The Listening to Our Teens Network and the Asheville City Schools Foundation

By Travis Herbert, “In Real Life” Campus Director, Asheville City Schools Foundation

Short History Overview:
In the Spring of 2008 the Asheville City Schools Foundation received a grant from the Community Foundation of WNC to engage in a Listening Project. In partnership with the Rural Southern Voice for Peace the ACS Foundation trained 40 community members to interview 60 students at Asheville Middle School and the Randolph Learning Center, 28 parents and family members and 20 representatives from service providing agencies. The findings were compiled into the Listening to Our Teens Report available by request from the ACS Foundation.

 

in_real_life_logo.jpgThe importance of engaging our youth in after school activities:
Youth Crime in Asheville: Currently, over 60% of youth crime in
Asheville is committed by young people 11-14. Much of that crime happens
between the hours of 3 and 6. It costs our city approximately $100,000
per juvenile offender. The entire cost of the IRL program to serve 100
young teens a day with unique programming options each day is just a
little over $150,000.

The growing Achievement Gap: The Asheville City Schools has one of the
largest achievement gaps in the state of North Carolina. Recent students
have targeted the locus of achievement disparities to disparities in
after school time. While young teens of means engage with an educated
adult, participate in enriching experiences, or contribute to their
communities; students of poverty are either locked in or locked out of
their homes and in our community have few choices in after school
activities.

Being Seen: Across our community young teens are barely visible. While
the research shows and we all agree that middle school is a pivotal time
developmentally, we do not currently offer opportunities for young
people to “try on” different roles. The teens in our community said they
wanted to participate in the community through community service
opportunities and see themselves as leaders.

Intermediary Outcomes:
Groundswell of Community Support: Among the outcomes of the publishing
of the Listening to Our Teens report, we have seen a groundswell of
community support. The issues addressed by the research resonated with
our community is such a way that multiple service providers have
re-evaluated their programs to include more services for middle school
aged youth. Additionally, the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe
County has selected after-school programming for middle school students
as a focused initiative and is using a similar process to study the
needs of 11-14 year olds in Buncombe County.
In Real Life:

Go. Be. You… after school

Key components of the In Real Life (IRL) after school initiative:
Collaboration: By coordinating programming designed and funded by
agencies across our community the LTOTN is building a sustainable model
for service delivery. Rather than have one agency develop the diverse
programming necessary to capture the attention and engagement of middle
school youth, this model allows for agencies to bring their A game to
one or two days of programming a week. The LTOTN hub eliminates barriers
to participation for students and providers by providing coordination
and direction, transportation among programs and home, snacks, screening
of service delivery staff, and program evaluation.

Funding support is
provided to teacher led initiatives though the ACS Foundation and
through information and communication about available funds for
programs. Additionally, the ACS Foundation provides information to
assist in grant success.

Choice: By providing a menu of services IRL offers the ability for
students and families to choose the opportunities that best suit the
participant. Among the 8 week session offerings for Fall 2010 are:
Circus arts, African dance, French, debate, soccer, and craft studies.
IRL programs are offered through the following threads: Academic
Enrichment, Arts & Culture, Community Service & Sports.

Youth Leadership: An ongoing aspect of IRL is to provide avenues that
foster youth leadership in helping to shape, promote and evaluate this
program.

Access & Representation: IRL has mechanisms in place to ensure that
all students have access to programming and that barriers of
transportation and cost are removed so that each offering is a
representation of the community of the AMS & RLC.

Champions: The model we are replicating is a model from Providence Rhode
Island called PASA, a key component of that model’s success was that
the city of Providence was a driving force and champion for the effort.
We ask you to become a champion of this effort. Being a champion means
that you stay informed, include the effort in the dialogue about how we
can serve young people, and choose to allocate some of your time and
resources to supporting young teens.

Service Providers: Fall 2010
Asheville Art Museum
Asheville-Buncombe Youth Soccer Association
The Health Adventure
Inner Works Productions
Our Voice
LEAF in Schools & Streets
21st Century Community Learning Centers
Roots + Wings School of Art
The Salvation Army/Boys and Girls Club
Up Front Management Sports
University of North Carolina Asheville-Craft Campus
Western North Carolina AIDS Project
YWCA
Find out how you can support this program by visiting www.irlasheville.org.