Shoulder To Shoulder Will Host Open House
Shoulder To Shoulder (STS) will host the first of a series of Open House events at Martin Luther King Jr Technology Academy (Room 60) on Thursday, April 22 from 5:00 to 7:30 pm to share with the public what STS is doing to help urban fatherless young men.
STS operates a mentoring program, "Freedom Hall", on the campus of Martin Luther King Jr. Technology Academy in Del Paso Heights. In addition, STS operates "Freedom Hall Lite" on four elementary schools and Grant High School. Last year, 38 students could not be served because of a lack of volunteers. The STS program is especially in need of positive male role models.
The program exclusively serves boys without a father; it is estimated that over 70% of students from 30 different nations at the school are fatherless and 95% are on the free lunch program. Founder Bill Coibion states, "We teach the keys to a prosperous life are: having a goal, a vision, a dream; believing you can achieve it, working hard to achieve it and avoiding the distractions around them."
Educational data suggests that as the percentage of low-income students goes up, academic performance decreases. When 70% of students in a school become eligible for subsidized lunches, academic performance falls rather sharply. By 90%, it's in the cellar.
The risk factors associated with young men growing up in single parent households include lower school performance, increased risk for drug and alcohol use, higher rates of depression and increased criminal activity, to name a few. These risk factors increase due to lack of adequate father involvement, a significant increase in financial stress levels within the family and limited time resources.
Freedom Hall operates after school and during the summer providing mentoring, tutoring, character development and giving back through community service. STS's goal is to recruit 25 volunteers to mentor more students and support its expansion on to other campuses in the Twin Rivers Unified School District.