05/17/2022
We're so proud of this program and of our students! Please read and share this evaluation report to learn how we all can work together to educate Black girls!
Before you join us later today at 4pm EST for our conversation about EMERGE, take a look at our just-released evaluation of the program.
The EMERGE (Educating, Mentoring, Empowering, and Reaffirming our Girls for Excellence) Reentry Program is a promising alternative education program designed for Black girls and other girls of color who have been involved in the juvenile-legal or foster care systems.
https://www.nbwji.org/post/repairing-black-girls-relationship-with-school
Research confirms that schools have protective effects on students, but many schools struggle to cultivate environments that support students’ growth and development.
For students of color, however, schools are sites where their physical, psychological, and emotional safety and wellbeing are under constant assault. This is particularly true for Black students, especially Black girls.
Consequently, Black girls—specifically those who are directly impacted by the juvenile legal system and foster care—are at heightened risk of disengaging from and being pushed out of school.
The EMERGE Program operates from the belief that preparing Black girls who have been involved in the juvenile-legal or foster care systems for educational and employment success requires also addressing their mental and emotional wellbeing.
EMERGE’s program model integrates educational assistance and accelerated credit accrual with intensive mental wellness and crisis intervention services to create a learning environment organized around its students’ specialized and complex needs. These elements work together to repair students’ connections with learning and academic achievement.
NBWJI’s process evaluation found that EMERGE successfully implemented strategies to repair Black girls’ bonds with school and restore a commitment to their educational success
EMERGE also implemented promising strategies to build pathways to college and employment for system-impacted Black girls that were hampered by external forces.
