Minnesota Alliance With Youth Seeks In-School Promise Fellows for 2023-24, Celebrates 25 Years of Supporting State's Students

Promise Fellows spend a year of paid AmeriCorps service working one-on-one with students in grades 6-12 who show early warning signs of school disengagement

 MINNEAPOLIS, July 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- From North Branch to Northfield and communities across the entire state, a Minnesota nonprofit making a demonstrable impact on at-risk students is ramping up its recruitment effort for the 2023-24 school year. Minnesota Alliance With Youth is hitting the road for the next few weeks, on a mission to find more than 50 individuals to serve as Promise Fellows, an AmeriCorps program that implements a prevention-oriented approach to addressing student dropout by targeting students in grades 6-12 who show early warning signs of school disengagement.

Promise Fellows work directly with students in a school or through a community organization for the school year, summer or all year long, and receive a stipend, education award, student loan forbearance and other benefits. Applications for the upcoming school year are being accepted for priority deadline until Aug. 15, 2023. This ensures Promise Fellows can work with students for the entire school year. Applications will also be accepted on a rolling basis for Oct. 1 and Jan. 16 start dates. For more information or to apply, visit www.mnyouth.net.

25 Years of Making an Impact
Since its inception in 1998, the program has trained and placed 2,223 Promise Fellows in Minnesota schools and community-based organizations, supporting 182,661 students across the state through more than 3 million hours of service. Host sites are located across Minnesota, in the Twin Cities Metro, St. Cloud, Northfield and many other locations.

Much more than tutors, Promise Fellows provide direct support for up to 30 students during the school year (Sept. 1 - May 31, with the option of extending through the summer), in the areas of attendance, engagement and course performance.

For the past 25 years, the program has made a significant impact not only on Minnesota students, but also on the people who have served as Promise Fellows. The initiative is made up of Minnesotans from all walks of life, from recent college graduates to retirees, and reflects the increasing diversity of the state's students.

"While each Promise Fellow has a unique story, they all share a passion for serving their communities and an interest in helping Minnesota students succeed," said Minnesota Alliance With Youth Executive Director Erich Mische. "We hear repeatedly about how the Promise Fellows program is an exceptional opportunity for recent graduates or recent retirees to explore what's next for them. Their year of working side-by-side with teachers and administrators provides an opportunity to gain valuable experience in a school setting over a short-term period."

Promise Fellows serve alongside teachers, counselors and administrators, receiving hands-on experience as they get an up-close perspective on whether working in education could be a long-term fit for them. Promise Fellows have gone on to become teachers, school counselors, therapists, lawyers, nurses, college administrators, paraprofessionals, nonprofit managers, school aides and much more.

Data suggests the Promise Fellows program has a positive effect on school attendance for students who participate. According to a third-party impact evaluation of the Promise Fellows 2021-2022 program, the initiative yielded a statistically significant difference in the attendance rates of students who participated in the Promise Fellows program compared to students who did not. On average, students who participated in the program attended one more week, or roughly five more school days, relative to students who did not participate in the program.

"One of my students told me she was so happy she had someone at school that cared about her, and noticed when she wasn't there," said Lillie Williamson, former AmeriCorps Promise Fellow at Paladin Center and Technical High School in Coon Rapids, Minn. "She said she had never had that kind of support at school before."

Now that in-person learning is largely back, the need for caring adults to help students navigate the social and emotional challenges brought about by the pandemic is more critical than ever. By building relationships with at-risk students and their families, Promise Fellows play an important role in helping students reconnect with their school experience and peers, cultivate a feeling of belonging and encourage engagement.

"Especially for students who don't feel heard or otherwise don't have an advocate, a Promise Fellow can make a massive difference for their experience in school and trajectory toward graduation," said Greg Gianopoulos, former AmeriCorps Promise Fellow from Northfield, Minn.

A Community Commitment 
In addition to seeking applicants to be Promise Fellows, the program is also ramping up its engagement with current, past and potential host sites. Typically, host sites are high schools, middle schools or community centers interested in hosting one or more Promise Fellows for the year to support their students who are at risk for not graduating on time.

"Our Promise Fellows have a tremendous impact not only on our Focus Students but our student body at large," said Mike Macken, former assistant principal at Centennial Middle School in Lino Lakes, Minn. "The supportive relationships our Promise Fellows develop with struggling students and families foster better attendance, more engagement and higher academic performance."

Interested teachers, guidance counselors or administrators can learn more about being a host site by contacting Kyle Kline, director of recruitment and compliance, at [email protected].

About Minnesota Alliance With Youth 
Founded in 1997, Minnesota Alliance With Youth works with and for youth, engaging them as equal partners in finding the most effective and equitable solutions to the state's graduation crisis. Minnesota Alliance With Youth is a proud partner with AmeriCorps, the premier national service program in the United States. Every year, a select group of extraordinary Minnesotans from all walks of life serve young people in communities statewide as members of the Alliance's unique AmeriCorps programs: VISTAs, Promise Fellows, and Summer Youth Support Fellows.

Minnesota Alliance With Youth also administers the Minnesota Youth Council (MYC), a collaborative of youth leaders that mobilize their fellow middle and high school peers across the state to create equitable systems through youth-led outreach, education, and advocacy. For more information or to apply for an opportunity, visit www.mnyouth.net.

Media Contact:
Briana McBride
612-255-1108
[email protected]

SOURCE Minnesota Alliance With Youth