in the 2010–2011 school year are Frederick Douglass Elementary School, College Hill Fundamental Academy, Midway Elementary, South Avondale Elementary and North Avondale Elementary. The exciting news is that Rothenberg Preparatory Academy was originally slated in the proposal. However, that school’s program is being funded by another local foundation. Consequently, South Avondale Elementary was added as the fifth school. The data collected over the past six months has aided Dr. Krugh and her staff in determining the level of programs for each school. As a result, each school will have a customized program tailored to their students’ level of participation and needs. “We are excited that in future progress reports we can report to Impact 100 the various enrichment activities that occur based on the individual needs of each of the five schools,” stated Dr. Krugh.
Adrijana Kowatsch, Development Officer, notes “the response of our clients (schools) is very positive. StEP’s activities are correlated to Ohio’s academic content standards for grades 3–5 and it is for that reason that principals and educators in targeted schools consider the program a useful curricular tool.”
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