What started as the research for a sermon series has blossomed into the flagship ministry of the church. New Life in Christ, lead by senior pastor Bishop Geoffrey V. Dudley, Sr., started a mentoring program called Project 2011 in 2006 when they adopted, then freshmen at East St Louis Senior High School.
The church mentored those students through a multi-disciplinary approach targeting 4 domains of a well-rounded student. The details of that are in the history below.
Now New Life is back at District 189 mentoring the class of 2015. They are working with administrators at the new 9th Grade Center for the ESLSHS Class of 2015. Principal Demario Bell is working closely with the mentoring program leaders to make these students first year of high be the foundation that is needed to see them to success and ultimately GRADUATION!
If you would like to be a mentor, or find out how to start your own mentoring program using this model, contact Dagne Moore-Joy at 618.622.6750 or email mentoring@nlicic.org.
Project Graduation Details
I. Objectives
Increase Graduation Rate
Decrease truancy
Increase GPA
Increase admissions of college enrollment upon high school graduation
Broaden the horizon of career opportunities upon high school graduation
Character building
Personal responsibility
Healthy interpersonal relationships/dating skills
Study skills and organizational skills
We considered a “successful” student and how they may be well-rounded. From that, four domain structures were laid out to meet the need of the students in every area of their personal development.
II. Domain Structures
Educational Domain:
Acquire knowledge of time management and organizational skills necessary for effective studying
Identify school and community resources available for assistance with academic growth
Create an Career/Educational Planning Portfolio
Select courses that meet individual interests
Develop understanding that academic achievement and test scores affect future career and educational choices
Understand district attendance policies in regards to accruing credit
Career Domain:
Identify personal strengths and abilities as they relate to career choices
Participate in activities to obtain career information
Take career inventory assessment
Interact with mentors of diverse career fields
Personal/Social Domain:
Demonstrate appropriate communication skills with peers and adults in various home, school and community settings
Utilize decision-making skills for resolving interpersonal conflicts
Utilize resources for additional help when dealing with life stressors
Develop strategies for dealing with stress, changes and choice
Recognize and respect individual rights, differences and responsibilities
Leisure Domain:
Recognize the benefits of school and community involvement
Identify available organizations, clubs, sports or community service activities
We did this though four means of contact, or four “touches”, with the students each month. Next to the name of the planned assembly is the domain that we were planning to meet with this activity. Everything was purposeful.
III. Four Touches
Monthly General Assemblies - Motivational Speaker/Topical Series
Target Group - General Population of the 2011 Class
Topics - Motivational speakers and related programs will be provided at the school during the school hours. Every student will be exposed to these assemblies formulated to inform, inspire and empower them for success in several areas:
Monthly Instructional Hours (During their home room class period monthly) -
Target Group - General Population of the 2011 Class
Topics - using curriculum, (Dr. Harold Davis - detailed later in this tool kit), role play, sometimes separated by gender; not necessarily in this order:
Character (PD*)
Dating/Marriage (PD*)
Sexuality (Role play) (PD*)
Leadership development (CD*)
Time-management (ED*)
Education - why you are here (ED*)
Study habits (ED*)
Monthly Sons of Valor and Daughters of Virtue Group Mentor Events
Target Group - those who asked for a Mentor
Topics - These were existing programs that were already a part of the youth ministry at New Life in Christ that have been enhanced/developed to include the students in the Class of 2011 Group Mentoring:
Harvest Festival & Youth Crusade (PD*)/(CD*)
Lock-In (PD*)/(LD*)
Living Waters (LD*)
Bowling party (LD*)
Date night (PD*)
Movie night (LD*)
Pizza night/Living Waters (LD*)
Monthly Mentoring One-on-One
Target Group -- TWO hour per month minimum for the mentor to have contact/outing, etc. with the mentee. These activities are any agreed to times w/ parental consent
Other Important Program Components:
Fan in the Stands:
Adult mentors who come out to the students athletic, academic, drama and performance extracurricular activities to show care and concern for their interests.
Weekly Intercessory Prayer at the School
From September- May, we have intercessors from our church who go over to the high school every Wednesday from 6 a.m.- 7 a.m. (before school opens)
There they pray for the students, the teachers, the parents, the administrators and the staff for their success, cooperation, safety, etc.
Finally we have a reward system at the end of each school year during a celebratory assembly where we highlight successes.
Our Mentoring History
The vision of this mentoring model was conceived by Bishop Geoffrey V. Dudley, Sr., who is the Senior Pastor of New Life In Christ Interdenominational Church, O'Fallon, Illinois in the summer of 2006. Bishop Dudley at the time was doing research for a sermon series, “Hip-Hopcrisy: The Nappy-Headed Truth”.
This series was in response to comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. The research lead to some stark realizations of the state of the African American community, and in particular our young men and women. He realized that even though his rapidly growing church had all of the trappings of a successful church, they were not impacting the lives of the young people in the most desperate communities in a major way.
It became apparent if his church didn't reach them, in a generation his church would be the church of his father - out of touch and dying. He formally called together members of his church who were educators. Chyriell Hill, director of counseling at Belleville East High School volunteered to lead a committee to help Bishop Dudley develop a programmatic response to his desire to change the lives of young people. Together they developed a mentoring model that would reach and change the lives of the students of East St. Louis Senior High Class of 2011 forever.
East St. Louis, Ill., is a predominately (98%) African American community with a population of 31,530 people. Household income per capita is approximately $11,170 annually, which equates to $44,676 for a family of four. East St. Louis has high rate of crime. On average, there are 546 violent crimes committed annually -- well above the national rate. The chance of being a victim of a violent crime is 1 in 58.
East St. Louis Senior High School, affectionately known as “Eastside” is a predominately African American school in the middle of this community, and a school that was performing well below the national educational standards. The dropout rate was phenomenal. In 2006 when this was taking place at New Life, Bishop Dudley felt compelled to get involved with the school system because of the following statistics:
2006 Graduation Rate**
872 students started as Freshmen in 2002
352 of those students graduated in 2006
Less than 41% of the students made it through to graduation
2006 High School Juniors Reading and Math Proficiency Rate**
READING
ESLHS - 21%
State - 61%
MATH
ESLHS - 17%
STATE - 58%
After putting the program together, he approached the school board superintendent Dr. Theresa Sanders. They met when attending a meeting for a call to action by the United Way to help East St Louis School District 189. United Way wanted pastors to know funding was available for faith-based programs that could make a difference in the community. That was clearly a moment of divine intervention. He showed Dr. Sanders the mentoring model that was developed. He also asked her if New Life in Christ could adopt the incoming Freshmen class - Class of 2011. She enthusiastically agreed and they met with the high school administrators, then principal Ethel Shanklin and newly placed Freshmen Assistant Principal Willie Vincent. This, too, was another example of divine intervention; because they were already poised to do “something different” with this class to try to make their graduation from high school a reality.
Bishop Dudley stated that the goals were to provide an effective mentoring program, motivational speakers, using a multi-discipline approach over a four-year period. Bishop Dudley presented the vision to the United Way for funding of the program, and the United Way agreed to fund the program. As a result, the vision of “Project 2011” was born.
Bishop Dudley then presented the vision to the entire church, where he stated that New Life was going to partner with Eastside and the United Way to adopt the incoming Freshmen class and see the class through graduation. The church embraced the challenge. This would fulfill a part of NLC's mission to be change agents in the community. Over 100 men and women committed to become involved as mentors, administrators and instructional hour teachers to the students of East St. Louis High School Class of 2011. The mentoring program received national attention from the National CARES Mentoring Movement (www.caresmentoring.org) and Susan Taylor of Essence Magazine. Since then, the movement uses this model as a tool kit for other faith-based organizations starting mentoring programming.
This series was in response to comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. The research lead to some stark realizations of the state of the African American community, and in particular our young men and women. He realized that even though his rapidly growing church had all of the trappings of a successful church, they were not impacting the lives of the young people in the most desperate communities in a major way.
It became apparent if his church didn't reach them, in a generation his church would be the church of his father - out of touch and dying. He formally called together members of his church who were educators. Chyriell Hill, director of counseling at Belleville East High School volunteered to lead a committee to help Bishop Dudley develop a programmatic response to his desire to change the lives of young people. Together they developed a mentoring model that would reach and change the lives of the students of East St. Louis Senior High Class of 2011 forever.
