Report: Investing In Teens Through Program Would Be Smart Spend for Government

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 6, 2007 — The Brookings Institution has issued a report endorsing a Wyman teen development program that started in the old Darst-Webbe public housing complex here in St. Louis. Today the program benefits thousands across the country, as well as the United Kingdom and Virgin Islands. The report, “Cost-Effective Investments in Children,” written by Brookings Child and Family Policy Fellow Julia B. Isaacs, recommends a federal budget of $1.5 billion in 2008 “and a total of $7.7 billion over five years to provide teens with the opportunity to participate” in Wyman Teen Outreach Program. The prescribed measure is part of a comprehensive recommendation from Brookings to balance the federal budget.

Wyman Teen Outreach Program (TOP) is one of the teen development programs Wyman, of the Wildwood/Eureka area, delivers locally and replicates nationally. Wyman TOP is a best practices program that has been used by schools, communities, and other youth practitioners for more than 25 years to empower teens to prepare for successful adulthood and avoid problem behavior. Leading researchers recognize TOP as a program that delivers real results for teens in the area of school improvement and the avoidance of teen pregnancy.

“We’re pleased that an organization as influential as the Brookings Institution recognizes that this program delivers results that strengthen our communities and our nation, but just as important, helps teens discover and develop their potential,” said Wyman President and CEO Dave Hilliard.

Wyman has received more good news: The St. Louis Healthy Marriages Coalition has awarded a grant to Wyman to train six additional St. Louis organizations so they can deliver TOP to an additional 180 St. Louis teens this fall. The organizations, which will be trained this Wednesday through Friday at Wyman’s campus in Eureka, are Lutheran Children and Family Services, YWCA, Catholic Charities Southside Center, Steppingstones to Success, Success Academy LLC, and Herbert Hoover Boys’ and Girls’ Club.

More than 14 years of rigorous experimental and comparison evaluation have consistently demonstrated real results. Teens nationwide who participate in Wyman’s TOP experience a 60% lower school dropout rate; have a 33% lower rate of pregnancy; demonstrate a 14% lower rate of school suspension; and have an 11% lower rate of school course failure.

Wyman TOP combines classroom or group discussion with community service and currently reaches over 12,000 teens. Wyman TOP generally operates on a school-year cycle, with weekly group meetings during or after school for teens with support from Wyman-trained facilitators. Facilitators focus on group support and positive dialogue around the topics of values, relationships and peer pressure, communication skills, influence, goal-setting, decision-making, service learning and adolescent human development with emphasis on emotional well-being and sexuality.

Youth apply learned skills and develop a sense of purpose through community service, a crucial element in the success of the program. Participants perform a minimum of 20 hours per year of community-based volunteer service as an exercise in taking on adult roles to build personal responsibility.

“One of the most striking features of the Teen Outreach Program is that it does not explicitly focus upon the problem behaviors it seeks to prevent but rather seeks to enhance participants’ competence in decision making, in interacting with peers and adults, and in recognizing and handling their own emotions,” writes Isaacs. “Particularly in the field of teen pregnancy prevention, this focus has important practical implications, as it means the program may be politically acceptable in communities where programs that explicitly focus upon sexual behavior may not be feasible to implement.”

The Brookings Institution report can be found online: http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/200701isaacs.pdf.

Wyman TOP has also been nationally recognized by First Lady Laura Bush’s Helping America’s Youth Initiative, the Rand Corporation’s Promising Practices Network, the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine, and The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Wyman, a United Way of St. Louis member agency, is a nationally recognized teen development organization that is preparing teens from disadvantaged circumstances to lead successful lives and build strong communities. Its innovative programs are powerful and effective, and the staff is highly acclaimed and committed to preparing today’s youth. Wyman’s approach is comprehensive — drawing together many influences on a young person’s life and engaging them in their development. Results are evident by the achievements and bright future of teens in Wyman programs and the communities in which they live. Wyman Center, Inc., is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization sponsored by corporate, foundation, and individual contributors. For more information, please contact Wyman at (636) 938-5245 or by E-mail at info@wymancenter.org.

Wyman has recently partnered with Benefitbar, a company partnered with Yahoo that makes use of an internet toolbar/search bar as a communication and fundraising tool for non-profits, at no charge to us! You can download Wyman’s bar quickly and at no charge. Whenever you use the search portion of the bar, Wyman receives part of the proceeds. The Wyman bar also provides a great way for you to stay up-to-date on the latest news and events.

Wyman takes first steps in developing scholarship program for teens

Wyman Trustee Dave Morley and Wyman President Dave Hilliard are working to further the Wyman vision of helping our teens succeed in life – beyond high school. This year marked the first steps in developing a scholarship program that will support continuing education for Wyman teens by providing them with full college scholarships.

Unfortunately, college tuition is a large financial burden for many of our teens. The goal of this program is to help them succeed by removing some of these restraints.

“The key to me is, how can we break the cycle of poverty?” Morley said. “The Camp Coca-Cola Leadership Program at Wyman is an exceptional step, but data shows that to truly break that cycle, they need to have a college education. This to me seems like a natural extension of what Wyman is already doing.”

Morley and his wife Cheryl Morley devised a concept to connect students with the already existing resources in a college’s various departments, organizations and scholarship funds. To cover any remaining expenses, Wyman would then raise scholarships with the help of corporate and individual donations.

The first appeal was to Indiana University, where Morley is a board member for the College of Arts and Sciences. He and Hilliard presented the concept to members of Admissions and various programs with scholarships to offer. The group was intrigued, and Hilliard and Morley expect similar reactions from other universities as they move forward.

“The first thing that grabs their attention is the caliber of young person that we are presenting to them,” said Hilliard. “Many of these students are the first generation in their families going to college. They have proven over a five-year period that they are very disciplined, very capable and very bright. This is what schools are looking for.

“Secondly, it’s an attractive win-win strategy. Typically families must run the traps to find the pots of money universities already have for scholarships, but even when secured there is usually a funding gap our families cannot afford. The Morley plan is attractive to families and universities because it funds the gap.”

The result from the Indiana University meeting was very positive – up to four scholarship packages a year for qualified candidates. Wyman Youth Relations Directors Annie Philipps and Náeem Slaise worked closely with students through the application process, and Morley and Hilliard tracked the progress of the applications. As of now, Robert Bryant, a senior at Fox High School, has officially been accepted to Indiana University for the fall of 2007.

Many corporations, individuals and people already involved with Wyman have shown an interest in helping to fund Wyman’s share of the scholarships, Morley said. For one, the St. Louis chapter of the Indiana University Alumni Association has already agreed to raise the cost gap to send one student to a four-year college starting in 2008.

The next step is to develop more partnerships with colleges and universities, starting with schools in Missouri and Illinois. This relationship-building is already underway, and the hope is that Wyman will be able to offer more options and opportunities each year.

Another vital aspect of making this program a success is ensuring that Wyman teens are prepared academically.

“Part of what we’ve learned in this process is that competition at the university level is keen –and becoming more so all the time,” said Hilliard. “Preparation for these teens, as far as standardized testing and GPAs, vary from school to school. In order for all the teens to be as competitive as possible, we’re going to have to step in and fill some gaps.”

Hilliard and Morley hope to achieve this by connecting students with resources already available in the community, such as tutoring and standardized testing preparation courses.

“What we will start to do immediately,” said Hilliard, “is emphasize to these students the importance of preparing themselves academically – making this expectation very clear from the point we recruit them forward.”