How We Work
Begun as a Freedom School literacy summer program, 21st Century Academy has expanded to provide year-round, K-12 afterschool support with academics, college and career readiness, and basic needs. Participants, known as “Scholars,” work with program staff in our building, at their homes, and in their schools. We engage their parents and caregivers to influence their circumstances at home. We wrap Scholars with love, connection, and a practical, individualized approach to shepherd each one on a path toward college and life success.
The majority of our staff grew up in the program and fully understand the multi-dimensional challenges Scholars face. They serve as mentors and role models empowering youth in authentic ways that profoundly resonate.
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We provide healing support and interventions through staff who have been there themselves. They connect as role models and engage in ways that are most likely to fit within the lives of our Scholars. We base our model on Shawn Ginwright's evidence-based Healing Centered Engagement, whose work reframes a trauma focus into a collective healing model.
Intensive cultural support and deep relationship-building come first as they are grounding elements for everything else. We check in, provide affirmations, and give space for humor. Because of our staff levels and the Liberty volunteers who participate, each youth has individual time with a caring adult every day for at least 30 minutes. Additionally, our onsite therapist engages in groups and individually on a weekly basis. We create a safe place that supports the building of long term, trusting relationships between youth and caring adults, and youth among themselves. We understand how important quality peer relationships are to well-being and mental health. We form cohorts so that every child has a friendship group. These friends help them navigate the journey.
Ginwright, Shawn. "The future of healing: Shifting from trauma informed care to healing centered engagement." Occasional Paper 25 (2018): 25-32.
Ginwright, Shawn. Hope and healing in urban education: How urban activists and teachers are reclaiming matters of the heart. Routledge, 2015.
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We meet our youth and their families where they are holistically providing for their basic needs (ie - food, health, clothing, transportation). We engage their parents and their school to create a coordinated approach for support in the spaces that are most significant for our youth. We support healthy ways with a nutritious meal and exercise/movement activities every day.
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Rooted in connection, we provide academic supports including help with homework, supporting school attendance, literacy and math interventions, and future planning for college and career. We build relationships with teachers and visit schools regularly to provide support for the day-to-day challenges. While our goal is academic success, graduation and attending college, we know there is no success without healing. All of our academic focus is grounded in our healing and connection framework. We offer financial literacy support through an innovative curriculum designed to help our Scholars see and know how to invest.
21st Century Academy scholar walk
Based on our social emotional assessments, we know that through our program: 100% of our youth feel they have a caring adult in their life, 80% see themselves going to college, and 90% see themselves doing something important in the future. This is in stark contrast to the lack of connection and future-orientation of the African American surrounding community of youth. The end result is that 100% of our youth who participate at least 3 days per week graduate high school and plan for college. This past year, 21CA had 9 Scholars graduate from high school and all intend to pursue post-secondary education! Learn more about our impact.
Scholars moving at Liberty