November 2009 Newsletter
Articles:
- Fair Chance Launches Strategic Partnership with Office of Justice Grants Administration (JGA), Executive Office of the Mayor; Announces New Collaborative Partner Organizations
- College & Career Connections Offers Opportunities for Low-income Youth to Build Their Future
- Fair Chance's Butterfly Bash a Smashing Success
Fair Chance Launches Strategic Partnership with Office of Justice Grants Administration (JGA), Executive Office of the Mayor; Announces New Collaborative Partner Organizations
Fair Chance announces its new capacity building grant from the Office of Justice Grants Administration (JGA), Executive Office of the Mayor. This collaborative project enables Fair Chance to launch five new partnerships with area non-profits who receive one year capacity building support and training beginning Oct 1, 2009. The organizations are as follows: Breakthrough DC; Helping Inner City Kids (HICKS); Life Starts; Multicultural Career Intern Program (MCIP); and Urban Ed. This Fair Chance/JGA project is helping local organizations working with high-risk youth to do more; do it better; and become "built to last" for the seeable future.
Fair Chance is excited for this new initiative with JGA. We look forward to supporting these partner organizations as their programs work to prevent youth from involvement in crime, drugs, and violence. You'll find more on our new partners below.
Breakthrough DC (serving youth from Wards 7 & 8) increases educational opportunity for high-potential, low-income middle school students and inspires outstanding college and high school students to pursue careers in education. Breakthrough DC accomplishes its mission by providing students with academic tutoring, mentoring, high school placement, and college counseling. For additional information on Breakthrough DC and their programs, visit their website at: http://www.breakthroughdc.org.
Helping Inner City Kids (HICKS) (serving youth from Wards 7 & 8) assists in the transformation of youth whose lives have been or are currently being affected by drugs, crime, and violence. By providing programming focused on social, academic, and economic development, HICKS offers young people opportunities for mentoring, life skills development, expressions through arts, and workforce development. For additional information on HICKS and their programs, visit their website at: http://www.hicksdc.org.
Life Starts (serving youth from Wards 7 & 8) provides mentoring, life skills, coaching, support, and advocacy for youth and their families. Life Starts' actions are built upon the belief that transformation begins with the heart. They encourage individuals to create and cultivate a positive change in their lives and inspire others to do the same. For additional information on Life Starts and their programs, visit their website at: http://www.lifestarts.org.
Multicultural Career Intern Program (MCIP) (serving youth city-wide) works to be a "professional learning community" in which, through a collaborative environment, school administrators and teachers continuously seek and share learning opportunities to enhance their effectiveness as professionals to ultimately benefit their students. For additional information on MCIP and their programs, visit their website at: http://www.checdc.org.
Urban Ed (serving youth from Wards 7 & 8) strives to provide technology education, information, and skill development to low-income youth and young adults to foster economic independence. Offering career, technical, and business training and skill building, Urban Ed works with people of color from Oak Hill and the Wards 7 & 8 community to help secure skills in the technology field and improve their visions of their future. For additional information on Urban Ed and their programs, visit their website at: http://www.urbaned.org.
College & Career Connections Offers Opportunities for Low-income Youth to Build Their Future
College & Career Connections (CCC) engages 7th-10th grade students in motivational, experiential college and career exploration programs. Created in 2006, CCC focuses on increasing the number of low-income DC students who understand their career options and successfully pursue both their post secondary education and an exciting career path. CCC helps 300 middle and high school students in three partner schools in Wards 7 and 8. CCC and participants create a framework for personal success academically and in the workforce. As the students work with CCC they begin to see a new mosaic of possibilities for their life.
Students from the Higher Achievement Program visit the Mystics at the Verizon Center
to learn about careers in the sports field.
College & Career Connections' programs focus on early exposure programming during the critical, formative middle and early high school years. CCC believes that students need to be given a sense of possibility for their future by participating in and being exposed to college and career opportunities. Integrating college and career experiences into these years can help shape young people so that they see the relevance of staying in school and pursuing postsecondary education. CCC's interactive workshops, college and career field trips, and simulations give students opportunities to interact with college students and professionals, to begin building a solid framework for the college and career experiences and knowledge of the steps they need to take to make them a reality.
CCC became a Fair Chance partner in January, 2008 when they had been operating for just a little over a year. Deann Ayer, Executive Director of CCC, expresses this invaluable partnership by saying, "Fair Chance has provided support, resources, training, and expertise which have been very specific to our needs as we have created structures and systems, refined our program model, developed our Board, and pursued funding support." Fair Chance has helped CCC with school partnerships, drafting program evaluation tools, strengthening and expanding their funding program and creating employee and Board manuals. "Fair Chance has provided us with an invaluable network of partners in this work," says Ayer. "The Fair Chance roundtables and Meet the Funder events have also been great opportunities to make new contacts. Fair Chance is well respected by the funding and nonprofit communities, so being part of this community is a huge asset for a new nonprofit."
CCC's continued growth was demonstrated in its facilitation of programs with three partner schools this summer: Higher Achievement, Breakthrough DC, and Friendship Tech Prep Academy. CCC also supports graduating seniors through college scholarships and recently awarded $21,000 in scholarships to 14 students from Ward 7. The recipients were honored by family, friends, and the CCC community at a Scholarship Awards Ceremony on June 15 at KIPP: KEY Academy.
Fair Chance celebrates CCC and all it does to positively impact young people and their pursuit of successful futures. We look forward to supporting CCC's programming this year in partnership with Friendship Tech Prep Academy; The SEED School of Washington, DC; and Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy's Parkside Campus.
Fair Chance's Butterfly Bash a Smashing Success
On October 16, 2009, a sold out crowd of nearly 400 people celebrated Fair Chance and their work at the 2009 Butterfly Bash held at the newly renovated W Hotel. Jessica Roth was honored with the 2009 Fair Chance Champion Award to recognize her steadfast dedication to Fair Chance and her work throughout the DC community.
A veritable cross-section of the city gathered to celebrate Fair Chance and the wonderful work we are doing to improve children's lives and strengthen local non-profits throughout DC, especially in Wards 5-8. A night of dancing, fun, and laughter marked the 2009 Butterfly Bash, Fair Chance's largest event in its seven year history.
More than $100,000 was raised thanks to its sponsors (Brown Advisory, Davis Construction, Eagle Bank, Electronic Tenant Solutions, Federal Capital Partners, JBG Companies, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Purple Guppy, and SJG Properties) and hundreds of individual supporters.
The new Fair Chance video was also unveiled highlighting the organization's work and the stories of its community partners.
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