Most of the students currently enrolled in the Meredith Mathews East Madison YMCA's Black Achievers Program are of either African or of African American descent. We do however, unlike the original design of the program, serve all students that seek our services. In 2007, the Black Achievers Program facilitated programs that subsequently served more than 300 students in its in-school programming, weekend workshops, portfolio project, and community service opportunities. Additionally, in working toward early outreach to the middle school popluation, there were Black Achievers representatives providing workshops, attending middle school parent nights, and engaging more that 150 middle schoolers in the past school year. This coming summer we will initiate our first summer bridge program, that will introduce eighth graders proper way to navigating through high school. This will be a one week session held at the Meredith Mathews East Madison branch of the YMCA. These rising ninth graders will, at that time fill out applications to participate in the Black Achievers Program in the fall.

The population of the students served in the Black Achievers Program exceeds more than 50% on free and reduced lunch and a vast majority of them are students that are between the 2.0-3.0 GPA rage. The intention of the program is to motivate our teens to academic and career success through the various programs and opportunities that are developed and instituted through our continued efforts. The Saturday workshops, for example, are designed to introduce students to career opportunities, teach them life skills that can be used now and in the future, and help them prepare for the a successful college experience. One week we taught a session on resume writing and the need for the resume to be up to date and accurate. Several weeks later, the students were subjected to an actual interview process, and while using the resumes that were prepared weeks earlier, they had to present themselves to several volunteers, from several companies around the Seattle area. Another dymanic Saturday occurred when students were bussed to a local lab (BioQuest) and were taught to disect mosquitos under a microscope, in search of malaria. The impact is seen through the students that learn about a career field they never considered, or pick up a skill based on a critique that was shared in a session. There are students that consider working in certain professions until they experience that it isn't something they really want to do. Then there are those students like the young man, on our field trip to University of Washington School of Dentistry, who made moldings of teeth and built a crown tooth for his mold. He walked away with something tangible and a vision for his future that he won't forget.

Our Portfolio Project is one that provides such an impact for the students that participate. For nine weeks, students develop a portfolio for college which includes: cover letter, resume, letters of recommendation, transcript, personal statement, list of top college choices and their application deadlines, awards, etc. This portfolio is then used by the student to present at college fairs, or whenever he/she may encounter an opportunity to talk to a college representative. Some even use them for passing out to future employers. In conjunction with the portfolio project, in which we partner with the United Negro College Fund, they are encouraged to attend the UNCF Black College Fair that takes place several weeks after the last week of the project. In the projects first year, there were two students that were awarded college acceptance on the day of the college fair.

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