Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program
Getting Started at Your School

How do schools move from having a dropout rate that raises concern to having a successful dropout prevention and youth leadership program? The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program offers one possibility. The program can be readily replicated, it has been tested and proven, and IDRA offers training and technical assistance to support its accomplishment. The role of the schools, however, is irreplaceable. For the program to succeed, the schools must make the program their own, accepting it as part of the system, giving it the weight of their approval and support, and stamping it with their own unique identity.

School districts utilize the following funding sources to implement the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program in their schools: federal funds such as Title I and Title II, Title III, State Compensatory and Migrant Funds. Often schools form school business partnerships with Coca-Cola Bottlers, other businesses and local civic groups to secure funds.

In broadest terms, the role of the schools in the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program includes:

• Supporting the program at the district level;
• Accepting the program’s philosophy as consistent with the school’s mission;
• Setting goals for the school in terms of keeping at-risk students and helping them succeed;
• Resolving to meet these goals through planning and action;
• Committing time, effort and other resources to implementing the program’s critical elements;
• Collecting evaluation information to assess program implementation and program success; and
• Valuing all youth.

Let the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program touch the lives of students, parents and educators in your district.

To get started on your Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program implementation today, contact IDRA at 210-444-1710 or contact@idra.org.

Download a detailed booklet on how to implement the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program in PDF format.