The Youth Empowerment Strategies Program

  YES! Youth Empowerment Strategies, along with the MTA community center and SOCK, Save Our County's Kids continues to build the capacity of its basic computer learning center in affiliation with the needs of the public sector, private business and other nonprofits to offer state-of-the-art use of the Internet and computer technology. The YES! Community Technology Center promotes economic viability and access to services through education, skill-building and community collaboration for low income, under served youth and adults in our community including;
  -young people who have, because of choice or circumstances, dropped out of school, need to get their GED or find work.
  -Youth involved in the criminal justice system or in foster care and their families.
  -Youth already participating in SOCK after-school and drop-in programs.
  -Students in Shelton School District’s middle schools, high schools, college and alternative school programs with limited or no access to computers.
  -People needing technologically conducive learning modalities .
  -Senior citizens and adult clients of other social service and non-profit organizations in the geographic area who are referred by their service providers to the SOCK learning lab for instruction or to provide overflow computer capacity for those agencies or organizations.
  -Community businesses seeking to use multi-station computers at the center on a user-fee basis.

THE NEED


According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, Broadband Adoption Study (2008), 38 percent of homes in rural areas have access to broadband services in 2008 as compared with 57-60 percent in suburban and urban areas. 
  There are links between educational levels and access to broadband service, according to Pew. Forty percent of persons with a high school education stated they had home Internet connections. The census data puts the percent of high school graduates in Mason County at 83 percent. In addition, the percentage of households in Mason County that are below the poverty level, with limited or no financial resources to obtain the Internet or a computer, was 12.2 percent in 2004.
  While Shelton residents have access to high speed Internet, certain subsets of the population, individually or by family/household unit, do not. Among those are participants in the Juvenile Detention School, who often do not have a stable home environment. They frequently come from families living in poverty, and may, in fact, be homeless.
  Students who have experienced the juvenile justice system, as well as other at-risk youth, are less likely to use school computer resources, either in the classroom or after school. Many are not attending school on a regular basis, or are so lacking in basic computer skills that they are unwilling to risk ridicule and censure by their peers by even attempting to access the school’s computers.
   Local social service agencies and non-profits serving low-income or otherwise disaffected clients have limited computer resources, having to turn away clients attempting to access skill building tools or training opportunities.
   The local library has excess demand for its public computer resources, and is experiencing particular problems with unsupervised youth inhibiting access by other users.

  At this time, Shelton has public Internet access at the pubic library; the Work Source office; Mason County Literacy (the local literacy program) at schools for those who are enrolled; the Senior Center; and the Olympic College. There are no Internet cafés in the area. When available, Internet access is limited by time of day, or individual eligibility based on enrollment in a program, or designation as a client of a social service.

Our Partners

YES! has an established relationship with the Mason County Readiness To Learn / Building Bridges Program and the Juvenile Justice system. RTL/BB Family Resource coordinators and Education Advocates and YES! use SOCK as a work site to access youths who are not connected to schools.
It may be the one place where this educationally mandated program can assess some eligible and targeted youths.
 This relationship brings in additional qualified adults to SOCK who are focused on helping youth, thereby strengthening the organization’s youth programs. YES! initiates partnerships with various community groups, businesses and organizations to offer access to the computer learning lab at reasonable rental/contractual rates. SOCK will market the availability of the enhanced technology lab in future grant applications, including support for staffing and maintenance of the lab in the scope of services to be provided whenever possible.

Contact us
info@yestechmentoring.org

THE IMPACT


SOCK’s enhanced technology lab, The YES! Community Technology Center, responds to four impact types.

1)       Employment Skills ;
        Through classes and one-on-one training offered to participants, and by extension, through the  community partners such as the school district, the Literacy Program, the community college, and Work Source, and through additional hours of access to an enhanced community-based learning lab, identified beneficiaries and the general public can derive instruction in basic office skills, resume writing, job search tools, and on-line training and tutorials on such topics as interviewing, appropriate behaviors in various employment environments, communication, and general social skills.

2)       Education Enhancement ;
        SOCK will continue its contractual relationship with the Shelton School District to provide services to the Juvenile Detention School program for youth being released back into the community through the YES! Program. These youth, and those who are participating in the alternative high school programs, or not in school at this time, will access the computer lab to support homework assignments, supplemental tutorials, or basic skill-building. SOCK has always provided a safe environment for youth. Not only the physical characteristics of the building, but also the extension of on-site staff hours and the partnering with other agencies and organizations, will provide more opportunity for youth interaction with appropriately screened adults and youth mentors who are committed to working with them. By enhancing the teaching capacity of the technology lab, more and varied educational opportunities can be offered in a manner that will reach more participants, both the primary beneficiaries and the community at large.

3)       Social Inclusion ;
     SOCK’s mentoring programs and after school tutoring programs have been designed to develop positive ways for youth to use digital technologies to express themselves. SOCK has an extensive video production program in place and depends heavily on participating youth to record, edit, and produce a variety of community-based information and promotional products, under the guidance of talented adult professionals. The proposed upgrades in hardware and software will increase opportunities for youth to carry out these projects for their own creative work, and also to benefit SOCK. In addition, as these youth become more competent in the use of technology in the lab, they will also have more confidence in accessing traditional school technology resources alongside their previously more capable peers who have computers, Internet, and a supportive family environment at home.

4)       Access to Information;
        In this age of information technology, communities worldwide have embraced the goal of having more informed and digitally-literate citizens, of all ages. SOCK’s enhanced technology lab, with its expanded access to training, computer work stations and knowledgeable staff, youth mentors and tutors will increase the digital technology resources available to residents of Shelton and nearby portions of Mason County. As previously noted, senior citizens, ESL program participants, Mason County Literacy and Work Source clients, small businesses as well as city and county staff, may be served through the enhanced learning lab.