ADOPT A CLASS FOUNDATION
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Mission Statement
The vision of Adopt A Class (AAC) is a Greater Cincinnati where all students have access to caring adults who expose them to a breadth of life and career experiences so they can unleash their full potential. The AAC mission is to connect businesses and civic groups with students in economically challenged schools. By pairing teams with classrooms, adult mentors expose students to a breadth of experiences and training to be job and career ready. For almost 20 years, Adopt A Class has been dedicated to pairing classrooms with students from underserved communities with members of the business community and civic groups. Many students from underserved communities find themselves lacking role models and/or support systems. Our mentors can be that positive influence, instilling important values and life skills while introducing critically important career concepts. Our program operates in schools with the highest concentrations of poverty where 97% of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. In addition, per Ohio State Report Card student demographic data, 79% are students identify as a student of color, 21% of students are identified as having a disability and English is a second language for 10% of students. Adopt A Class sees all students in the program as today’s students and tomorrow’s Greater Cincinnati leaders.
About This Cause
AAC is a socially innovative solution to close the mentoring gap creatively, effectively, and sustainably for children living in poverty in Greater Cincinnati. We create change in our community by providing meaningful connections that impact both the students and caring adult mentors which influences their lives at home, at work, and in our community. For our students, mentoring is linked to improved academic, social, and economic prospects. For our business and civic partners, the relationship builds leadership and management skills, expands mentors’ professional networks, and provides an empowering opportunity to give back to our community while gaining a greater understanding of the impact of barriers for students living in poverty. Our primary PROGRAM model is career-focused group mentoring for students attending schools serving students from underserved communities. A team of volunteers mentor a classroom of students for the entire school year. This mentorship includes 3 key components: 1. one hour, once a month visits to the classroom, 2. during the visit the team facilitates an educational activity that aligns with the needs and interests of that classroom and highlights the expertise areas of the mentors in relation to career exploration and life skills and 3. a field trip back to the mentors' place of business that highlights career potential at that company. This exposure to a broad spectrum of mentors, jobs and careers is eye opening for our students and helps them see how their school subjects connect to careers they can one day have – creating a tangible pathway. Together our program empowers students to understand the connection between their studies, their future careers, and the opportunities available in Greater Cincinnati. AAC engages almost 4,000 mentors serving almost 10,000 students in 47 schools in our program making AAC the largest group mentoring program in our region. Our mentors are primarily professionals who participate in AAC through their employer's partnership in our program. By matching professionals with students attending high poverty schools, we are not only providing career focused mentoring for our students, but we are also providing unique experiences for our mentors. Our strategy is to educate and expose our mentors to the many issues facing students growing up in poverty to increase mentors’ levels of community engagement. Through education of need, instilling passion for making a difference, and the knowledge of additional ways to help, we enable our mentors to act to make our community better.