FREE: Online Courses for Youth Programs

New Online Courses for Youth Programs

The LEARNS team is pleased to offer a new online course for tutoring, mentoring, out-of-school time, and other youth-development programs funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Designed for both new and veteran program staff, "Youth Impact: Starting and Strengthening Quality Programs" will help you find, prepare, and keep the right members and volunteers to work with youth. Using interactive elements, audio-visuals, and downloadable documents, the course highlights and puts into your hands best practices used by effective youth-serving programs. It also provides links to additional resources for support and training to help your program succeed. To access the course, go to the Online Learning Center at the Resource Center at my.nationalservice.org. After you create a free Online Learning Center account (if you don't already have one), yo u can browse for and launch the Youth Impact course.Over three dozen other online courses are available from the Resource Center at: http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/online-courses

Courses in the following categories are currently available - free of charge:

<>Community Engagement and Strengthening
<>Disaster Preparedness
<>Educational Success and Mentoring
<>Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
<>Financial Management
<>Inclusion
<>Participant Recruitment and Development
<>Performance Measurement
<>Program-Specific
<>Resource and Fund Development
<>Technology
<>Volunteer Leveraging

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HEADS UP - Detroit College Promise

Group plans DPS college aid
Jennifer Mrozowski / The Detroit News

A budding nonprofit organization hopes to provide full college scholarships to every Detroit Public Schools graduate, starting with a pilot program for the class of 2009 at one school to be announced this fall.

Organizers of the Detroit College Promise, modeled after the Kalamazoo Promise scholarship program, are seeking pledges from individuals and corporations to help fund the program and create an endowment, according to executive director Nat Pernick.
The scholarship, when fully funded, would be offered to every Detroit Public School high school graduate who has attended a school in the district for four consecutive years and completes a one-page application form, said Pernick, a Huntington Woods pathologist. The nonprofit organization, which has $40,000 in pledges already, will need $500,000 to fund the pilot program, Pernick said.

(Click here to read the entire story on detnews.com)

Program Highlights: Scholarships for all

Who would qualify? Every Detroit Public School student who has attended high school for four consecutive years and lived in the city for at least four years. How much would students get? That depends. The scholarship benefit increases the longer a student attends school in the district, ranging from 65 percent of tuition and mandatory fees for 4 years of attendance to 100 percent of tuition for 13 years. Students who want to apply will have to complete a one-page application.

Can I apply now? Not yet.

For information : Go to http://www.detroitcollegepromise.com/.

FREE College Info: Know How 2 Go

Young people in all socio-economic groups have college aspirations. In fact, eight out of 10 expect to attain a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the U.S. Department of Education. But despite their aspirations, low-income students and those who are the first in their families to pursue higher education are severely underrepresented on college campuses. Studies show these students often lack the guidance they need to prepare for postsecondary education.

In order to turn these students' college dreams into action-oriented goals, the American Council on Education, Lumina Foundation for Education and the Ad Council launched the KnowHow2GO campaign in January 2007. This multiyear, multimedia effort includes television, radio and outdoor public service advertisements (PSAs) that encourages 8th through 10th graders to prepare for college using four simple steps.
The Four Steps to College
· Be a pain – Let everyone know that you’re going to college and need their help.
· Push yourself – Working a little harder today will make getting into college even easier.
· Find the right fit – Find out what kind of school is the best match for you and your career goals.
· Put your hands on some cash - If you think you can't afford college, think again. There's lots of aid out there.

To ensure that students and adult mentors who connect with the powerful messages of the PSA campaign can easily find real-time, on-the-ground assistance, we have built and continue to support a strong grassroots network of partners. To date, more than 15 state and regional coalitions and 60 national partners have signed onto the campaign.