SA Youth Technology
SA Youth Technology Pathway
SA Youth’s Technology pathway is a full-service, wraparound program that provides education, community service, and job training over the course of a one to two year period for high school dropouts.
High School Credit Recovery at the Cooper YouthBuild Academy
Participants receive their high-school diploma at the Cooper Academy, housed in the Mission Verde Center at the former Cooper Middle School. The Cooper Academy programs are offered in collaboration with SAISD, providing high school credit recovery, giving participants a second chance for success. Academy instructors provide invaluable support for the participants and use the Plato curriculum for a self-paced learning experience which can accelerate a participant’s attainment of the high school diploma.
Leadership Training
At SA Youth we are trying to create an environment in which young people and staff can learn, feel valued and cared for, make good decisions, and grow in their self-development, knowledge, skill, and leadership. SA Youth provides many opportunities for young adults to become engaged and learn how to be effective leaders.
We emphasize leadership development at SA Youth for four reasons:
- The future of our society and all our communities depends on having more ethical and effective leaders.
- Every youth program and school would itself be improved if governed with real input from young people.
- Leadership can engage young people intensely and deeply, liberating their own best energies.
- Real decision-making responsibility can help heal two deep wounds of young people: Low self-esteem due to consistent invalidation of their intelligence; and feelings of powerlessness, and the companion anger, due to being raised in a thoroughly adult-dominated world, which has not listened to the ideas of young people.
Every Friday, SA Youth staff and our Leadership Council plan a leadership training day where special programs are developed and implemented that center around the principles of leadership.
While in the SA Youth program, participants have the opportunity to serve on a Leadership Council. The Council is elected from the SA Youth population and meets with the staff each week. The Council is charged with making important decisions about the SA Youth program. Decisions include disciplinary actions, community service programs, policy decisions, and other programmatic decisions.
Using YouthBuild USA’s Blueprint for Democracy curriculum, participants learn how to be civic-minded individuals. The curriculum is designed specifically to address the needs and attitudes of low-income youth, including alienation from politics and politicians; the legal status of former felons; and issues affecting poor people such as welfare policies, civil rights policies, and campaign finance reform. Activities ask teachers to start with the students’ experiences, feelings, knowledge, and concerns.
Case Management
All participants receive the support of a full-time case manager who helps participants find needed resources such as counseling, food, housing, rent assistance, and access to other social service programs. The case manager also works with participants to help place them full-time in jobs that align with their interests and skills.
Technology Certification
As part of the curriculum, participants engage in a rigorous technology certification program which prepares them for an IC-3 certification to prepare them for entry level technology jobs. The program is taught by a full-time technology instructor who not only prepares the participants for the exam but also engage the participants in computer refurbishing for low-income families.
Computer Refurbishing
As part of the curriculum and as a way to close the gap in the Digital Divide, participants refurbish donated computers which will, in turn, be provided to low-income families in need of technology in their homes. Participants use a planned curriculum twice a week to make needed repairs, and families are selected for refurbished computers based on need.
SA Youth is proud to be a full affiliate of YouthBuild USA. For more information about our national YouthBuild program, visit the YouthBuild USA website at www.youthbuild.org.
For more information about Americorps, visit the AmeriCorps website at www.americorps.gov.
For more information about enrolling in T-Corps, download the application and supporting materials.
Partners and Sponsors:
City of San Antonio
San Antonio Independent School District
Rackspace Managed Hosting
Tesoro
Tesoro provides an ementor for every participant in the program. Participants are matched with volunteer mentors using iMentor Interactive, an innovative website that provides opportunities to connect mentors with mentees and keep them engaged using a set curriculum that is used during the course of the program. Mentors have an invaluable impact on the lives of the participants by sustaining a relationship during the program cycle.
Want to get involved in the YouthBuild Technology Corps?
You can help by:
- Contributing computers that need to be refurbished
- Signing on as a volunteer for the ementoring project
- Teaching participants technology skills
- Working at one of our centers as a technology instructor or volunteer to use an innovative program such as Learning A to Z or First in Math
For more information about becoming involved, please contact us at 210.223.3131.