becoming professional women of color

Transcription

1 ywca tulsa becoming professional women of color hallmark area Racial Justice and Women s Economic Empowerment association information 1) Name: YWCA Tulsa 2) Contact Person: Jane Vantine, M.S., L.P.C., Director, Career and Counseling Programs, , jvantine@ywcatulsa.org 3) Regional Council: Southwest Delta Region program/activity information 4) Name: Becoming Professional Women of Color 5) Brief Description: Becoming Professional Women of Color is a two part program that includes an afterschool and summer mentoring/ education program for African American girls in 6th through 12th grades. The goals of the Becoming Professional Women of Color program are to promote higher education, foster healthy self-esteem and challenge each young woman to think beyond her limitations and situation. The after-school program, which was piloted in the spring of 2005 with eight participants, is for young women in the10th through 12th grade. This program prepares participating girls to overcome the difficulties and obstacles that could deter them from completing high school and attending college. Each girl is paired with a mentor a professional woman of color. Mentors engage in at least three, face-to-face contacts with their mentees, along with weekly, one-hour discussions. Each after-school session also included time for tutoring. The week-long summer program, called Career Camp 101, is for African American girls in 6th through 9th grades. This camp helps girls learn how to set and achieve goals, as well as identify and expand a skill and talent they possess; exposes girls to a variety of careers and post high school choices; teaches the importance of working together as a team; and encourages campers to participate in the after-school program when they reach high school. 1 ywca tulsa

2 6) How long has the program or activity been in operation: Since February, ) Describe how the program, activity or initiative meets the hallmark standards for racial justice and/or women s economic advancement: a) What are the intended outcomes or goals of the program? What specific conditions are you intending to influence? The goals of this program include promoting higher education by providing an abundance of college related resources, information and opportunities; promoting and fostering healthy self-esteem by building on existing knowledge and providing new knowledge; and personally challenging each girl to think beyond her limitations and situations. These goals were based on three principles: 1) every African American young woman deserves the opportunity and support to go to college; 2) self-esteem and self-efficacy are essential for a successful transition into adulthood; and 3) setting and achieving goals is a skill that can be learned. Becoming Professional Women of Color was designed to stand in the gap and be a voice for a generation of young African American women who deserve focused attention for the unique contributions they bring to the world. Participating girls get the opportunity to understand where they are with their knowledge, skills, abilities and others (KSAOs). In addition, the girls develop the skills to conduct a successful informational interview, develop strategies to accomplish career goals, and increase their self-efficacy. b) Hallmark activities and programs must have measurable results. Please explain your measurement criteria, program evaluation model or evaluation tools used to measure the criteria and detail the actual results of this initiative. At the beginning of each class, program participants are pre-tested with a curriculum-related questionnaire. At the end of the class (or series if the curriculum goes over more than one day), participants are post-tested with the same instrument. In the after-school program, approximately 80% of participants have completed the program. Of those that completed, 100% achieved the following: n Gained knowledge of career options and the educational requirements of her preferred career(s); n Increased knowledge of life skills and techniques for making wise choices; n Learned crucial information for applying to and funding a college or trade school education; n Identified personal strengths and improved her self-esteem; n Visited at least three college or trade school campuses; n Completed career testing; n Completed a job application; n Increased knowledge of the ACT; n Increased knowledge of the benefits of physical fitness and nutrition; n Increased knowledge of appropriate grooming and dress for interviews; and n Increased knowledge of the hidden rules between and among economic classes as identified in the book Bridges Out of Poverty, which makes a case for the importance of learning these rules if you have not grown up with them. In the Career Camp 101 program, 95% of the participants have completed the camp. Of those that completed, 100% achieved the following: n Increased knowledge of team work via a ropes course; n Increased knowledge of the duties of different professional careers; n Increased knowledge of dressing appropriately for work; n Increased knowledge of local colleges and trade schools; n Experienced a day in the life of a professional woman of color; n Greater understanding of healthy self-esteem; and n Increased knowledge of how to do an informational interview. 2 ywca tulsa

3 c) Hallmark activities and programs must create meaningful, mission-focused change in a condition or set of conditions versus just raising awareness. Identify the intended or actual change. If the identified change is a step along the way to systemic/institutional change, identify next steps in your plan. Becoming Professional Women of Color and directly impacts both racial justice and women s economic advancement in Tulsa by helping young African American girls learn how to use and expand their skills to succeed in the world of work. The YWCA Tulsa s Career and Counseling Programs started this program because of the strong needs in a predominately black and low-income area of Tulsa known as north Tulsa. The economic health of north Tulsa has suffered due to a long history of racism in Tulsa, including the worst race massacre in American history in June, As a result, poverty is prevalent in this community. Generally, young women in north Tulsa are raised by a single parent with multiple children. These single parents are simultaneously working two or three part-time, low-paying jobs with no benefits. The young women, as well as their parents, have grown up in poverty and have little or no hope that life will ever be any better. As our team of counselors worked with clients from north Tulsa, they recognized the need to reach young women from this community at an earlier age before they made poor choices that would create major barriers to employment, such as premature pregnancy, substance abuse, and dropping out of school. Due to the geographic isolation of north Tulsa and a pervasive culture of intergenerational poverty, many north Tulsa teen girls have great difficulty seeing themselves as capable of attending and graduating from college, and lack the knowledge of how to find and maintain steady, gainful employment through the utilization of community resources and the development of the life, leadership and job skills that will lead them to self sufficiency. To underscore the problem, just 24.5% of high school graduates of one high school and 38% of graduates of another high school in north Tulsa completed a semester at an Oklahoma college or university within a year of graduation, as opposed to 61.3% of high school graduates in the more affluent, white neighborhoods in south Tulsa. Becoming Professional Women of Color strives to create meaningful, mission-oriented change in north Tulsa by: n Giving young African American girls exposure to successful professional women of color; n Helping the girls identify concrete problems, solutions and plans of action for moving towards their own economic success; and n Bringing community awareness to the issues of racial justice and women s economic advancement through networking and collaboration. 8) What number and types of persons have participated? Please specify by gender, age, and race/ethnicity: All of the participants are African American girls in 6th through 12th grades (11 to 18 years of age). The after-school mentoring program has had 25 girls attend the program.career Camp 101 has had 20 campers so far. 9) Describe why this initiative would be appropriate for replication by other associations: Becoming Professional Women of Color can be started on a small scale and grown as additional resources are identified.to begin, an organization will need only a part-time staff member who is African American and committed to providing this service to this population.volunteers and donations can make up the needs for mentoring and supplies. 10) What factors have been key to program success: A key staff person with a heart for the mission and program who: n Enjoys working with teens; n Is good at volunteer recruitment, training, and retention; n Is persistent and open to improving the program; and n Gains input and buy-in from the participants. A volunteer training manual. Age-appropriate curriculum. Access to and buy-in from school principals and counselors. Maintaining an on-going connection to the girls. 3 ywca tulsa

4 11) What resources are required annually for program operations (dollars, number of staff or volunteer hours required, partner organization roles): While the program can be started on a much smaller scale, our current budget is $35,000, which includes the cost for one part-time staff member who coordinates the program and volunteers; one part-time staff member who assists during the classes and camps; and costs for transportation of the students, supplies and rent.during the camps, approximately 10 to 12 volunteers are utilized, mostly as mentors.the volunteers provide at least 4 hours of support per week. 12) What funding sources/strategies have supported the initiative: The Tulsa Area United Way provided a Venture Grant and a local foundation provided a donation to support this program. The YWCA Tulsa has also earmarked funds for this program from special events revenue. 13) What is the annual budget of your association: $4,739,061 14) Describe your YWCA s relationship to other local organizations that are also programming (or have related missions) in this area: We have partnered with the major educational institutions in the Tulsa area as well as industry partners, the YMCA, Junior League of Tulsa, Dress for Success, the health department, and museums. 15) What are the biggest challenges to implementing this program: The biggest challenges were: n Getting the girls home from the after-school program (while we provided transportation to the program from school, many didn t have reliable transportation to go home); n Competing with other after-school activities including part-time work; n Getting stronger buy in from high school principals. 4 ywca tulsa

5 program checklist 1. Hallmark area: 3 Racial Justice 3 Women s Economic Empowerment 2. Methodology: 3 Direct Service Advocacy/Public Policy 3 Partnership or Collaboration Modification of Prior YWCA Program Internal Capacity Building 3. Target Audience: Adults Women over 30 3 Young Women 3 Adolescents Children Business, Organization, or System Public at large 4. Your Local Community Characteristics: Racially/ethnically homogeneous. Specify type: 3 Racially/ethnically diverse. Specify composition: According to the U.S. Census, the population of the city of Tulsa is 68% white, 15% black or African American, 4% American Indian or Alaska Native, 2% Asian; 5% some other race, and 6% two or more races. 3 Urban Rural Suburban 5. This model would be most appropriate for an association that is: Building internal readiness Integrating hallmarks into ongoing programming Beginning community programming in the hallmark area Highly experienced in the hallmark area 3 Any association could implement this model 5 ywca tulsa