Valued Youth Partnership

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Valued Youth Partnership

Teens Win 2019 National Essay Contest Awards

Six students received prizes in a national competition among participants in the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program , a nationally-recognized cross-age tutoring program of the Intercultural Development Research Association. Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program tutors wrote about how the program helped them do better in school and how they had helped their tutees to do better. Miranda Torres wrote: “The tutees look up to me and it gives me a great sense of being needed, as if I’m important to someone. It feels really good to not only teach but also see them happy. ”

IDRA Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program Tutors Share Stories of the Program’s Impact on Their Lives  

Six students received prizes in a national competition among participants in the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program , a nationally-recognized cross-age tutoring program of the Intercultural Development Research Association. Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program tutors wrote about how the program helped them do better in school and how they had helped their tutees to do better. Melanie Esparza wrote: “The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program made me open my eyes and has given me reasons that I should come to school every day, and that’s exactly what I’m doing for my Pre-K tutees.”

OHS students finish first, second in national essay contest, Odessa American, August 13, 2018

Top 10 students revealed, test results presented, Odessa American, May 21, 2018

Six Young Tutors Win 2017 National Essay Contest Awards
Six students received prizes in a national competition among participants in the IDRA Valued Youth Partnership*, a nationally-recognized cross-age tutoring program of the Intercultural Development Research Association. Valued Youth Partnership tutors wrote about how the program helped them do better in school and how they had helped their tutees to do better. Jimena Guerrero wrote: “Last year, I had a rough year: constantly on-campus suspension, referrals, verbally disrespecting teachers… Ever since I started this Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program, I feel like I am a different person.”

White House names IDRA Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program a Hispanic Ed “Bright Spot”
The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics named the IDRA Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program a Hispanic Ed “Bright Spot” as part of a new national online catalog of programs that invest in key education priorities for Hispanics. The announcement was made today by Alejandra Ceja, executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics at the launch of Hispanic Heritage Month and in honor of the initiative’s 25th anniversary in Washington, D.C. The White House initiative named these 230 Bright Spots to encourage collaboration in sharing data-driven approaches, promising practices, peer advice, and effective partnerships, ultimately resulting in increased support for the educational attainment of the Hispanic community, from cradle-to-career.

KLRN Featured the IDRA Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program for American Graduate Day
KLRN’s American Graduate Day celebrated Dr. Cuca Robledo Montecel and IDRA’s Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program. KLRN produced new video spot about the IDRA Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program is airing now and is online [01:30 min]. We’re so grateful to Superintendent Dr. Abelardo Saavedra and Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program tutor, Silvia Favela, both at South San Antonio ISD for taking the time to be interviewed for the video. KLRN and a few other PBS stations developed these spots that were aired during the weeks leading up to October 3, 2015, for American Graduate Day.

TV News Story: IDRA’s Dropout Prevention Tutoring Demonstration
This week, we have been showing how IDRA’s Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program works with a tutoring demonstration in South San Antonio ISD. We have guests from across the country visiting here to find out how to bring the program to their schools. This research-based, internationally-recognized dropout prevention program keeps 98 percent of its tutors in school – students who were once considered at-risk. See the WOAI News 4 San Antonio TV story about the program.

Newspaper Story: South San ISD student mentoring program draws national attention
Here’s a really nice story by Francisco Vara-Orta at the San Antonio Express-News who came by to observe IDRA’s Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program in action. There are some wonderful photos here too. We’re so proud of our South San HS tutors and Kindred Elementary tutees!

Radio Show: Lessons from the IDRA Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program
The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network Radio Webcast featured IDRA’s Dr. Linda Cantu. Listen and learn about this assets-based approach to dropout prevention and discover key lessons learned in this award-winning cross-age tutoring program. The webcast site also includes links to the accompanying PowerPoint and other resources.


*formerly named the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program