Community Leaders Breakfast and Tutoring Demonstration Held

Detroit is the latest site that has launched the highly-successful Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program. Educators, including William Coleman III, chief executive officer of Detroit Public Schools, gathered for a community leaders breakfast and tutoring demonstration in December at the participating schools.

The State of Michigan calculates a 44 percent graduation rate in Detroit. The Harvard Civil Right Project reports that nationally, only 68 percent of students graduate on time with a diploma.

“The reason we as a nation have failed to reduce dropout rates is that we have been blaming the students – claiming that their soul, their mind, their heart, or their community environment is unhealthy – rather than tending to what grown-ups and schools should be doing to keep children in school,” said María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., executive director of the Intercultural Development Research Association, which developed and implements the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program.

The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program is making a difference. With support from The Coca-Cola Foundation, IDRA created this internationally-recognized dropout prevention program with an unusual twist. The program works by identifying junior high and high school students who are considered at-risk of dropping out and enlisting them as tutors for elementary school students who are also struggling in school. Given this role of personal and academic responsibility, the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program tutors gain self-discipline, increase their self-esteem and succeed academically. The program design is based on IDRA research on dropout prevention and school holding power.

“As a graduate of Northwestern High School and a former Detroit Public School teacher, it gives me great pride to bring this special program to Detroit. The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program helps schools and communities see the inherent value and potential of each student,” said Ingrid Saunders Jones, senior vice president corporate external affairs and chairperson of The Coca-Cola Foundation.

“The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program is successful because it demonstrates to students the value of their own education and of the contributions they can make in the lives of others. The students feel needed and important. They know others rely on them as role models. The young students really do see our tutors as heroes,” said Dr. Robledo Montecel.

According to the Coca-Cola Valued Youth creed, “All students are valuable, none is expendable.” This philosophy is helping schools across the United States and Brazil lower the dropout rate. In the program, the dropout rates are averaging less than 2 percent, keeping 98 percent of young people in the classroom and learning. The program currently spans five states in the United States and 14 cities in Brazil, and throughout its 21 year history has positively impacted the lives of more than 416,000 children, families and educators, keeping more than 23,000 students in school.

“My involvement in the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program has made me a better person,” said Miguel, a 10th grade student and Coca-Cola Valued Youth tutor in Detroit.

Crystal, an 11th grader who also tutors there said, “The younger kids look forward to seeing me, and I feel compelled to be there.”

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