Youth Education & Development
Jump to a specific program: Afterschool Academy, Project Ready: Mentor, Mercy Scholarships, Black Scholars
The future of our community and our world will be shaped by the hearts and minds of our youth. Our Youth Education & Development programs are specifically crafted for the needs of each grade level from sixth grade to senior year.
Afterschool Academy
The Afterschool Academy is an academic achievement program with two core components:
Project Achieve and Project Excel
Project Achieve and Project Excel are designed to prepare students in grades 6 to 8 for the transition into a successful high school career. Staff provides academic support through homework help, tutoring, and literacy activities. Students engage in enrichment activities that strengthen their academic, social, and leadership skills and expose them to the community’s cultural resources. Project Achieve and Excel are funded by United Way.
Project Ready
Provides students in grades 8 to 12 the support, guidance, and encouragement needed to prepare them for a bright and promising future. Students engage in an evidence-based curriculum that prepares them academically, socially, and culturally for college and careers. Project Ready is funded by the National Urban League.
Summer Enrichment Program
The application submission time for Summer 2023 is now closed! If you have any questions regarding a submitted application, please email afterschoolacademy265@gmail.com.
Afterschool Academy Summer Enrichment Program is a four-week project-based academic program that works with students entering grades 7th, 8th, and 9th in the upcoming school year. Students engage in daily workshops around literacy, leadership and social development, college and career exploration, health and wellness, and cultural enrichment and skill-building.
Each component of the Academy provides academic support, cultural enrichment, and leadership development. The goals of the Academy are to promote school retention, academic accomplishment, college preparation, social development, and cultural awareness.
YOUTH ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM (YAP)
The Youth Achievement Program (YAP) is modeled on the Urban League’s signature Project Ready Post-Secondary Success Program. YAP utilizes and provides community, academic, social, and cultural resources, and activities to prepare youth grades 8 to 12 for success in college, work, and life.
YOUTH ADVOCACY
New York State Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Coalition: The Urban League of Rochester is a member of the New York Equity Coalition that works with local parents, districts, and policymakers to create accountability standards that work for all students and their families. The Coalition is organized by The Education Trust-NY through the support of the Walton Family Foundation.
Equity & Excellence Project: The Urban League of Rochester is a part of the National Urban League’s Equity & Excellence Project. The goal of the Project is to strengthen the ability of the civil rights community to advocate for educational reform and accountability through engagement in local, state, and national education reform efforts.
For more information about our Afterschool Academy Programs, contact staff at (585) 481-5232 or afterschoolacademy265@gmail.com.
Funded by the United Way of Greater Rochester, the National Urban League, and Visions Federal Credit Union.
Project Ready: Mentor
Are you at least 21 years old and have the passion to empower, mentor, or coach a young person?
Project Ready: Project Ready Mentor is a mentoring program that enhances students in grades 6 to 12 academic, social, and leadership skills through exposure to new experiences, opportunities, and places. Students engage in a curriculum focused on academics, social development, and college culture and awareness, while being paired with an adult mentor. Adult mentors provide group and one-to-one mentoring to help with students’ growth. Students become prepared for college, work, and life. The program is funded by the National Urban League.
The National Urban League designed Project Ready: Mentor to expose youth to diverse educational, developmental and career opportunities with increasing degrees of complexity, responsibility, and skill acquisition.
Project Ready: Mentor helps local communities across the country develop the internal resources needed to support youth by expanding the supply of well-trained mentors, creating and sustaining meaningful and supportive relationships between caring adults and youth, and directing those relationships toward reducing behaviors that undermine youth well-being and increase educational and employment success.
Contact
For more information about our Project Ready: Mentor program, contact staff at (585) 481-5232 or afterschoolacademy265@gmail.com.
Funded by the National Urban League.
Our Lady of Mercy School Scholarships
The Cheryl Speranza Leadership Institute was designed to help create the next generation of diverse civic, community, and business leaders. As part of this program, a number of four-year full tuition scholarships are provided for incoming 9th grade students to attend Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women.
The Cheryl Speranza Leadership scholarship recipients will be minority students who demonstrate academic promise, natural leadership ability, work ethic, and have a financial need that would otherwise prevent the student from attending Mercy. Each scholarship provides full tuition for the four years a student is at Mercy (grades 9-12).
Speranza scholars will also be provided with the necessary tools to succeed in school and life, including access to mentors, tutors, and youth advocates as well as life and career assistance throughout college, graduate school, and their careers.
Ready to apply?
Visit the Cheryl Speranza Leadership Institute’s website today for additional application requirements and to apply today.
Know a deserving student with leadership potential? To nominate a candidate for a scholarship, contact Program Chair Linda Dickey at (585) 288-7120, x360 or ldickey@mercyhs.com.
Black Scholars Program
The Black Scholars Program provides high school students with assistance applying to college, academic recognition, and scholarships. The program supports students in the Greater Rochester metropolitan area (the City of Rochester and the 6 surrounding counties) who achieve a cumulative GPA of "B" or better in high school. Workshops are held every spring and fall to prepare college-bound students and their parents for the college selection process, admissions testing, completion of college applications, financial aid paperwork, and other “college survival” tools and tips.
An annual Early Recognition Ceremony is held annually to recognize and encourage students in the 9th to 12th grades who are on track to become Urban League Black Scholars by the end of their senior year. Each June, hundreds of graduating seniors are honored at the annual Salute to Black Scholars Dinner. Approximately $2.5 million in college scholarships are awarded at this event. The program also features the Black Scholars Endowment Fund, which provides assistance to help college students who have exhausted all other sources of financial aid to remain in school. The program is funded through corporate sponsorships, committee fundraising activities, and general funds. The program reaches approximately 1,800 students each year.
Learn more about our Early Recognition Program.