What's Happening
Building a Tomorrow, Today 04/25/12
Fixing Academic Failure: The Boy With a Ball Harlandale Cross-Age Mentoring Program
7th Annual Bob Johnson Charity Golf Classic 09/24/11
An exciting event helping to develop youth around the globe.
Summer Literacy Program Begins 05/24/11
Looking for a place to make a difference? Have some time and energy to give? Check out Read, Write to Lead!
Enabling Students to Achieve Their Dreams 05/24/11
A university scholarship program develops in El Triángulo de la Solidaridad.
Velocity Launches
Velocity, a Cross Age Mentoring Program (CAMP), begins at Harlandale HS
Nora, Leo, Angelina, Destiny, Eddy. Names met faces this week. Theory met reality. Months of planning came together and VELOCITY Harlandale, a cross age mentoring program, was launched.
This collaborative effort between Boy with a Ball San Antonio (BWAB SA), Harlandale Independent School District, Spurs Foundation, Communities in Schools, HEB and others, is a program in the first phase of a four-year implementation plan. By the end of the four years, a fifth grader within the Harlandale District will have the opportunity to be a VELOCITY mentee through the 8th grade and then will be able to turn around and continue as a mentor throughout his/her high school years.
In a city where the high school graduation rate is only around 50%, the success of VELOCITY is vital. The program's goals are to have improved connectedness to school, friends, family and self, increased graduation rates, increased academic performance, and development of a replicable model for fighting school desertion in San Antonio.
Dr. Michael Karcher, professor of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio, designed the curriculum that BWABSA is using for VELOCITY and will be helping to oversee the evaluation component as BWABSA looks to develop VELOCITY into a replicable program specifically designed to improve the factors that often lead to school desertion. You can find out more about Dr. Karcher on his website: http://www.professorkarcher.com/
For more information or to see how you can be involved, call the BWAB SA office at 210.858.1580 and ask for Anna Currie or send her an email at anna.currie@boywithaball.com.
