Education

An important part of our comprehensive neighborhood redevelopment strategy is to ensure that all our residents have access to the education they need to succeed in life.

Our community has a rich tradition of offering quality education. Allegheny West is home to two high schools—Mercy Vocational Tech and Dobbins Vocational Tech—and three elementary/middle schools—T.M. Peirce, Rhodes and Whittier. All are public.

Mercy Vocational serves an important function in workforce preparation, with 89 percent job placement for its graduates. Dobbins Vocational high schools have a 60 percent job placement rate for graduates, while 40 percent of their nearly 2,000 students plan to enter college.

One Giant Step: For the past 13 years, AWF has offered One Giant Step, a comprehensive reading enrichment program for students attending area elementary schools. Recently, AWF partnered with the City Year Service Corps program to offer One Giant Step to students at the T.M. Peirce Elementary School. From September through June each year, Corps members will offer a variety of in-class and extracurricular initiatives focusing on improved attendance, reading levels, behavior and parent and family participation.

Providing classroom assistance to teachers, small group and individual tutoring to first through sixth graders both during and after school, socialized recess and Boys and Girls Clubs sponsorship, City Year volunteers work to promote self-esteem, understanding of cultural diversity, awareness of the world, enjoyment of reading and community responsibility.

Communities in Schools: AWF has also formed a partnership with Communities in Schools of Philadelphia Inc. (CISP), an independently-incorporated affiliate of a national network designed to encourage youth to learn successfully, stay in school and prepare for life through the administration of Small Learning Communities (SLC) and Teen Parent Programs in public middle and high schools.

For three hours a day after school, the organization provides fourth through eighth grade students with:

A safe, supervised environment, where they receive academic help through tutoring, homework assistance and computer instruction
Recreational activities such as field trips to museums and historical sites
Drug, alcohol and pregnancy prevention information
Life skills development such as anger management, conflict resolution and mentoring

With the help of the One Giant Step corps members, CISP developed and administers the ELECT Student Works Extended Day Enrichment Program at the T.M. Peirce Elementary School.

Mural Arts: AWF has partnered with the Mural Arts Program to provide enriching and engaging activities for neighborhood youth during the school year and summer through the creation of murals at various community sites.

Career Link: The AWF Community Resources Center provides computer training programs for local youth and adults. Through its partnership with the Careerlink office, AWF has provided job training and skills development to over 200 adult residents, including sessions on resume writing, interview skills and job readiness skills.

YouthWorks: AWF’s Summer Youth Service Corps (SYSC) and Summer Career Exploration Program (SCEP)—both YouthWorks initiatives of the Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN)—provide information on work and education options for youth. Our programs target teenagers in the neighborhood and provide them with paid summer work.

Last year, AWF successfully implemented the YouthWorks SYSC program for 66 ninth and 10th grade students, where they worked on two projects:

A beautification project with PhillyGreen and the Mural Arts Program.
A video documentary, designed by SYSC members, chronicling the history of the Allegheny West community.

The research required to create the templates for these community development projects provides an excellent medium for the development of academic competency, and students in the program also learn skills related to careers involving online research, writing and other areas of self-expression, problem solving and cooperation. AWF's objectives are to improve youth knowledge of the workplace and its requirements, increase critical thinking and provide problem solving skills.

The Summer Career Exploration Program (SCEP) program, targeted to 11th and 12th grade students, has been offered for several years. Providing job placement in high-growth industries when possible, 50 qualifying students work at job sites Mondays through Thursdays and spend Fridays attending career exploration workshops on industries such as healthcare, education, financial services and data processing, or going on field trips.

Participants are required to create work portfolios that include a resume, cover letter, job search and personal budget, among other items. They receive feedback from their employers at the end of the program. Ongoing assignments throughout the workweek include keeping employment journals and developing communication skills.

This summer, AWF in partnership with Cheyney University and the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolence, who provide year-round instructional support to youth through after-school mentoring programs, will offer the College for Teens program to 200 eligible area high school students.

Designed to increase the level of college preparedness, participants receive a stipend and spend six weeks on the campus of Cheyney University, completing academic work assignments to prepare them to meet academic challenges in high school, and participating in field trips. Students also receive SAT prep sessions through the Princeton Review.

Projects include the creation of a college and career portfolio containing:

A career interest assessment
A list of perspective colleges
A mock college essay
A budget for college expenses
A list of job opportunities with salary and required entry level credentials
Completed mock SAT exams
A resume and cover letter