Youth Engagement Program for Middle and High School Students

Youth Engagement: After-School Program for Middle and High School Students
Student’s Name
Institution
Course Number and Name
Instructor’s Name
Date
Youth Engagement: After-School Program for Middle and High School Students
Previous Experience in Volunteerism
My experience with volunteering was eye-opening, enjoyable, and fulfilling. I volunteered at the Pentecostal Baptist Church, which had a youth engagement program that focused mainly on children. The goal was to ensure that these children were fully engaged in meaningful activities during summer to avoid idleness, which usually promotes indiscipline and other vices among students when they are out of school. In addition to supporting young people, their families were also involved because the church believes in holistically supporting the child by involving their families. I applaud the church for being so family-centered because they made sure that even as they were engaging children, they did not sideline their families.
The primary responsibilities involved providing food for the children and their families, organizing field trips, offering tutoring services, and using music & art to keep the children engaged. My main duties were serving meals to the children and their families. I also engaged with them in learning through the tutoring program and participated in the field trips. What I gathered from these engagements is that serving others is the most fulfilling experience that one can get. I also learned that volunteer services play a significant role in driving change in our communities. There are a lot of social issues in our communities, and it is up to everyone to contribute to addressing these issues by donating our money, time, and/or voices. I would recommend this experience to others. Since this experience, I have been encouraging the people around me to volunteer because it is not only beneficial to the community but also to the individual volunteering to serve others.
1 Executive Summary
The proposed program is an after-school program that provides students in middle and high school in Delaware with after-school tutoring and music lessons. This program is necessary because it will ensure students are not engaging in vices or faring poorly in academics. Currently, about 51% and 43% of middle and high school students are gambling. In addition, the school dropout rate among middle school students in Delaware is 15.4%, which is quite alarming because the overall school dropout rate in the state is 1.3%. The cause of these issues is a lack of meaningful activities to engage in and limited adult supervision during after-school hours. However, after-school tutoring and music lessons can reduce the likelihood of students engaging in addictive behaviors or dropping out of school without a high school diploma.
The program will offer math and reading lessons daily and music lessons every week. The organization will collaborate with the University of Delaware's Suzuki program and the Anthony Penna Charitable Fund instrument donation program to achieve its goals. To support this program, the organization is requesting a $100,000 grant. The outcomes that will be achieved include improved grades, discipline, and musical skills in the short term and improved school attendance, and reduced addictive behaviors in the long term.
2 Community Engagement Background
The development of children and young people is highly dependent on how communities engage these groups of people. This can be achieved by setting up programs that provide after-school tutoring combined with art and music to keep children and youths engaged when they are out of school. The organization (Pentecostal Baptist Church) has in the past managed programs that served this particular past, such as the one I volunteered for in my experience. However, these programs were limited to summer when children were on break from school. The programs have successfully kept children and young people in middle and high school grounded during summer break. However, the organization wants to establish a long-term program that engages children and young people during the summer break and the school season in Delaware. There are many youths in Delaware, as shown by the demographic data for Delaware below (United States Census Bureau, n.d.):
* Estimated population (July 2021): 1,003,384
* Percentage of individuals younger than 18 years: 20.9%
* Percentage of individuals with high school education and higher: 90.6%
* School dropout rate for children below 15 years: 15.4% (Delaware Department of Education, 2020)
The organization has always believed in creating social change by helping children because children are the future of the world. Whatever support is provided to children and the values instilled in them will play an instrumental role in shaping their future and creating a future that is good for society. The organization not only has experience running a program that promotes children's engagement and involvement in meaningful activities but is also learning from other national and local programs focused on the same goal. For instance, the organization has previously engaged in the Learn and Serve America Youth Engagement Zone (YEZ) program under AmeriCorps. This program's primary focus is student engagement to promote academic achievement through improved school attendance and good conduct (AmeriCorps, n.d.). The organization has also benchmarked Delaware's 4-H after-school and summer programs. These programs engage youth in different age groups by offering them leadership and civic engagement opportunities, academic support, arts and sports development, and mentorship, among other things (The University of Delaware, n.d.). The organization will apply what it learned from others to ensure the proposed program is successful.
3 Needs Statement
After-school programs play an instrumental role in youth development. According to Sjorgren et al. (2021), after-school programs offer children and young people a safe space to explore their interests and prevent problem behaviors that are likely to occur when they are out of school. This is particularly vital because children are more likely to engage in vices and/or drop out of school when they lack the support of adults. Hospital et al. (2018) indicate that youths are less likely to engage in substance abuse and any form of misconduct when music is involved. As such, offering after-school music/art support can be instrumental in improving the discipline of children. In addition, Philip and Gill (2020) indicate that after-school tutoring opportunities enhance the academic success of children and teenage students participating in those programs.
The proposed program will address some of the issues of concern observed among students in Delaware, such as gambling and school dropout. The prevalence of gambling in Delaware among middle and high school students is high. According to the University of Delaware (2020), about 51% and 43% of middle and high school students, respectively, have engaged in gambling. Also, these students are more likely to engage in other vices such as vaping, marijuana, and alcohol consumption. These high rates indicate the need for after-school tutoring and music/art because, as Pisarska and Ostaszewski (2020) show, engagement in meaningful activities protects young people from gambling and other risky behavior. The after-school programs provide meaningful activities to keep young people engaged, leaving no room for indiscipline. Also, Youth.gov (n.d.) adds that after-school programs reduce the potential of young people developing risky behaviors because they increase adult supervision. When children and young people do not participate in after-school programs, they are more likely to be under no parental supervisi...