EVALUATION DATA RELATED TO SJETC PROGRAMS – SWOT

STRENGTHS

  • Quality Staff and volunteers
  • Staff that is diverse in age, ethnicity –many bi-lingual staff
  • Have commitment to real change
  • Trained
  • Have positive relationships with youth
  • Energetic and dedicated

Quality Youth Programs

Youth and staff report that the programming is engaging and of high quality especially in:

  • Literacy
  • Staff note a holistic approach and extra support in academics and enrichment with collaborative- interdisciplinary opportunities; many opportunities for success; variety; comprehensive; integration of youth culture
  • Youth report they want to graduate from high school and go to college and they like to learn
  • Leadership
  • Youth and staff say youth have opportunities to be empowered, have ownership. –Youth report they learn how to be peer leaders, mentors, teacher assistants
  • Youth report they learn specific leadership skills such as communication, facilitation, conflict resolution, goal setting and teamwork.
  • Support for youth
  • Youth and staff report building caring, supportive relationships
  • Safety
  • Youth report that we create a safe environment in the midst of an unsafe neighborhood
  • Youth report they respect others and are treated with respect
  • Youth say they learn new things, build skills and have new experiences that they would otherwise not have access to such as rock climbing, swimming, theater
  • High expectations and standards for everyone, quality is important, learning is intentional
  • Programs are well organized
  • Community involvement
  • Programs are school-based (also a weakness)

WEAKNESSES

  • Support for HS Students/Programming for HS students :
  • support in transitioning from 8th to 9th grade -especially in academics (homework and path to college for 9th) and social interactions (Talking Circles, treatment by older students, reputation)
  • Need more stipend/paid opportunities for high school students. Types of programs: Onward, talking circles, sports.
  • Lack of support for transition to middle school
  • support in transitioning from 5th to 6th grade -especially in academics (math and reading for 6th graders; and social interactions (Talking Circles, treatment by older students, reputation)
  • Need more collaboration between SJETC programs. This is especially relevant for shy kids Parents need to choose actively the school the best meets their needs. Kids shouldn’t automatically go to Everett. Some TC youth have difficultly transitioning to CBB
  • Resources for immigrant families/parents
  • institutionalize work with families into what we do
  • connect parents to language specific resources:
  • support them and give them tools;
  • involve parents more
  • have ESL classes for parents
  • African American and Asian youth underserved
  • currently underserved, either for geographic or programmatic reasons.
  • African-American youth score lower than all other ethnic groups in leadership, school attitude and sense of self.
  • Girls Programming
  • esp. African Americans, who are already fulfilling many adult roles;
  • Need to get girls into technology programming, recreation etc; explore body image issues.
  • Provide female case managers
  • Insufficient Food
  • snack only holds them up for an hour;
  • provide nutritional snacks: fruit salad, finger sandwiches, juices
  • Academics
  • Need to intensify academics;
  • Need a niche to challenge academically gifted students as well as those that are really struggling
  • Bilingual programming
  • More bilingual mentors in ASLA;
  • More Spanish speaking volunteers across the agency
  • more bilingual programming at CBB
  • Youth with Disabilities
  • Program that support physically and mentally handicapped -“special” populations (birth defects, diseases, etc.), to isolate them less
  • Lack of volunteer coordinator
  • CBB - inconsistency in attendanceesp. at programming of outside contractors >difficulty in planning curricula and less opportunities for success
Leadership/community involvement
  • Staff observes youth participating in leadership activities and but not reporting this on surveys
  • Girls tend to score slightly higher than boys in leadership, school attitude and sense of self. Boys score slightly higher than girls in community involvement.
  • Latina females and all Asian youth score lowest in community involvement.
OPPORTUNITIES
Need for more after school/youth development programming in the Mission
  • Mission-wide 52% of teen boys and 32% of teen girls participate in organized sports.
  • Mission-wide 38% of teen boys and 32% of teen girls participate in community-based programs or activities.
  • Mission-wide 27% of teen boys and 32% of teen girls volunteer in their community.
  • Mission youth who participate in after school activities are more likely to go to school and to want to go to college
  • Becoming pregnant seriously impacts a girls school attendance and college aspirations.
  • Getting someone pregnant does not impact boys’ college aspirations.
  • 80 kids on TC waiting list
  • Need for after school programming at other local elementary schools
  • Youth can progress through TC/CBB/UI
  • Need for opportunities for youth to experience the larger world outside the Mission– field trips, camping etc.
  • Need for safe places
  • Need for drug and gang awareness; alternatives to gang involvement- a social structure, or “place to be”.
  • Youth feel safe in our programs but unsafe in the neighborhood. 30% of CBB youth say kids bring weapons into CBB.

THREATS EXTERNAL to PROGRAMS

  • Youth/families struggle with poverty - General lack of access to resources of all kinds
  • More than 85% of the children/youth with whom we work live in families with an income at or below poverty level.
  • Almost all SJETC participants are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Youth and families lack of adequate, safe housing

  • Youth and families lack of adequate health care
  • Need for adequate food/nutrition
  • About ¾ of Mission teens drank alcohol in the past six months.
  • About 1/3 of high school girls city-wide has been offered, sold or given drugs at school.
  • About 2/3 of Mission teens are sexually active and only about 1/3 use a condom every time they have sex.
  • The 50% to 60% of middle and high school girls city-wide are dissatisfied with their weight and are not meeting fitness standards.
  • About 1/3 of public high school girls city-wide report feeling sad or hopeless for two or more weeks and fully 75% of middle school girls felt depressed one day to all the time in the past month.
  • Lack of quality education/academic skill building/value of education
  • Between 60% to 70% at MES/EMS are classified as educationally disadvantaged.
  • Between 40% to 70% at MES/EMS are limited English speakers
  • More than ½ of high school youth city-wide cut school one day a week.
  • Little to no high school tutoring available in the Mission
  • Unsafe neighborhood
  • Gang recruitment and activity are endemic to surrounding neighborhood with one in three youth in the Mission District (of 550 teens) reporting that they have a close friend who is in a gang or claims colors.
  • 30% of youth (of 144 who participate in CBB) report that kids bring weapons to CBB even though 94% report feeling safe at CBB.

Prepared by:

Kathleen J. Phillips, Ed.D.

415-282-4904

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