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Statesboro Village Builders Youth Initiative seeking volunteers/partners for September launch

Mayor McCollar is asking for businesses, churches, organizations and individuals to join this effort targeting youth
Village-meeting
Large crowd attended the Statesboro Village Builders presentation on Saturday Credit: Grice Connect

Statesboro Mayor Jonathan McCollar and the Statesboro Village Builders committee (formerly called Children's Zone) held a community partners meeting on Saturday morning, August 13, 2022 at City Hall. A large crowd of community members attended the meeting supporting this effort which has been a priority initiative for Mayor McCollar and the City Council.

The Statesboro Village Builders Initiative will be a community-wide youth development program that works collaboratively to utilizes mentorship, workforce development, and support services strategies to address the needs of youth in at-risk situations.

Grice Connect live streamed the meeting you can watch the presentation below:

Statesboro Village Builders Goals

Experts have determined that literacy has a direct impact on a childs' success in life. A student not reading at his or her grade level by the end of the third grade is four times less likely to graduate high school on time–six times less likely for students from low-income families.

With this in mind, the committee has established ten goals for the initiative.

School-To-Prison Pipeline

The Department of Justice is clear on this connection, noting "The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is linked to reading failure." Furthermore, the Department of Justice notes that “reading failure is most likely a cause, not just a correlate, for the frustration that can and does result in delinquent behavior” (Brunner, 1993, Abstract). 85% of all juveniles who have contact with the juvenile justice system are functionally illiterate and more than 70% of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above a fourth-grade level.

Where Public Schools in City Rank

  • At Julia P. Bryant, 58.4% of all students and 80.7% of economically disadvantaged students scored below grade level proficiency.
  • At Langston Chapel, 80.2% of all students and 79.5% of economically disadvantaged students scored below grade level proficiency.
  • At Mattie Lively, 71.1% of all students and 72.8% of economically disadvantaged students scored below grade level proficiency.
  • At Mill Creek, 58.4% of all students and 69.3% of economically disadvantaged students scored below grade level proficiency.
  • At Sallie Zetterower, 61.6% of all students; 68.9% of economically disadvantaged students scored below grade level proficiency.

Focus on support services first

"We are going to start with support services inside of the identified villages," said Mayor McCollar. "We will then grow based on need an ability to serve."

Initially the focus for the children in these villages will be access to healthcare, reduction of food insecurity, adequate housing, literacy, and healthy neighborhoods. For this age group, a focus will be to get the needed resources into the hands of the parents/caregivers during this key developmental stage.

To support the development of literacy, children in the zones will be paired with “Reading Buddies” or literacy mentors.

Five Village Target areas in the City

Statesboro Village Builders

Literacy In The Village

To support the development of literacy, children in the zones will be paired with “Reading Buddies” or literacy mentors. The literacy mentors will meet with the children twice a week via Zoom for reading time and early reading fundamentals. Additionally, the program will utilize online story times that can be accessed by the parents or youth at any time, with stories read by local personalities or actors dressed as the characters in the stories. 

Starting at four years of age through the fourth grade the youth will continue to be paired with literacy mentors and will begin to receive incentives for obtaining predetermined reading markers. The goal of the addition of incentives is to reinforce the positive behaviors that are going to lead to increased literacy rates and ultimately academic success.

Mentorship

The role of the literacy mentor will begin to transition more so into the role of the traditional mentor to model healthy prosocial behavioral patterns and the skills to develop healthy, supportive relationships.

The Statesboro Village Builders Initiative will utilize three forms of mentorship in its program that have the best data-proven results regarding their effectiveness.

Workforce Readiness

In addition to mentorship, the program will utilize workforce development to develop participants into healthy and contributing citizens. Understanding that the modern workforce is being shaped by innovative technologies and the ability to adapt, it is vital that this program addresses workforce readiness for its participants. By promoting educational achievement, soft skill cultivation, and real-world experiences, the project will use multiple evidence-based best practices to prepare its participants for the modern workforce. 

How you can help

They have identified eight key areas they need help. These are listed below. If you want to learn more about how you our your organization can get involved you can call 912-764-0616 or email village.builders@statesboroga.gov.

Mark your calendar

Below are important dates, including the kickoff which will be held on Saturday, September 10 from 11 am to 3 pm at the Honey Bowen Building, 1 Max Lockwood Drive. Watch for more detail and information on these events.

Statesboro Village Builders
Statesboro Village Builders