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River City Youth Foundation (RCYF)Location: 5209 South Pleasant Valley Road, Austin, 78744 DescriptionRiver City Youth Foundation is a community-based organization in the Dove Springs neighborhood of Southeast Austin. It was started in 1983 to address a community crisis: the growing numbers of minority youth in the juvenile detention system. RCYF offers a variety of programs for youth living in the 78744 zip code, including computer-lab programs, leadership training, and a free meal program called Kids' Cafe. Their mission is to "increase the number of Dove Springs youth who practice safe, healthy and positive lifestyles, including being college and career bound so they can achieve their highest potential in education, personal and social responsibility." What makes this program distinctive in the group?River City Youth Foundation focuses exclusively on youth. RCYF is one of the only public points of access to the internet in the Dove Springs community, so they provide an essential service for kids. RCYF owns their own land and building, and they were able to help improve and develop the community when they relocated to the area. Vision and Community OwnershipRCYF has actively engaged Dove Springs in the process of community development and has encouraged greater citizen participation in political processes. The land on which RCYF is located was given to them by a private donor. When they received it, it was the terrain of drug dealers, but they were able to reclaim the land and build a community center for children by involving the community in the development process. RCYF has been involved in the community in other ways. They have done door-to-door community needs surveys, and have helped Dove Springs residents get a recreational pool built in their neighborhood. RCYF is a comfortable and safe place for children in Dove Springs, and most of them really enjoy going there. Mona Gonzalez said that RCYF tries to simulate a family environment where kids feel safe. She said that being able to smell the aroma of food cooking helps make the place feel like home. Most of the kids (about 75%) said they came several times a week to RCYF, and many of them had been going for over a year. Many kids remarked that RCYF was a very fun place to be; most of these kids were elementary-school aged. RCYF is working to improve their evaluation measures and find ways to get older youth more actively involved in the organization. Both the executive director and staff members are actively engaged in and committed to the neighborhood. The executive director and some of the staff live nearby, and they also spend a considerable amount of time in Dove Springs. Dove Springs residents and RCYF participants have both volunteered and worked at RCYF, but none are currently members of the board or in management positions. Parents are involved, though, because organizational membership requires that the children's parents volunteer a few hours a month. Some participants have gotten jobs at RCYF after they aged out of the program, and some neighborhood youth also volunteer or work at the center. Comprehensive ProgrammingRCYF fills a very important need for 78744 youth; they are one of few
community organizations in Dove Springs. Kids said that the only things
they can do for fun after school are go to RCYF, swim at the pool, or
play at home. RCYF provides for the holistic needs of its participants. For example, they do violence and sensitivity training that started when they realized gangs were becoming more of an issue for the kids. Recently, two car loads of gang members rushed onto the center playground with bats while kids were playing outside. They didn't find who they were looking for, but they did scare the youngest kids. As the executive director says, math homework goes out the window when something like that disrupts a kid's life, so it's important to support kids in all areas of their lives. They incorporated technology into their programs starting in August of 1999, because they saw a need for kids to learn technology that would be important to their future and to provide access for kids outside of school hours. The executive director brought in a local teacher, Sue Cole, to develop the program. Both the director and the staff said they would like RCYF to expand its hours and days, including holidays, so that kids would always have a safe place to be and even greater access to technology. For most participants, school and RCYF were their only place to access the Internet. A little over half of the participants said they have computers at home, and only half of these have Internet connections. One participant said that he would like to have more computer time at RCYF because they close too early. Learning OpportunitiesThe environment at RCYF is interactive, but it was not clear from the research how much students help each other learn. Some students said that they help each other when they have questions about the computer or a project, but most responded that they ask the teacher or volunteer staff members for help when they need it. Both teachers at RCYF view their role as helping kids along in the process of critical thinking. The computer lab is set up with the computers along the walls and tables in the middle of the room where students do written work. When asked, one participant drew a redesign of the computer lab: he drew a round table in the middle of the room with computers around it - a much more cooperative and interactive setup. The teachers incorporate technology into class projects. For example, many students learned about spoken word poetry and typed poems on the computers. A current project is done in partnership with a PBS program called "The American Family." The show raises awareness about Latino issues and family/cultural identity. Some of the kids in the program are making family trees, writing about each relative and putting pictures of their family on a web page sponsored by PBS. A few of the older kids have made their own Web pages. Most of the kids at RCYF know that the older kids have made these Web pages, and some would like to make one of their own. Teachers said that there was little free time for the kids on the computers, but that they have some time after they finish their work and on weekends to play. Surfing the Internet, playing games, and downloading music were the most common responses to what the kids like to do on computers. Others said burning CDs, typing, researching stuff for school, and looking at Univision. All of the kids responded that they will continue to use computers in the future and think they will be important for use in a job when they get older. One participant said that he would like to have a shop to build and fix computers. Another responded that he would like to program games for the computer. Also, the staff member who organizes the Kids' Café program is starting to learn how to use computers when the kids are not in the lab. Self-RelianceRCYF is a fairly sustainable organization. They own their own land and building, and almost all of their computer hardware and software is donated. The funding for their technology program comes from Dell, Trilogy, the City of Austin, and New York Life Foundation. This is not a very diverse pool, and they may see losses in coming years as interest in community technology initiatives wanes. However, they incorporate funding requests for technology into funding requests for other programs. The teachers upgrade the software and hardware on an annual basis. One of the teachers said she would like to be able buy new CD-Roms on a more frequent basis. Teachers fix minor computer-related problems themselves, but they have a volunteer technology expert who fixes more complicated problems. That person also adds new technologies to the lab. This computer expert has been a tremendous resource for RCYF, but having outside help has sometimes caused a delay in getting things done in the computer lab. Mona sees her greatest asset as being able to draw in a lot of resources to the organization, to get the expertise that RCYF doesn't have in-house. She also remarked that she spends a lot of time at RCYF because they don't have much of an administrative infrastructure. This raises the issue of long-term sustainability of staff who juggle too many responsibilities. There are some opportunities for staff training and development, but staff would like to see a lot more. The teachers would like to see more opportunities to train staff. RCYF does collaborate with other CBOs to provide professional development seminars to staff on occasion. RCYF uses a large number of volunteers to support its programs. Many of them are there for a semester doing an internship with the teaching program at UT, but one volunteer has been there for 6 years. Also, some of the kids who go through the program later become volunteers or staff. It doesn't appear that these kids have a distinct voice yet in the decision-making processes at River City Youth. Social CapitalThe kids are able to learn new social skills at this center as well as new technology skills. One participant, when asked what he had learned to do on computer at RCYF, said that he had "learned to work with people." This is an example of increased social capacity for this individual, and it probably represents processes of individual development going on at RCYF that were not captured by the research. For illustrations of these processes, visit the RCYF website and click on Success Stories. There is direct evidence that teachers and students have formed trusting relationships that help support and challenge the youth. Both of the teachers are involved with students' lives outside of class. Sue Cole is a mentor to some of her students, and also takes them to the pool and on field trips. Cecilia Gonzalez helps some of the kids learn Spanish. She also challenges the Latina girls in the program to think about non-traditional female roles and encourages the girls to think of themselves in a new way. Participants said they felt comfortable asking teachers for help with computer-related problems and that they talk about things other than class with their teachers. RCYF has a very good network and is actively involved with other community organizations. One teacher said they collaborate with over 30 other community organizations in Austin, including Austin Community College, the Hispanic Chamber, and Austin Free-Net. Final ThoughtsThe staff and the executive director of RCYF are committed to, engaged in and very knowledgeable of the community. They have a very real sense of the needs of "78744 youth", and they respond to new and emerging needs. They provide a safe, family-style environment for kids that addresses their whole needs. They also provide access to computers outside of class time, and have assisted kids in using that technology for self-expression. They have also been able to engage the community in political processes, and have been very actively involved in the process of development. RCYF is also a fairly sustainable organization. The staff is experienced and good at drawing resources to RCYF and collaborating with other organizations. |
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