youth leadership

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The Need

The Consortium for Chicago School Research’s 2006 report “From High School to the Future: A First Look at Chicago Public School Graduates’ College Enrollment, College Preparation, and Graduation from Four-Year Colleges,” found that only 48% of African-American youth and 58% of Latino youth graduate high school by age 19; and only 16% of African-American graduates and 14% of Latino graduates enter a four-year college within one year of completing high school. A 2008 follow-up report, “From High School to the Future: Potholes on the Road to College," found that “while 83% of Chicago Public Schools students stated that they hoped to reach a bachelor’s degree or higher, in a study of 100 diverse students, only 41% enrolled in a four-year college.”

Our Program

The goal of our Youth Leadership program is to help low-income students overcome obstacles to success in order to achieve academic excellence and go on to post-secondary education. Through the program, youth improve their school performance; increase their own educational expectations; improve their social skills and interpersonal behavior; and increase their level of social/community awareness. Parent involvement is a major component of the program, and parents are expected to be engaged with their child's education and increase their knowledge of post-secondary opportunities for their child.

These objectives are accomplished through a unique approach that joins tutoring, college and career exploration, goal-setting and extensive parental involvement to help ensure that youth attend and graduate from college. Christopher House staff and hundreds of volunteers provide:

• Daily after-school one-on-one and group tutoring, as well as math and literacy skill-building activities;
• Field trips to local and regional colleges and universities;
• Opportunities for summer employment and internships for soft skills training;
• Community service opportunities;
• Field trips to local arts and cultural institutions;
• High school preparation, including assistance with the selective enrollment exam;
• Parent education and workshops about high school and college application processes.

our results

Based on best practice research by the Consortium of Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago, Christopher House has developed indicators that measure the critical steps that students must take to stay on track for on-time high school graduation and college enrollment:

Enrollment

For more information about enrolling your child in our Youth Leadership program, please call 1-855-318-8285 (se habla español) or e-mail infochristopherhouse.org with the following information with the age and grade of your child. Please note that our Youth Leadership program is operated at our Avondale site.