Project S.O.A.R.S. (Strengthening Our Academic
and Resiliency Skills)
Michigan Neighborhood Partnership
has developed a program model that is designed to enhance and expand
faith-based after-school programming for youth, ages 5-17, in Metropolitan
Detroit.
Through a
cooperative agreement with 50 churches and faith-based organizations,
one thousand (1,000) youth will be afforded an opportunity to: 1.) Increase
their reading and math skills; 2.) Positively interact with adults and
other youth in activities such as service learning; 3.) Creatively express
themselves; and 4.) Explore and adopt values that will assist them in
realizing their full human potential.
Our program
model recognizes parents as the "first and primary teacher" hence
parents and other caregivers are considered an integral part of our programming.
The academic component of Project S.O.A.R.S will be led by a Michigan
certified teacher at all 50 sites. Project S.O.A.R.S is expected to be
launched in September 2008. The following information provides a more
in-depth overview of the four (4) program components:
I.
EDUCATIONAL ENHANCEMENT This component is designed to provide tutorial assistance
to program participants in the area of reading and math. The overall
goal is to ensure that each program participant is functioning at or
above his/her grade level and/or in the case of diagnosed learning challenges
that he or she remains motivated to learn. These weekly tutorials will
be both individualized as well as in small group settings. Tutorials
will be done in one-hour increments and each program participant will
be expected to devote two hours weekly to this task. Uniform curriculum
that meets the standards of the Michigan Department of Education will
be used for each grade level. No matter what program site a child attends
he or she will receive the same curriculum. One of the unique elements
of Project S.O.A.R.S. is that each program participant will be given
books to establish a personal library at home.
II.
DISCOVERY This component offers program participants an opportunity to discover
and/or perfect their gifts, talents and abilities. Based upon the offerings
of the local churches, program participants will be able to engage in
activities such as: chorale singing, dance, team sports, chess, drama
classes, martial arts, arts and crafts, poetry writing and recreation,
health and fitness activities under the direction of caring adults. This
component is extremely important in that school wide budget cuts have
typically resulted in the elimination of arts and cultural enrichment
activities and physical education programming and hence children from
families with limited financial resources have limited access to these
types of structured activities. .
III.
VALUES CLARIFICATION This
component will focus on enhancing skill levels in the area of self-efficacy,
problem solving and responsible decision-making. These values and skill
building activities will be promoted through adult modeling of behavior
as well as age appropriate activities such as: storytelling, role play
exercises, peer to peer sharing, formation of adult/youth partnerships,
parent and child based activities, selected readings, dialogues, service
learning, educational and recreational field trips and guest speakers.
IV.
PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT A core
value of Michigan Neighborhood Partnership is family. Subsequently, Project
S.O.A.R.S. will seek to engage parental involvement at all levels. Local
Neighborhood Advisory Councils (NAC) will allow parents to play an active
role in decision-making.
