DOHN COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL
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Mission Statement
Dohn Community High School is a drop-out recovery high school in Cincinnati, Ohio. Established in 2001, enrollment in the 2016-2017 academic year includes 415 students. With four locations within or near the inner city of Cincinnati, our students have either experienced teen pregnancy with live birth, previous incarceration or have not been able to maintain their education in a traditional school setting. A review of the 2015-2016 school year indicates that 99% of our students are minority, 81% live in poverty, 5% homeless, and 30% are on probation. We are a Community Eligibility Program with 100% of our students 100% eligible for free breakfast, lunch and bus fare. Ninety-three per-cent of our students live in a single parent home, most living with their mothers. The special needs population of our school, again calculated at the end of the 2015-2016 school year, indicates that one out of four students has an IEP or 501 plan. In addition, Dohn has a 22+ Adult Diploma program for older students.
About This Cause
Our charity requests are based on Dohn’s Mission to provide our under attached opportunity youth with a 21st Century education and access to an integrated quality of life. Toward that end, we are establishing a fifth location for our school, deep in the inner city of Cincinnati, starting in the 2017-2018 academic year. This location encompasses the Dohn Fitness Academy with physical education classes twice a day. Along with traditional physical education classes, the programming includes yoga, Pilates, karate, stress management, nutrition education and healthier fare for breakfast and lunch, including more fruit, vegetable and salad offerings. The facility and programming of Dohn Fitness Academy will be open to elementary schools within the Greater Cincinnati area as an after school program for students in grades K through 8. The association between physical activity and brain activity is well documented in both education and medical literature. The need for movement is essential for learning and a sense of well-being. Throughout their young lives, our students have had direct exposure, or witnessed firsthand, the effects of substance use, violence, and health risk factors of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Many of our students have deficits in reading and comprehension and struggle with learning. Attendance is one of the biggest challenges for our school administration, and our students. A natural development of Dohn’s approach to educating our under attached opportunity youth is to offer physical fitness, health and wellness and nutrition components to our school curriculum. The country of Iceland is a model for turning around their under attached opportunity youth through evidence based community programming that induces “natural high” brain chemistry offerings of sports, movement and martial arts. Today, teens of Iceland fall into Europe’s highest category for clean teen living. Our funding requests for this program include capital improvement costs related to the construction conversion of the site from a former Boys & Girls Club into a Fitness Academy and Athletic Field. The first floor renovation involves filling in a ten-foot deep swimming pool with concrete, leveling the floor and installing turf for the creation of an indoor turf sports field for soccer and football games. One part of the first floor will include this turf field, the other part will include a physical education gym with exercise and Pilates equipment and space for yoga and karate classes. The second floor conversion includes construction of classroom space for the nutrition and health and wellness classes. There will be a test kitchen where students can learn how to cook healthy food choices, along with health education classes that include curriculum on preventing obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes through exercise and diet. An exact budget for Dohn Fitness Academy is in process as we obtain bids for the work needed; we anticipate the budget to be in the range of $300,00. Other funding requests include the following: Financial charity in support of general operating expenses Computers, laptops, tablets for students and staff Funding for the following staff positions is also part of our charity request: Work Study Coordinator: Of the 415 students currently enrolled at Dohn Community High School, 100 of these students academically qualify for an Individualized Education Program. These students are embraced in the diligent, professional care of our dedicated IEP teachers, however, they lack work study support that is available to IEP students in the public-school system. Without this support, these dynamic, able students face a life of unemployment post-graduation. We request funding for Work Study Coordinators who can take our IEP students to job shadowing programs at companies like Kroger and Costco, where handicap employment programs are in place. We seek to fund two work study coordinators at $40,000 per coordinator, for a total budget request of $80,000. Educator Coach: With mandatory standardized testing, education today is based on data. We seek funding for a Masters prepared education coach proficient in data analysis and with the capacity to coach teachers to effectively translate this data into individualized teaching plans. This support enhances teacher retention, student engagement, attendance levels and graduation rates. Our budget request for this position is $40,000. Therapeutic Counselors: Dohn Community High School is a drop-out prevention school for under attached opportunity youth. Each of our four locations are staffed with School Counselors who help students with school participation issues. There is need for our students to have access to licensed therapeutic school counselors to help them cope with the at-risk conditions of their daily lives and diagnosed issues like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, among other pediatric psychiatric disorders. This support engages the student in 1:1 therapeutic alliance that enhances student engagement, attendance records, graduation rates and gainful employment post-graduation. We request funding for two counselors for our total student population of 415 students. Funding request per counselor is $30,000 for total funding request of $60,000. Truancy Coaches: Attendance is a major challenge for our student population. Poor attendance leads to truancy charges that result in criminal charges for students and steep fines for parents. Thinking outside the box, our school’s Truancy Officer envisions a new role of Truancy Coaches, personnel experienced in working with inner city youth will make home visits to investigate the root cause of the truancy. These coaches will report back to our school’s Truancy Officer to determine interventions that might help the student return to, and stay in, school. We seek funding for two Truancy Officers in the amount of $25,000 per officer, for a total request of $50,000. Project Good Life, Driver position: Project Good Life is a gainful employment project Dohn School has submitted through a Letter of Intent to the Greater Cincinnati Human Services Fund, managed by United Way. Our project proposes post-graduation support for a small cohort of 20 eligible students, pursuing certification training in one of five career paths; fiber optics, electrical worker, Information Technology, Quality Assurance assessor and state tested nurses aid. Except for the nurse aid opportunities, jobs in these other career paths are located in the suburbs of Cincinnati, areas not served by public transportation. Our project proposes transportation support for these students through the training period and first year of employment. At that time, they will be eligible for a vehicle purchase program through CityLink’s 12-month literacy program which they take, concurrently, their first year of employment. We seek funding for a driver for this program, budgeted at $25,000 a year. Project Good Life, Transportation Van: We seek a 16 seat van for the purpose of transporting graduated students to certificate training programs and then first year of employment, which is in the suburbs with no mass communication access. The students would be receiving financial literacy training during this year with eligibility at that time to purchase a vehicle. Funding request $35,000. Website update and renovation: Estimate for this work is approximately $3000.00. Currently, administrative staff maintain the website and we can benefit from a professional website upgrade. Thank you for your serious consideration of making a charitable donation to Dohn Community High School. While challenged by poverty and urban, inner city living, learning deficits and traumatic histories in their young lives, our students are amazing, creative and kind. Faculty and staff are enriched through our work with and for them. We are happy to submit further information about our school and our students, and our needs, upon your request.