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Summer Enrichment Program for Durham Children Living in Low Wealth Communities
The Durham Family Initiative (DFI), which aims to help substantially reduce the rates of child maltreatment in Durham County , is working with Duke Undergraduates who will serve as mentors to children who live in low wealth communities and are the product of a single parent home. The undergraduate mentors will work eight hours a day, five days a week, and be paired up with four mentees from McDougald Terrace/Burton Elementary.
The first piece of this program consists of mentors working with mentees to improve their reading, writing and math skills. The mentors and mentees will have access to all of the resources that Burton Elementary has to offer in order to ensure that academic needs are attended to. Mentees will work on improving their written communication skills so they can accurately express themselves and develop a written correspondence with a member in the community. Along with these two disciplines, math will also be focused upon. Mentees will develop not only scholastic math skills but also how to apply math to real world situations.
Another piece to this program is offering mentees the chance to gain real world experiences which will help build character and teach them to be responsible citizens and members of the community. This will be achieved by mentors working with their mentees on subjects such as budgeting skills, building self esteem, reducing stress, developing effective and respectful communication skills, and providing opportunities for alternative financial decisions for clothing and entertainment. Mentees will also have the opportunity to visit several local community programs and establishments to help promote these ideals and reinforce this aspect of the program.
The final piece to this program will entail the mentors and mentees generating and completing an end of term service learning project that will encompass all of what they have learned during the program. With the mentors' help, mentees will be given a budget to design and implement a project that should help better their community.
To ensure that both mentors and mentees are attaining the programs goals, mentors will be asked to complete a daily journal describing their experience. The project coordinators will meet once a week with each mentor and make sure that goals are being obtained and to answer any questions or receive feedback.
It is DFI's hope that this experiences will have a positive effect on the mentees and help them achieve academic goals while sustaining a strong sense of morals and values. In turn, Duke Students will gain a profound experience that will change them forever and help develop professional goals and personal interests.
For more information, contact Jeff Quinn at 919-668-3285
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