Page 157 - The Jazzsipper Novel

REQUEST FOR PARTNERSHIP

This letter serves to introduce the Choices for Life out Reach Program and to request the partnership of
your organization in the fulfillment of our vision and mission.

Choices for Life Out Reach Program is an all-inclusive, group working to increase participation in local
High Schools, to inspire young people in our community to become all they can be, and to support the
common ideas of accessibility, and accountability in our local schools as places of higher learning
institutions and not to be seen as gang recruitment facilities.

We are motivated by our belief that local school community’s affects residents' lives in a multitude of
ways and that the contributions of an engaged populace are necessary for a strong local school and a
vibrant and prosperous city. We are concerned by the dismal youth graduation rates in local schools, as
evident by the article written by Jonathan Guryan, Jens Ludwig entitled “Why half of urban kids drop
out” which can be read in its entirety as attachment A, included with this document. We are also
concerned that figure is even lower for African-American males. It is our goal that all young people
are informed, empowered and engaged in our local schools to bring about positive change in the
cities in which they live. Last but not least, we overly concern with the perception that American’s youth
are down on the future, with nearly half of those ages 18 through 29 believing the “America Dream” is
more dead than alive, according to a nationwide survey released by Harvard University’s Institute of
Politics, which can be read in its entirety as attachment B, included with this document.

Our working group has proposed a similar strategy for approaching these challenges as listed in the article
written by Jonathan Guryan, Jens Ludwig entitled “Why half of urban kids drop out”, with the exceptions
of two different caveats. First off, our mentoring program Valued Outcomes is a free entity to all
participating young people. And the second being we offer and provide support for a funding support
mechanism that is two pronged whereas the Organizations including non-profits, and businesses are able
to raise funding and share in 50% of the proceeds raised. Our preliminary plans include a series of
programs and development of a portfolio of information resources and educational materials. With these
tools we will endeavor to educate young people of the community about the importance of graduating,
the process and access points for post-secondary education, and encourage all young people of our
communities to cast meaningful efforts in doing so.

As we move forward we require the assistance of knowledgeable parties with the development and/or
implementation of our education and outreach programs. Organizations with deep expertise on a
particular issue or segments of the local communities are requested to help identify entry points that
should be used to inform our local communities as a whole about our program development. We would
also like to hear from a representative of your group to learn about the work that your

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