AGAPE Teen Parents School Support VISTA
AGAPE High School is a small learning community within the Saint Paul Public Schools. Our students are all young women from grades 7-12 who are pregnant and/or parenting. All of our students qualify for free and /or reduced lunch and have minimal economic resources. We are a racially diverse school community comprised of 97 % students of color. Within our on-site childcare, we currently serve 44 children, birth to three. The AGAPE childcare contracts with the YMCA to provide care and they are licensed to serve children up to age five. AGAPE’s mission is: “To provide a holistic education for teen mothers including: personal, emotional and academic integrity, parental support and post-secondary education. “Our mission includes students and their birth to school age children. AGAPE provides students with rigorous academic classes, courses that allow them to participate in credit recovery, college in the schools and post-secondary options. The VISTA member at AGAPE will create and support systems that build an infrastructure to address and eliminate chronic absenteeism that contributes to school failure for pregnant and parenting students and their children.
Member Duties : VISTA members will: • Identify potential partnership/donors • Expand and strengthen partnerships/networks • Create a fundraising plan • Develop presentations, outreach materials to potential donors. • Develop a volunteer handbook (including volunteer position descriptions and training. ) • Recruit a network of potential mentors • Recruit a network of potential internship sites or job shadowing opportunities. • Recruit a network of volunteers to tutor students. • Co-facilitate focus groups with students for inquiry related to absenteeism • Develop incentive plans for students experiencing gains- Academic, credits, attendance, CIS classes.
The City of Saint Paul AmeriCorps VISTA Program’s mission is to expand affordable and accessible high-quality early childhood programs as a way to build a Saint Paul that works for all of us. A key element of Mayor Melvin Carter's Birth to Three Initiative, VISTA members serve at local government agencies and nonprofits building and expanding systems and programs for children from birth to three and their families and caregivers. Collaboration is a key element of this program, and our VISTAs forge connections between their organizations to create an interconnected network of services in our city. Additionally, VISTAs attend bi-weekly paid trainings that are tailored to their individual interests within a social justice framework. Offering positions within Saint Paul Public Schools, The Office of Financial Empowerment, Minnesota Community Care and more, this cohort brings together professionals from all fields to the benefit Saint Paul’s littlest residents.