Introduction
The human service agency chosen for this course project is Say Yes to Education based in Haiti. In Haiti, education is more of a privilege than a right. Only less than half of the children population in Haiti attend school. This is because students must pay tuition fees in order to attend any private or government schools in the country, as well as purchase school uniforms, shoes, books and other required learning materials that usually make the opportunity to attend school unaffordable for a lot of families in Haiti, considering that Haiti is a developing country and most of its population survive under poor living conditions.
About
Say Yes to Education is a non-profit organization that aims to invigorate the Haitian communities through offering assistance to all graduates from high school to access college, university or other postsecondary education scholarships. The organization believes that education provides hope for a better future. Through its strategic partnership, Say Yes to Education will also avail various support and services to develop the talents and gifts of each and every child in Haiti.
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Our Story
The story behind the formation of the organization was started by one human rights activist called Christelle Annoa, and her idea was immediately backed up by her family, colleagues and other likeminded Haitians. Christelle Annoa realized that a shocking number of students who had passed and graduated from high school in Haiti did not secure postsecondary education spots mainly because of the high cost of tertiary education in the country. Most postsecondary institutions in Haiti are privately owned thus usually require tuition fees that cannot be afforded by most families in the country who live on very poor conditions. Christelle Annoa was touched by the plight of these learners and this is what pushed her will to establish this organization. Say Yes to Education aims to help entire Haitian communities by making a similar commitment to all the public high school students. Its commitment and promises to the children of Haiti will be able to be traced back decades after its inception through Christelle Annoa’s initial commitment to change the plight students who cannot access postsecondary in Haiti. The organization urges and invites individuals or groups that are inspired by Christelle Annoa’s goal and approach to salvage Haiti’s education system to reach out to Say Yes to Education and learn more on how to get involved in the services and contribute to the country’s postsecondary educational system and ultimately Haiti’s future education system.
Our Vision
The vision of Say Yes to Education is to provide all qualified high school graduates in Haiti a platform to access postsecondary education through scholarships and empower education in the country of Haiti.
Our Mission
Say Yes to Education’s mission is to serve as the nationwide education partner with other like-minded unions and affiliated Haitian leaders to fulfill its purpose by performing duties that include: providing financial assistance and scholarships to fulfill educational programs; to recruit and support purported volunteers; and provide expertise to develop and sustain self-sustaining educational operation in Haiti in future.
Strategy
Say Yes to Education will mainly use its scholarships as a catalyst through community partnership to develop systems to ensure that all children progress on the pathway to postsecondary success. Currently, less than 70 percent of high school graduates enroll in postsecondary education Haiti due to the high tuition fees rates that many families can barely afford (Doucet & Tudge 2007). The Say Yes to Education strategy strives to rise the enrollment rate through their scholarship programs in order to better the future of the country’s education system. The Say Yes to Education strategy will also serve as a uniting block for city officials, education and human service unions, school districts, parents, teachers, higher education, businesses, faith-based and philanthropic organizations around the outcome metrics that boost educational progress and encourage the development of technology in Haiti. The founder, Christelle Annoa built the Say Yes to Education strategy to last and plans to have a joint ownership with the local partnership after ten years when the project is robust and fully proven to work effectively as per its goals.
Starting as early into a child’s education in kindergarten and progressing gradually through eighth grade and above, Say Yes to Education together with it partners will offer services to every student in public schools as well as their families that include summer camp, after-school programs, tutoring, school based counselling and general medical care, financial help and advice on college or university admissions, and pro-bono legal help. Say Yes to Education strategy will also help communities in Haiti to create a pathway of milestones to postsecondary readiness, as well as develop system that can analyze various data to enable learners to stay on track until and after they graduate. Besides, the students who fall behind during the program will be given different support services from a variety of local partners, with a unison mission to eliminate predictable barricades that may hinder achievement (Sletten & Egset 2004).
The efforts outlines by the organization’s strategy intend to ensure that all the students from public schools who are in the Say Yes to Education community can fully exploit the advantages of the local partnership’s promise of school tuition sponsorship. All the graduates from public high schools who are in the Say Yes to Education communities qualify to get scholarships that cover the full tuition cost at any city in Haiti to any public university or college, notwithstanding the net income of their families. The scholarships will be paid by funds raised from local contributions from foundations, corporations and individuals. Furthermore, the scholars under the Say Yes to Education communities whose family receive a net annual income that is below $80,000, and those of them that get an admission to one of any private universities and colleges in the Say Yes to Education higher education compact, will typically qualify to earn scholarships that cover their full tuition fee. On the other hand, those scholars admitted to a compact institution, and whose net family income is more than $70,000 will also qualify for an annual scholarship of not more than $5,000 from the Say Yes to Education community program.
Theoretical Model
Say Yes to Education understands the fundamental functions of culture, strategies and structures in the dynamic postsecondary completion sustainability, and outcomes. The organizations theory of action comprises of different elements in each of its partner communities which include scholarships, collaboration, supports and post-secondary completion.
Scholarship
The most attractive element of the Say Yes to Education strategy is the promise joining a tuition-free college or university through a fully sponsored scholarship program. The Say Yes to Education tuition scholarship will cover the tuition costs after the student have applied for other state aids. The full scholarship will be provided in public schools and will solely apply to tuition and not boarding fees, textbooks costs or other costs incurred while attending college.
Collaborations
Say Yes to Education will utilize cross-government and sector collaboration in order to pursue its bottom line goal. Collaboration requires strong leadership. Effective leadership is crucial to the development of genuine collaborations between stakeholders. The organization will ease local player through realigning their resources which can involve shifting money, employees and workplace expectations. Say Yes to Education will also navigate the current tension between institutions and democratic values, and technocratic stakeholders and approaches to gain working collaborations to help access the needed resources to accelerate the organization toward its goal.
Supports
Say Yes to Education will support the community through comprehensive academic, financial, health, or emotional or social supports. The organization program will support families with financial aid in order to see their children through post-secondary education. Besides, through local partnership, the Say Yes program will work closely to assist students who show poor behavior or attendance problems and help them to get back on track. Such support will include linking the students and their families to school and basic needs programs or mental health providers to provide mentoring services for the student or families and help them to navigate school processes. Besides, studies have indicate that programs which concentrate on improving emotional and social skills can significantly improve the learners’ outcome (Greenberg et al . 2003). The Say Yes program will focus on social and emotional support to lower violence and crime tendencies that is prevalent among the teenagers in Haiti due to the low school enrolment rates.
Post-secondary Completion
After a successful postsecondary completion, the organization will provide necessary support to students under the Say Yes community to procure attachments and job position on their relevant professions so that they do not end up back on the streets again. Although decreasing, the unemployment rates in Haiti is still wanting (Salmi 2000). Most high school dropouts or even college graduates are likely to end up back in the streets without employment.
References
Doucet, F., & Tudge, J. (2007). Co-constructing the transition to school. School readiness and the transition to kindergarten in the era of accountability , 307-328.
Greenberg, M. T., Weissberg, R. P., O'brien, M. U., Zins, J. E., Fredericks, L., Resnik, H., & Elias, M. J. (2003). Enhancing school-based prevention and youth development through coordinated social, emotional, and academic learning. American psychologist , 58 (6-7), 466.
Salmi, J. (2000). Equity and quality in private education: The Haitian paradox. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education , 30 (2), 163-178.
Sletten, P., & Egset, W. (2004). Poverty in Haiti (Vol. 31). Fafo.
