Featured Depositor: The Umoja Student Development Corporation
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Chicago's North Lawndale is a neighborhood where jobs are typically hard to come by, especially for those fortunate to finish high school. Those who do find work, usually face the frustration and disappointment that accompanies the low pay and little chance for promotion. However, thanks to one innovative nonprofit customer's commitment to developing and honing academic and career skills, hope is replacing despair for many of the neighborhood's students.
In 1997, Umoja Student Development Corporation was launched at Manley High School to help economically-disadvantaged students prepare for the future and assimilate into the larger community. By combining academic and tutorial programs with vocation-training workshops, students are developing new skills and being introduced to new career opportunities that are helping to better prepare them for future challenges.
At the start of the program, less than 10% of Manley's graduates went on to some form of secondary education. Since then, that number has steadily climbed to more than 60%. Besides these results, more than 50 Chicago businesses have formed partnerships with Umoja that are providing students with access to networking, internship, and employment opportunities.
Umoja's newest program introduces students to the ins-and-outs of the acquisition, rehab, and sale of residential real estate. The work offers students the opportunity to experience a real construction job-site while cultivating the necessary skills and personal responsibility needed. Participating students are also learning how to pursue career opportunities, ranging from construction work to development in the real estate industry.
During the recent renovation of a single-family residence on Chicago's West Side, more than 100 Manley students were involved in surveying the neighborhood for community input on planning issues, assisting with drafting blue-prints, and completing the framing, demolition, electrical, and plumbing work under the tutelage of professional architects and contractors.
"These programs demonstrate the potential of what can be accomplished when students are introduced to new skills and experiences," says Lila Leff, Umoja's executive director. "Students see the connection between reality and the future and are learning how to apply their skills and interests to prepare for life after high school."
As a creator of bright futures, Umoja's own future continues to look just that: bright. Recently, it kicked-off a new partnership with Gage Park High to provide training for educators which enables Umoja to share its best practices with teachers from all across Chicago. Having transformed Manley High from a notoriously challenged institution into one of the area's flagship public schools, Umoja is making plans to open its own charter school in the near future.
With news of Umoja's striking success garnering national attention, educators from across the country have been gathering at the school to learn all that they can from this special ShoreBank deposit account customer.
