RAES HOPE INC
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : a******s@r******e.o*g
Mission Statement
Mission: Empowering at risk girls to take charge of their lives and become productive members of their communities. Rae’s Hope is committed to increasing the number of girls who stay in school and do well academically, defer parenthood, read at their current grade level or above, live healthy lives, achieve competency in critical life and financial skills, and contribute to their communities. The majority of Rae’s Hope at risk participants is Black and Hispanic and lives in Dallas mostly single-family homes many where the parent does not work and the family lives in poverty in distressed and disadvantaged communities with under-resourced schools and high unemployment rates. While Rae’s Hope does reduce risk, our work is more accurately described as creating opportunity, nurturing potential and inspiring achievement. We recognize that it is the individual who—through her actions and attitudes--must create a different life and set of possibilities for community and an understanding of the world’s expectation.
About This Cause
The purpose of Rae's Hope is to establish long-term relationships and build personal skills with at risk girls to develop resilience and offer an alternative to self-destructive behaviors such as gangs, drug use, teen pregnancy and dropping out of school. Through its programming, Rae’s Hope improves healthy behaviors, increases social support and decreases social isolation to build self-esteem, ultimately producing happy, healthy, empowered and productive members of society. Rae’s Hope supports the development of girls, ages 6 to 18, from South Dallas and surrounding communities through regular one on one interaction two or three times per week with emphasis on: • Physical Fitness • Healthy Living • Life and Social Skills • Financial Literacy and Education • Community Service Rae's Hope brings education to the girls. Corporate partners and organizations that specialize in the subject being taught provide many of our enrichment programs. This provides the dual benefit of exposing the girls to more caring adults in their lives, while nourishing the integrity and connection of the Rae’s Hope group to each other and to the organization. Older girls help younger girls. In addition, guiding at risk girls sometimes leads to helping parents learn how to interact and communicate with their daughters. Reviving Communities, One Child at a Time - Elements of Rae’s Hope Program: The annual calendar includes twice a week clinics (listed below), monthly bike rides, spring volleyball leagues, community projects, special events and a summer camp. Our girls join the program through school, participant and volunteer referrals as well as direct recruitment by both RH and friends of RH Physical Fitness - The fitness and sports activities include a full schedule of volleyball practice, games and enrichment activities including weekly workshops on healthy living. We also have a bike club to ride and learn bike safety and maintenance (bicycles and helmets donated by Spoke for Folks). Athletics teach the importance of teamwork, broadening expectations of themselves and the benefits of healthy eating and living. Outcomes measured include BMI (body mass index). Life and Social Skills - Rae's Hope teaches girls how to be poised, gracious and appropriate. They practice leadership and communication skills that will enable them to feel comfortable and confident in any social setting. The curricula includes developing healthy, safe and respectful relationships; developing respect for oneself and others; becoming considerate and compassionate; and, using proper manners in shared spaces. Part of the fun and the power of this element is the girls demonstrating their new skills via field trips and special events. This part of the program focuses on the skills, attitudes and habits associated with success in college and a career: organization, setting goals and managing time. Outcomes are measured through pre and post testing. Healthy Living - The girls of Rae’s Hope learn about body image, proper diet and exercise, eating disorders, sports health, planning and preparing healthy snacks and meals, dealing with changes in their bodies, personal hygiene, emotions and stress. Outcomes include having the girls plan and prepare healthy meals and snacks. Financial Literacy - To develop productive skills and attitudes toward money, Rae's Hope participants learn basic skills involved with earning, spending and saving. They learn about the costs of children, budgeting, planning for college as well as participate in fundraising for their volleyball leagues. Outcomes include the demonstrating the ability to budget and for our older girls keeping a checkbook that is provided to them. One on one Reading mentoring is provided for girls during each session and girls receive Computer Science training in computer Coding to expose them to career opportunities in the future. Community Life - Through exposure to community service projects, the girls learn the value of how to ask for and offer help. They attract others to participate and play a role in keeping them engaged. Through book clubs, they become more adept at comprehending, being thoughtful and discerning, and willing to express opinions. They progressively take on more leadership attributes and learn to manage aspects of special projects. Outcomes include number of volunteer hours undertaken by each girl. Coupled with these programs is a one-on-one mentoring program, which for our older girls is provided by a dedicated group of successful women, the majority of color. This provides caring adults in their lives. One committed to their growth and success in life. This is a critical component in that per Studies show that youth mentoring produces important outcomes to include (mentoring.org): • 55% more likely to enroll in college. • 78% more likely to volunteer regularly. • 90% more interested in becoming a mentor. • 130% more likely to hold leadership positions • 52% less likely to skip school. Parents are also the focus of Rae’s Hope. They have the potential to be both significant volunteer contributors to the operations of Rae’s Hope and they are often the client, as well. They frequently need help themselves--with a lease, bank account, credit or public systems. Without this support, the family becomes further stressed and the girl further disadvantaged. With it, the whole family has a better chance at success. Even more than that, we see that they have more to offer their children when their own horizons and skills are expanded. Rae’s Hope events provide them with these opportunities to contribute to their children and the community. All volunteers and employees are subject to background checks including obtaining references and conducting criminal offender and sexual offender records checks. Additionally, we have a Whistleblower Program which includes the girls should they feel someone has acted inappropriately Many organizations cover one or more of these components, however, only Rae’s Hope offers a comprehensive, long-term program from elementary school through high school. Our integrated program leads girls becoming women to: • Think long term • Make good decisions • Cope and recover from setbacks • Defer parenthood and graduate from high school Significant outcomes include: • To date, Rae’s Hope has a 100% high school graduation rate from three under-performing schools as compared to 83% for DISD (includes magnet and other high-performing schools. (DISD does not disclose the graduation rates of individual schools). • Only 1 in 41 of our girls have become pregnant as compared to 1 in 9 in in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. In summary, these at risk girls receive the tools and gain the confidence to take charge of their lives, to be self-sufficient and become independent, productive members of their community. They are empowered to break the cycle of poverty in South Dallas and surrounding communities in which we work. We Collaborate with: * North Texas Alliance to Reduce Pregnancy (NTARuPT) - we incorporate their materials in our programs, we recruit RH and none-RH girls for their programs and our older participants serve as ambassadors for their programs. * Police Athletic League (PALS) – they recruit at risk girls for our programs; provide transportation and security; conduct background checks on staff and volunteers; and provide access to sites at which they operate programs. * Spokes for Folks – they provide reconditioned bicycles and helmets for our girls used for physical fitness (bike rides) and for personal transportation. We work with them in obtaining bikes and participate in their Wrench Day events. * Frost Bank – they provide trained financial teacher-employees to teach an enhanced version of the Federal Reserve “Money Smart” program to our girls. * Dallas Bethlehem Center (DBC) – we collaborate for a Summer Camp with DBC providing a facility, partial staffing, educational programming, transportation, food and volunteers. We provide the Camp Director, educational programing, sports programing, partial staffing and volunteers. AmeriCorps provides partial staffing. * Girls Living Life on Purpose (GLLOP) is an awarding winning, positive youth development organization for girls. Through evidence-based programs and practices that are gender-specific, GLLOP empowers today’s urban girl for success. * Mill City Community Association, The City of Dallas, Bicycle Friendly South Dallas, Baylor Scott and White Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute - in May 2016, we are collaborating for a community-wide bike ride featuring new bike routes and amenities/resources in South Dallas. Staff: Three paid part-time staff include a site coordinator, coach and administrator. Our founder is very committed and serves as the volunteer Executive Director/Program Director and our co-founder diligently serves as the Operations Director. Portions of the programs are provided through paid staff of collaborators. Other teachers, coaches and mentors are very dedicated volunteers. Volunteers: Currently, more than 100 volunteers work 1,600 to 2,000 hours per year as one on one mentors, teachers and chaperones. They are recruited from VOLY, Volunteer Match, Community Corps, Hockaday School,Jericho Road and Ulta Beauty. In addition, some parents of participants volunteer their time and provide snacks Rae's Hope Board members meet once a month for 2 hours. Board members also meet in small committees at least 4 hours a month. An Advisory committee which helps with fundraising and marketing. Angela Fields, a Dallas ISD special education teacher, founded this organization almost 10 years ago as an outgrowth of her South Dallas Starlings Volleyball Club, which provided opportunities for girls from diverse economic backgrounds to learn life skills through volleyball. Rae’s Hope has received generous community-wide support including the Dallas Women's Foundation, Social Venture Partners Dallas, CNM Connect, Ulta Beauty and Jericho Road as well as recognition from the City of Dallas and Ebony Magazine.