The Power of Student Peer Leaders

A variety of nonprofit and philanthropic programs have started offering virtual college counseling to students living in rural communities. Through these setups, recent college graduates are often paired with students at schools where there are no full-time counselors or where the ratio of counselor to student is as high as 600 to 1.

The Detroit Food Academy brings together local educators, chefs, and business owners to teach youth and young adults in the city business and entrepreneurship skills through cooking lessons and opportunities. The program is instructing students “how to think about entrepreneurship, equity and production in the food industry, and getting a wide range of experiences to help them understand food sovereignty.”

Lacking sufficient counseling resources, schools are training students to fill the gap. The approach is not intended as a comprehensive solution, but as a way to help more students get connected with basic services.

In Newark Youth Court, the common mistakes and misbehavior of childhood lead to a trial in which all of the participants are high school students, and the outcomes center on second chances and atoning for wrongdoing through community service and decision-making classes. The court, which hears about 100 cases per year, serves as an alternative to pushing allegations of minor fights, vandalism, and truancy into the justice system, where punishment falls most heavily on youth of color and can wreck lives without solving the discipline problems.

Founded in 2011, the Brooklyn-based P-Tech school allows high school students to earn a secondary and associate's degree upon graduation. Born out of a partnership with the New York City Department of Education, New York City College of Technology and IBM, the dual enrollment-program pairs students with mentors and matches students with paid IBM internships. The cross-sector model is being scaled up internationally.

Two Detroit-based entrepreneurs are determined to help minority youth become stakeholders in community real estate development. Targeting communities that experience gentrification, Project Destined empowers young students with knowledge about the real estate profession, information that is often passed down through families instead of classroom lessons. "It's not a talent gap, it's an information gap," one of the founders emphasizes.

In high-poverty urban schools student retention is a major issue, often school is the last concern for these children. Now, City Year and other nonprofits have university students come to the high schools and tutor or mentor the high school kids and provide a place for them to talk, as well as other measures that help keep students in school.

A program in Baltimore bring youths together with volunteer second “families” to help guide them through turbulent times.

Minnesota schools began a comprehensive program aimed at assisting children of minority groups to successfully navigate the college application process and push them towards higher education.

At Philadelphia’s inaugural Civics Day competition, students from high schools across the city presented their work to address issues important to their community, from countering sexual assault to improving safety on public transit and preventing gun violence. The students were part of a pilot project by Generation Citizen designed to teach youth how to actively participate in political and civic life.