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TechMission Corps Program: Program Design

In order to reach our goal of helping over 1,250 at-risk youth build a solid foundation for succeeding in school and in life, TechMission provides 30 AmeriCorps Members (TechMission Corps Members) to 20 pre-existing K-8 and teen afterschool programs in five major cities (Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and Denver). Our highly skilled TechMission Corps Members provide academic enrichment and mentoring, getting youth and teens excited about staying in school and pursuing higher education. 

According to 2005 Census data, an individual with a bachelor’s degree earned an average of $51,544, nearly twice as much as the $28,645 average salary earned by an individual with just a high school diploma.[1]

However, Census data for 2005 also indicates that for families with incomes below $20,000, only 34% of dependent children 18-24 go on to college. The national drop-out rate is around 5%, but is 9% for Boston, 11% for Chicago, 25% for Los Angeles and 21% for New York City. Also, in our target communities, only 12-25% of high school students aspire to go on to college. We have found a great need not only to prepare high school students academically for college, but also to raise their aspirations and provide guidance on getting into college. In addition, the academic needs of low-income minority students start much earlier than high school: in a sampling of 4th graders in New York, 48 percent of Black and Latino students scored poorly on the English Language Arts (ELA) exam, compared to 22 percent of white students. In Massachusetts at the elementary level, Blacks and Latinos consistently fell in the “needs improvement” and “failing” levels on the standardized tests. 

Because of these statistics, we believe that TechMission Corps’ focus on giving at-risk K-8 youth a foundation to succeed in school early on and giving at-risk teens the help they need to meet high school graduation requirements as well as apply to and enroll in college will ultimately help these youth achieve better career success. 

In addition to tutoring and mentoring activities, our Members also provide at least one hour of technology training a week to program participants in order to equip them with the skills necessary to achieve in our computer-driven society. Based on correlating National Telecommunications and Information Administration and census data in our areas, we estimate that only 25 to 30 percent of residents in our target areas own a computer. Since the Department of Commerce states that currently 65 percent of all jobs use computers and 90 percent of all jobs use computer-related technologies, training at-risk youth in technology skills opens up new career opportunities previously unavailable to them. 

We provide each of our TechMission Corps Members with an intensive multi-day training as well as with monthly training to provide them with the skills they need to teach technology in their program Sites. Our TMC key staff have over 36 years of combined experience in working in under-resourced communities and 80% of them live in low-income communities themselves. 

In addition, since many Site directors are part of the community themselves, with  networks for communicating with parents and teachers of program participants, our Sites have an advantage in making sure that homework help is effective in helping our program participants succeed in school. We have also had formal signed partnerships with schools in the past for our Department of Education grant.  

Our TechMission Corps Members all serve at existing program Sites in partner agencies as a resource to provide engaging technology activities and academic enrichment in core subjects, including English, Math and Science. We also provide three FTE VISTA Members to assist with building the capacity of our TMC program and partners. In addition, our TechMission Corps Members will recruit and/or coordinate over 500 volunteers and work study students to serve at these Sites.  

TechMission Corps is a year-round program. Because school is in session generally from September through June, all of the activities will take place during this time frame. During the months of June through August, the teen programs focused on college prep will continue to run. Over the course of the 2008-2009 academic year, TechMission Corps plans to achieve the following objectives: 

Objectives:

  • 800 K -8 children will receive academic enrichment and homework assistance
  • 75% of K-8 children receiving assistance will increase by at least one letter grade in one subject or maintain an “A” or “B”
  • 90% of K-8 children receiving assistance will be promoted to the next grade level
  • 200 K-8 children receive an average of one hour of technology and/or online safety instruction per week
  • 85% of children receiving tech instruction will increase in their knowledge of technology 

Objectives and Goals for Teen Programs

Goal: to support technology and other activities to enable at-risk teens to succeed academically, get into college and succeed in the workforce and in life. 

Objectives:

  • 450 teens will receive academic assistance, tech training, college and SAT prep services
  • 85% of eligible teens will apply to college
  • 80% of teens applying will be accepted and enrolled in college

 Objectives and Goals for Program Support Services

Goal: to provide the resources and training Sites need to operate effective programs. 

Objectives:

  • 500 volunteers will serve at our Sites and provide 2,250 hours of service
  • 1,000 additional volunteers will be recruited to serve in other community- and faith-based organizations
  • 85% of Sites receiving a volunteer and completing a survey will indicate the volunteer caused positive organizational change
  • $50K worth of in-kind donations will be secured for our Sites

[1] http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/007660.html .