YMCA Boys Reading Program, Kingston, JA
Donation protected
Most of the teenage boys who enter the YMCA Boys program struggle to read at grade level. If their reading deficit could be corrected, they could earn a place in a regular high school and from there, go on to college, as former students Jamiel Forrest and Howard Harvey did. Read about their story by searching on their names at http://jamaica-gleaner.com/
The Jamaica Service Project has been providing reading coaching support for those boys with the most severe reading deficits, since the fall of 2018. The program consisted of volunteers providing weekly 1 to 1 in-person coaching with each boy, on the basics of reading. The feedback from staff and student alike, had been encouraging to the point that we were asked to expand the program to include more students. As a result, a new group of volunteers had just been trained and deployed when the Pandemic hit, closing down schools island-wide.
The YMCA reports that almost 50% of their students have no device and cannot participate in online classes. The funds raised through this campaign will first go towards the immediate need to get them actively participating in online lessons. Once they are up and running, the Jamaica Service Project will relaunch the reading program online. We are targeting 50 tablets and 6 months of internet data plans to take us through the end of the 2020/21 academic year.
In addition to meeting the near-term challenge of online instruction, we are also preparing for that time when the boys return to in-person learning. There will be the additional need to assist with monthly bus passes and school lunches for the rest of the school year. This need was identified when many of the boys in the program would miss their coaching appointment due to poor attendance. Further enquiries revealed that attendance was determined by whether their parents are able to cover bus fare and or lunch, for that day. Frequently they cannot, and so the boy would miss school. The staff see this as a major obstacle to their effectiveness.
Finally, everyone in the education field knows that teachers spend much of their own paycheck on school supplies. We aim to provide the staff with a small budget from which to address recurring needs.
Every day that passes without internet access, the boys fall further behind. Considering that they are starting with a major handicap, the help cannot come too soon for them.
We are in our third year of working with the boys at the Kingston YMCA to address their reading deficits which we hope will in turn improve their chances of achieving their potential. We believe the reading challenges faced by the YMCA boys is a symptom of a deeper weakness in the education system. We also believe the volunteer-based model we are developing can also be applied on a wider scale. With your help, we hope to prove the model out with measurable improvements in the reading levels of program participants.
The Jamaica Service Project thanks you in advance for your help in changing the life trajectory of these deserving young men!
The Jamaica Service Project
The Jamaica Service Project has been providing reading coaching support for those boys with the most severe reading deficits, since the fall of 2018. The program consisted of volunteers providing weekly 1 to 1 in-person coaching with each boy, on the basics of reading. The feedback from staff and student alike, had been encouraging to the point that we were asked to expand the program to include more students. As a result, a new group of volunteers had just been trained and deployed when the Pandemic hit, closing down schools island-wide.
The YMCA reports that almost 50% of their students have no device and cannot participate in online classes. The funds raised through this campaign will first go towards the immediate need to get them actively participating in online lessons. Once they are up and running, the Jamaica Service Project will relaunch the reading program online. We are targeting 50 tablets and 6 months of internet data plans to take us through the end of the 2020/21 academic year.
In addition to meeting the near-term challenge of online instruction, we are also preparing for that time when the boys return to in-person learning. There will be the additional need to assist with monthly bus passes and school lunches for the rest of the school year. This need was identified when many of the boys in the program would miss their coaching appointment due to poor attendance. Further enquiries revealed that attendance was determined by whether their parents are able to cover bus fare and or lunch, for that day. Frequently they cannot, and so the boy would miss school. The staff see this as a major obstacle to their effectiveness.
Finally, everyone in the education field knows that teachers spend much of their own paycheck on school supplies. We aim to provide the staff with a small budget from which to address recurring needs.
Every day that passes without internet access, the boys fall further behind. Considering that they are starting with a major handicap, the help cannot come too soon for them.
We are in our third year of working with the boys at the Kingston YMCA to address their reading deficits which we hope will in turn improve their chances of achieving their potential. We believe the reading challenges faced by the YMCA boys is a symptom of a deeper weakness in the education system. We also believe the volunteer-based model we are developing can also be applied on a wider scale. With your help, we hope to prove the model out with measurable improvements in the reading levels of program participants.
The Jamaica Service Project thanks you in advance for your help in changing the life trajectory of these deserving young men!
The Jamaica Service Project
Organizer
Hilbert Robinson
Organizer
Newnan, GA