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High School Reform Link: View ACT's "Stand Together" Campaign for Youth Success. Link: View ACT's List of Accomplishments from 1991-2005. Link: ACT "Youth Jobs Task Force" Final Report and Recommendations. |
RESULTS Established in 1991 by an ecumentical group of clergy, ACT has a long, vibrant history of making positive change for families in the Sacramento region. For a list of our accomplishments from 1991-2005: . See list below for results from our 2006-7 STAND TOGETHER Campaign for Youth Success in Sacramento: STAND TOGETHER represents a series of strategies designed to increase the health and success of young people in our community, and to “open the doors of the prison for those who are bound”. The following is a progress report on our key areas: Solution #1: Improve High School Graduation Rates ACT has set the goal of increasing high school graduation rates in Sacramento and currently is working on the following interrelated strategies: Outreach to At-Risk Students: In the summer of 2006, ACT and the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project worked with teams of educators at Hiram Johnson and Luther Burbank High Schools to reach out to students at risk of not graduating . These committed educators carried out 340 home visits to the families of sophomores who had failed the high school exit exam for the first time. Through these visits, educators, students and parents came together to develop a mutual strategy to get the student back on track. An initial evaluation shows this effort has had a significant impact:
For the summer of 2007, we are working to expand this effort to incoming 9th graders whose test scores and attendance suggest they are at risk of not graduating. ACT is working with the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project, the California Teacher's Organization and its sister organizations throughout the state to spread this model throughout the state and recently won a $15 million allocation in the state budget to support parent/teacher home visits in California schools. Improving School Attendance: Research shows that students who miss school frequently and who have fallen behind in their studies have a high likelihood of dropping out. ACT's Hmong parents have found that students who are frequently truant are more likely to be recruited by gangs. For these reasons, in early 2006, ACT developed a collaborative effort with Vice Mayor's Rob Fong's Office, the Sac Unified School District, Police Chief Najera, the Department of Human Assistance, and various community-based organizations to create “school attendance centers” throughout the region. In this approach, police pick up truant students and bring them to the center, where school district staff and social workers work with the student and family to facilitate positive interventions, such as school counseling and mentoring. Our first center opened in October of 2006 at Luther Burbank High. As of February of 2007, of the 250 students who have gone through the Burbank center, 91% are now attending school regularly. In the neighborhoods surrounding Luther Burbank, grand theft has decreased by 31% and vandalism is down 16%. In December 2007, two other Student Attendance Centers were opened to reach out to chronically truant students in the north and central areas of Sacramento. Support for Small High Schools and Learning Communities: Students are more likely to be successful in school and life when they have supportive relationships with teachers and their peers. One deterrent to such relationships is the large size of our many of our high schools. Since 2005, ACT has been an active supporter of the high school reform effort in the Sac City District that seeks to create new small high schools and to redesign large high schools into small learning communities. In November of 2005, ACT organized a meeting of 450 youth leaders and parents to demonstrate to school board members support for this critical reform effort and continues to engage youth and parents to ensure that this reform survives and grows. Middle School Outreach: By middle school, many youth have begun going down a path that eventually leads to dropping out of high school and/or gang affiliation. In partnership with Councilmember Kevin McCarty, Will C Wood Middle School and Big Brothers Big Sisters, ACT is working on a pilot project focused on those middle school students whose attendance and test scores suggest they could be headed down the wrong path. This strategy includes pairing at-risk youth with mentors, alerting parents of truancy concerns early, and home visits. Solution #2: Youth Jobs Solution #3: Youth Leadership Solution #4: Mentoring Solution #5: Strengthening Youth Ministry In addition to the above strategies, ACT is also working to improve the overall health of children through our campaign in support of universal children’s health coverage: Children's Health Coverage Health coverage for all children has long been a top priority for ACT and its umbrella organization, PICO California. in 2000, ACT's sister organization in San Jose led the organizing campaign that created the first county level universal children's health plan. ACT has been an active supporter of the Sacramento county children's health plan, Cover the Kids by 2006, and has helped congregations sign up hundreds of children for affordable health insurance. ACT is currently working with Governor Schwarzenegger, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senator Darrell Steinberg to advance state policy on children's health. Please Join Us! As a faith-based organization, we are seeking to respond to God’s call to reach out to the “afflicted” and the “brokenhearted.” Please join us in this effort! To get involved in the Stand Together Campaign, please contact ACT at 447-7959 ext 14 or visit our website at www(dot)sacact(dot)org. Please click on the links to the left for more in-depth information.
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