Real-life Results

“Y.O.U prepared me to give to other people and to mentor. For five to six years, I’ve had support from them all the time. It motivated me to keep doing well in school.”

Jamaal has been involved with the Big Brother/Big Sister program and volunteers at a YMCA program for teens. He offers to support kids both academically and also as a life coach and mentor. He sends out widespread email to local high schools and gets the names of any troubled students that he can mentor. Now Jamaal is preparing to start his own mentoring program.

What he took away from his time in Y.O.U. is that ”It’s about growing up to be a responsible adult and returning the favor.”

- Jamaal Applewhite, Y.O.U. graduate

Dr. Eric Witherspoon, Superintendent of School District 202 says, ”One young man, when I first got to know him, was fairly bashful and reserved. He got involved with Y.O.U and we watched him flourish. He developed more friends and good relationships. That led to more leadership roles. At the Martin Luther King Day celebration, he was up on stage performing. This young man took such pride in being part of the program, and I can tell you two years ago he would have avoided the interaction. His confidence grew because he was cared about—and he’s headed off to college now. I can tell you that he was not a student you would automatically think would have gone to college initially."

When asked to describe his experiences with Y.O.U., one participant who recently graduated from ETHS said, the programs were “fun, educational, helpful, and life-changing. Before I came here I felt like I wasn’t very social. I would go to school, come home, and do my homework, then play on the computer.” Through Y.O.U. he developed much stronger social skills.

He is really proud that he graduated from high school. It was a long road, but he stuck through it and made it happen. With the support of his parents and Brian Williams (Y.O.U. Program Director at ETHS), he had what he needed to make it.

He will attend Northeastern University to study marketing and business management and then plans to go on to graduate school. His goal is to work in communications and marketing as a sports agent.

In the words of Leticia Lemus, Site Coordinator at Washington Elementary: “Some of our youth lack social skills, and through the program I have seen many of them become social butterflies and become more confident. I also see some youth form great relationships with our staff and this leads them to have a positive outlook on life. Our youth feel supported as we often attend their extra-curricular events and take time to get to know each and every one.”

Gina Sineni, Site Coordinator at Nichols Middle School explains: “Students have a quiet and monitored time to finish homework and ask questions about concepts where they need more tutoring. They are held to very high personal and academic expectations, which helps to improve their sense of importance, self-esteem, and teamwork skills. Students are exposed to opportunities which, without Y.O.U., they may not have experienced—such as: camping trips, comic book art lessons, samba dance and percussion lessons, poetry workshops, and hip-hop dance classes. She plans activities that students need to continue for a few months to help them develop a sense of commitment.

One former Y.O.U. participant, who graduated from the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, had problems at home when he was in school in Evanston. His mother drove him out of the house, and he was at a police station. Returning home was not an acceptable option, so Y.O.U. intervened, finding a group home where he was able to stay for about a month until other arrangements could be made.

This young man, who is now starting a career as a design engineer, credits Y.O.U. with giving him “a whole lot of hope. [They] helped get me out of that situation [at home] and they [stayed] with me throughout high school supporting me.” A Y.O.U. staff member became his mentor, meeting with him every week and sometimes after school to “make sure I was OK.” The continuing support and guidance from Y.O.U. “helped set me free after high school to go to college and do the right thing.”

Our after-school programs support families by providing a safe and positive environment for students after school hours when working parents are not available or when there may not be enough space at home to concentrate on studies. In the words of one Y.O.U. Site Coordinator:

“We are serving youth who many times do not have anywhere to go after school and whose families cannot afford childcare or any other program.  Many of the youth do not understand their homework, nor do their parents, so we are helping to give them some useful tools each day so that they may go home and complete their homework assignments.”

At Washington Elementary School, as at other Y.O.U. sites, “We have well-attended family nights once a month that average 100 people. At our family nights we typically do something that displays or shows what the children have been working on so the family members love to come and see.”

Y.O.U. is well prepared by many years of experience to assist youth and families in crisis situations. The organization works proactively with the juvenile court system and has a contract with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to provide emergency housing for children and teens in crisis. According to Marybeth Schroeder, Senior Program Officer of the Evanston Community Foundation, who has followed Y.O.U.’s work for nine years: “They are known for their good work in Evanston and their work with the youth. They seem to have the potential to be sustainable over time.”

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