Welcome to the Southeastern

North Carolina Dropout

Prevention Newsletter. We

highlight dropout prevention

activities and accomplishments

in the region, as well as local

and national events, resources,

funding and research. Please

send us your stories,

highlights, accomplishments

and upcoming events.

Summit Media Coverage

WWAY:

http://www.wwaytv3.com/2

015/12/01/gradnation-

summit-explores-ways-to-

encourage-graduation/

StarNews:

http://www.starnewsonline.

com/article/20151201/NEW

S/151209961/1177?Title=Ne

w-Hanover-County-

educators-look-to-raise-

graduation-rate

WECT:

http://www.wect.com/story

/30643950/school-resource-

officers-talk-about-

perception-role-in-schools

GradNation Blog: http://www.gradnation.org/

blog/wilmington-dropout-

prevention-about-

relationships

Spring 2016

Local News Page 1, 5-6 State News Page 2, 4 National News Page 8 Announcements, Funding Page 3,7-8

GradNation Summit Attracts 250 Attendees

On Dec. 1, the Watson College was host to the GradNation Wilmington Regional Community Summit, convened by UNCW’s Watson College of Education Dropout Prevention Coalition. More than 250 educators, community leaders, parents and students attended the event. Morning and afternoon breakout sessions featured successful programs that helped to enhance student success and increase high school graduation rates. Topics covered included early intervention, student mentoring, mental health, the role of student resource officers in schools, faith based support, arts and recreation, early colleges and various services offered by nonprofit organizations in the region. Larry Scott from Rachel’s Challenge was the keynote speaker. Rachel’s Challenge is a motivational anti-bullying program that has been adopted by schools around the world, including 120 schools in Southeastern North Carolina. Jonathan Barfield, Sterling Cheatham, Lisa Estep, Connie Majure-Rhett, Tim Markley and Ron Zapple participated in a lunch panel presentation titled “Community Support for our Schools and Students.”

Barfield is chair of the New Hanover County Commissioners, Cheatham is Wilmington City Manager, Estep is a member of the New Hanover County Board of Education, Majure-Rhett is president and CEO of the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, Markley is Superintendent of New Hanover County Schools and Zapple is a New Hanover County commissioner. The final session of the day featured a student panel discussion on obstacles faced and opportunities available to high school students. Attendees said it was important to hear students’ perspectives and several called the messages “powerful.” The participating panelists are members of the local student organizations Girls Rocking It in the South (GRITS), Young Moguls and LITE Manhood. Aquil El-Amin, a student at Wilmington Early College High School served as panel moderator. The summit was co-sponsored by America’s Promise Alliance as part of its GradNation campaign, a national movement of dedicated individuals, organizations and communities working together to raise the national high school graduation rate to 90 percent by 2020 and increase postsecondary enrollment and completion. The Wilmington Regional Summit was one of 100 summits being held around the country through 2016, with generous support from AT&T. Watson College professors and Dropout Prevention Coalition (DPC) co-coordinators Janna Robertson and Robert Smith planned the summit, with a team that included DPC Advisory Board members Clifford Barnett, Judge J. Corpening, Matt Edwards, Susan Finley, David Hand, Beau McCaffray, Deloris Rhodes, John Shannon, Judy Stubblefield and Stephanie Willis. Nicole Geczi, administrative associate in the Watson College Dean’s Office, managed logistics for the event and Robertson’s daughter Jessie designed original artwork for the program cover. Robertson is just beginning to compile outcomes of the summit, which already include increased support for Friends of Rachel’s Clubs in schools, plans for a regional event for Rachel’s Club members to be held at the university, mental health training initiatives for teachers and youth workers in the community, a sharing out of ideas and planned collaborations between schools and community organizations.

Dropout Prevention Coalition E-Newsletter Spring 2016

2 | P a g e

Taken from:

http://www.civicenterprises.net/MediaLibrary/Docs/StateReportCards/NC.pdf.net/MediaLibrary/Docs/StateReportCards/NC.pdfhttp://

www.civicenterprises.net/MediaLibrary/Docs/StateReportCards/NC.pdf

Dropout Prevention Coalition E-Newsletter Spring 2016

3 | P a g e

UNCW PRESENTS

You Can Still Register!

http://dropoutprevention.org/conferences/2016-at-risk-youth-national-forum/

The UNCW Dropout Prevention Coalition is a co-sponsor. Good News: Our members get a discount! Several DPC members are presenting this year. If you live near Wilmington and want to attend for the day on Tuesday, Feb. 16, we can usually fit you in the UNCW van. Just let us know.

Dropout Prevention Coalition E-Newsletter Spring 2016

4 | P a g e

North Carolina News: Trillium Compassion Reaction

To see presentations on each of these initiatives, see: http://trilliumhealthresources.org/en/Community-Partnerships/Trillium-

Initiatives/Compassion-Reaction

If you have any questions, please call 866.998.2597 or email CompassionReaction@TrilliumNC.org.

Trillium Health Resources is committed to increasing mental

health awareness within our schools and communities by

applying Medicaid Reinvestment Dollars to give back. The

Compassion Reaction initiative encompasses the following

programs below, as well as education and training for schools,

administrators, teachers and the community. Compassion

Reaction will inspire, equip and empower a permanent positive

cultural change in your schools and communities.

Tailored online mental health resource

Online resource for families, students, counselors and providers

A web-based approach to wellness and self-motivation

Create a safe and productive learning environment by delivering proactive

antidotes to violence and bullying

Stimulate real culture change by actively involving the entire community in the

process

Change lives by providing culturally relevant social/emotional training

Improve achievement and ensure results by engaging the participants’ heart,

head and hands

Youth-led national organization devoted to improving services and systems that

support positive growth and development

Develop a youth-peer-support model

Encourage youth with experience of life struggles to support and advocate for

the wellness of their peers

Encourage youth to take an active role in community meetings that encourage

and develop change around mental health policy

Presents an overview of mental illnesses and substance use disorders in the U.S.

Introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health challenges

Builds understanding of the impact of those challenges

Overviews common treatments

Dropout Prevention Coalition E-Newsletter Spring 2016

5 | P a g e

“What can I do to help?”

That’s the question the Rev. Clifford Barnett asked staff at the school and at the Community Boys and Girls Club near his church when he

first moved here. Seven years later, it’s still his mantra. Barnett’s overwhelming desire to help compels him to take on numerous volunteer

projects, ranging from board member to PTA member to serving as a stand-in school janitor. No matter what position or project he takes

on, he infuses it with a contagious passion that makes things happen.

“While others say, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice ...’ Pastor Barnett says, ‘It’s going to happen here, we’re going to do it, and here’s what I will bring

to the table,’” said Jane Morrow, executive director of Smart Start of New Hanover County, an initiative to improve a child’s first 2,000

days (from birth to kindergarten).

As children are one of Barnett’s passions, it’s no surprise that Smart Start is one of his passions, too. After attending a regional faith

summit on the importance of a child’s first 2,000 days in 2013, Barnett spearheaded the movement to bring it to Wilmington. Then he

decided to make the program an annual President’s Day event.

“I want it to be on President’s Day, because we are raising presidents,” says Barnett. “These children may not become the president of

the United States, but they may be president of a company, a boys and girls club, the PTA, state governors’ association. We are raising

leaders.”

Barnett is on his way to seeing his dream come true. Smart Start of New Hanover County is hosting its third annual First 2000 Days

Community Summit this year. The 2016 conference, which is free, will focus on building resiliency in young children. Sessions will

address how Wilmington’s communities -- work, home, early childhood educators and neighborhoods -- can address this issue. Barnett

also makes distributing the organization’s magazine a full-time job. He puts out copies at his church, Warner Temple AME Zion Church.

He gives one to the parents of every child he baptizes. He gives them to parents in the grocery store, the bank or wherever he might be.

The core of Barnett’s volunteerism is his belief that people have what it takes to be successful -- they just need a little help. “Pastor

Barnett finds people’s strengths and enhances them,” Morrow said. “His message is, 'We’ve got your back. You’re starting on a journey,

and we can help you.'”

It’s a message he gives to as many of the community’s youth as possible. Barnett set up Bridges to Success, a program in which he and

other volunteers help suspended middle and high school students get back in school. Through the program, each student and his/her

family receive counseling, resources to assist them and a mentor. Barnett also works to end the school-to-prison pipeline by getting

troubled teens the resources they need to succeed.

Then there’s the students from Virgo Preparatory Academy, a middle school where he mentors weekly. Barnett talks with them about the

problems they face, their goals, and how they can achieve them. He regularly shows up at Gregory School of Science, Mathematics and

Technology, an elementary school, where he picks up a broom and sweeps the cafeteria. That’s his means of connecting with the kids, to

find the ones who need a smile, a high five or someone to recognize them by name.

For Barnett, helping others is as necessary as breathing and volunteering is a way of life.

“I am called to be a servant,” he says. “It’s what I love to do.”

WANT TO GO?

What: Third annual First 2000 Days Community Summit

When: 9 a.m. to noon, Monday, Feb. 15

Where: The Bridge Church, 2101 Market St.

Cost: Free More info: www.newhanoverkids.org or 910.815.3731

Pastor Nurtures First 2000 Days Summit Adapted from Lynda Van Kuren, StarNews

REvera

Rev. Barnett

DPC Chairperson

Dropout Prevention Coalition E-Newsletter Spring 2016

6 | P a g e

CIS USING EVIDENCE AND RESEARCH METHODS TO

IMPROVE STUDENT BEHAVIORS

BRUNSWICK, NC – Communities In Schools of Brunswick County

(CIS) strives to always improve and build on their knowledge and

comprehension of evidence- and research-based interventions. This

year, the CIS Action for Success program in Brunswick County middle

schools has shown great success in utilizing these programs.

CIS Success Coach Ruth Thompson has been using the University of

Minnesota’s Check and Connect program to improve student

attendance at Leland Middle School. Check and Connect is an

evidence-based student engagement intervention program. It sets

guidelines on checking in and out with students and heightens

awareness and establishes accountability for their own attendance.

Check and Connect allows students the opportunity to see how

attendance is affecting the overall picture of their academic success.

Thompson implemented the program with students who completed

the last school year with chronic absenteeism. At the end of the

2014-15 school year, one student had 39 absences and 52 tardies,

another had 41 absences and 87 tardies, and the third had 43

absences and 84 tardies. Thompson regularly checks in with her

students each morning to build a meaningful relationship with them

and encourage school attendance every day. If the students were

present in school every day for an entire month, they were awarded

with an incentive at the month’s completion. (These students

receive smaller weekly Friday incentives if they are present all

week.) The students continue to work with Thompson to improve

their attendance.

At Cedar Grove Middle School, CIS Success Coach Whitney Franklin

works with a group of eighth graders who have been identified as

students with severe behavioral concerns. Franklin and the group

meet weekly during the school day for 30 to 45 minutes. During the

meetings, Franklin implements the Why Try curriculum. Why Try is

an evidence-based social-emotional resiliency-based program.

Franklin and the students cover topics such as labels, hurdles in life,

and defense mechanisms in the sessions. The students talk and

discuss in an open, but confidential environment. They work with

Franklin on effective ways to communicate to teachers and other

students and learn to be aware of their tone, volume, posture, and

nonverbal communication and how it may be perceived by others.

The students are learning to adjust behaviors according to certain

environments and the company that is present with them. Since the

group has started meeting, teachers and administrators have noted

a positive change in the behavior of student participants. The

students have shown a 70 percent decrease in the number of

discipline referrals received in the current school year compared to

the previous school year.

TEACHER SHOWCASE: NEW EDUCATIONAL NONPROFIT

PROVIDES STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

WILMINGTON, NC – Everyone is saying our students need to do

better in math. Strength in Numbers Tutoring is taking action.

This program was started by a New Hanover High School math

teacher, Mark Anderson, to meet a need.

He saw that although teachers were doing their best to improve

in math, but high school math teachers have too many kids –

sometimes more than 30 per class. That’s where Strength in

Numbers Tutoring comes in. They are a nonprofit founded in

2015 by a math teacher whose vision is to see every student

graduate high school with number sense. That means their

students will understand numbers – which they expect will also

mean they have done well in their math courses. And doing well

in school math increases self-confidence and employability.

Their vision also includes a strong foundation for every student

in another area of numbers – money. You may have heard it said

that the love of money is the root of all evil. We like to say that

knowledge of money is the root of financial success. Again, this is

where Strength in Numbers Tutoring comes in. The second

component of their vision is to see every high school graduate

with money sense. That means the student understands money

– which they expect will prepare them for the many financial

decisions they will face in life after school. And doing well in

“real-world math” increases financial stability.

“Our students will have strength in numbers. Strength from

academic achievement in school math. Strength from financial

knowledge. They will benefit with better grades and a better

future,” Anderson said.

Strength in Numbers Tutoring is answering the bell with a real

solution to help students do better in math – and in life.

Find out more about Strength in Numbers Tutoring by calling

910.619.9191 or by visiting our website at

http://www.strengthinnumberstutoring.org.

Perfect Attendance!

Dropout Prevention Coalition E-Newsletter Spring 2016

7 | P a g e

Dropout Prevention Coalition E-Newsletter Spring 2016

8 | P a g e

Fu

nd

ing

So

urc

es An excellent source for funding information is the Foundation Center. Listings of foundations and guidelines

for writing grants are available. Sample proposals and common grant applications are also provided. The

Foundation Center provides a variety of other resources and materials, including prospect worksheets that

can help you focus on funders whose priorities match those of your project.

Many businesses donate money to the communities in which they are located. You will usually find giving

guidelines on corporate websites under headings such as “community” or “corporate citizenship.” Business

grants can be found at: http://www.dropoutprevention.org/grant-resources/funding-sources.

Government grants can be found at UCLA Center’s Mental Health in Schools site.

Grants Alert – A website dedicated to making life a little easier for those who devote their time to searching for education grants.

Grant Station can help your organization make smarter, better-informed fundraising decisions.

Grant Watch – A free grants listing service that helps teachers find classroom grants for school funding.

GrantWrangler – A free grants listing service that helps teachers find classroom grants for school funding.

National Service-Learning Clearinghouse Funding Opportunities

Youth Today Grants Today – A national source for news, views and important developments in the youth service field from a nonprofit organization.

Kids in Need Teacher Grants

More grant information is available at Dropout Prevention, Youth Today and America’s Promise Grants.

NOTE: Please send any items you would like to have included in upcoming newsletters to Janna Robertson. We want

to share your news!

National News

America’s Promise Alliance

http://www.americaspromise.org/

news

National Dropout Prevention

Center/Network

http://dropoutprevention.org/reso

urces/e-newsletters/

North Carolina News: Saving Kids

from Pipeline to Prison:

http://www.newsobserver.com/ne

ws/local/education/article4821432

5.html