July/August 2015
NEWSLETTER
KICKING OFF A NEW YEAR
Family Kick-Off night at Busch Middle School

Welcome back, students, families, volunteers and supporters of UrbanFUTURE! It's been a long and fun-filled summer, and we are excitedly looking forward to getting back into the classroom and into the swing of the school year. To welcome new and returning parents, we hosted Family Kick-Off Nights at both Fanning and Busch Middle Schools in mid-August. We had phenomenal turnout at each school, and signed up full classes of students ready to get busy learning, exploring careers and preparing for tomorrow's workforce! It was wonderful to reconnect with students and parents - thank you parents for coming out and for being role models to your kids...and to us! See pics from both nights here.
UF's Angel, Cortez, K'Lashay, D'Aundre and
Alexis in Louisville at the Kindred Symposium

Back in June, we had the incredible opportunity to attend Kindred Healthcare's Diversity & Inclusion Symposium in Louisville, KY. Kindred is the parent company of our valued Real World Business Partner, RehabCare. I was honored to address the crowd of over 400 employees to tell the UrbanFUTURE story, but more important five of our UF students were in attendance and took the stage for a spoken word performance. They worked with motivational speaker (who gave the keynote address at the same symposium) Pat Russel-McCloud for weeks preparing to address the crowd.  And let me tell you - they stole the show! 
Their
 hard work was evident, and the crowd was abuzz after they took the stage. We couldn't be more proud of the UF five who wowed the crowd with their professionalism, confidence and public-speaking abilities.
Watch our RehabCare Partnership Video!

After presenting UrbanFUTURE, we showed a video about our partnership with RWBP RehabCare. Click on the image at right, and enjoy learning about the relationships formed by RehabCare employees and our students this past school year. A huge thank you to RehabCare for your continued support! Without you, and other community partners like you, providing UrbanFUTURE programming at no cost to our families would not be possible. YOU are getting our kids workforce ready, and that is something to be proud of!

All the best, 

Frank Van Bree
President/CEO
UrbanFUTURE

Corneshia does scholarship research at the UF Summer Academy
MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS

With programming starting back up on Tuesday, September 8th, we've been busy getting ready for a great year! We have 2 new Team Leaders this year; Jamel Collier is our new Site Manager and INSPIRE/Explore! Careers Team Leader at Fanning Middle School, and Veronica Smotherson is now the INSPIRE/Explore! Careers Team Leader at Busch Middle School. Both come from strong case management backgrounds - we are so excited they are joining the UrbanFUTURE team! Learn more about Jamel and Veronica on our staff bios page here.

As summer wraps up, we are happy to have the first ever UrbanFUTURE Summer Leadership Academy under our belt. We had 15 students joins us for 3 weeks of career exploration, soft skills classes, and lots of field trips to Real World Business Partners!  View all the photos from the academy here, and see first hand the exciting curriculum and hands-on learning experiences we shared.

This summer, a group of UrbanFUTURE students once again attended the Ranken Summer Adventure Academy! They took a variety of classes from engineering to video game design to aviation technology and had an absolute blast. Check out Ranken pics here.
Darius and Jai learn video game design at the Ranken Summer Adventure Academy

We have a new tool this year for our volunteer mentors - a private, online forum! It will be a great space for you to share your experiences, seek advice, tell stories, and give feedback to UF staff and other volunteers. It is online, and is private to only those invited; therefore, you must have a login ID and password to access it.  All mentors, and other interested volunteers, should receive an email from UF Communications Director Eleanor Borelli with registration instructions. If you do not, contact her directly at eleanor@urbanfuturestl.org for more info.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Angel Brown

Meet Angel Brown!  Angel is an 8th grader at Fanning Middle School, and is a star student who always has a smile on her face.

When she's not hanging out with her family, cooking and gardening, Angel is pursuing her dream of becoming a veterinarian! Her love of animals, paired with the experience of caring for her own dogs, has led her to set that fantastic goal.

Angel was one of the five UrbanFUTURE students selected to attend the Kindred Healthcare Symposium in Louisville this June with UF Staff! Angel bravely took the stage in front of 400+ people and delivered her role in their spoken word performance. She may be small in size, but her voice boomed through the crowd! Angel loved traveling to Louisville, and her mom and family were in full support of giving her that experience. We are all excited to see what her 8th grade year at UrbanFUTURE will bring - Go Angel!

Be a mentor and change a life!
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
We are in need of volunteers for this coming school year! Commitments range from one-time career speaking to weekly mentoring sessions.

1. Career Speaker
Visit one of our middle schools for one hour and speak to the class about your personal career path. UF Team Leaders will assist you with your presentation and plan a fun activity to do with our students!
 
2. Mentor
Volunteer one hour a week at our middle schools as a mentor, with a focus on literacy, goal setting and character development. Students depend on mentors and the friendships they develop.

3. DiscoveryLab Teacher
Help UrbanFUTURE students learn what interests them and what they are good at! Once a week, teach an hour long class on the subject matter of your choice. Past classes include robotics, cooking, dance, speech, photography and money management.  Get involved today!

***For more info on volunteering, contact Jennifer Davies at jennifer@urbanfuturestl.org***
 
If you can't volunteer - become an UrbanCHAMPION!
Invest in our urban students and help level the playing field for underexposed kids. It costs $3,000 per year for us to provide the full UrbanFUTURE experience to each student. Please make a monetary tax-deductible donation via our secure website - YOP tax credits are available!
 


UrbanFUTURE
2823 Olive Street
St. Louis, MO 63103
314.776.3434