Critical Focus #2

Intervention When It Counts: Helping Students Achieve

When students achieve their potential, everyone in the community benefits. Quick, targeted action can mean the difference between failure and long-term success for students whose academic progress is complicated by abuse, hunger, homelessness, and mental and behavioral problems. United Way sponsors programs that provide mentoring, counseling, case management, teen parenting prevention and support, after-school activities, tutoring, and enrichment activities to help students succeed in spite of obstacles.

Success Story: Andrew

For Andrew, as for many boys, growing up in a single-parent home can pose unique challenges. But when he joined a United Way-funded youth development program in the second grade, his life changed for the better. Now on track to attain the organization’s highest leadership rank, this young man says it has helped him become a better student and a wellrounded person. Confident and outgoing, Andrew credits the program’s leaders and friends for helping him learn how to speak up, participate and reach out to others.