After-School Literacy Programs for Young Adolescents

This chapter describes three programs that are a selection from the after-school literacy programs studied. The programs are: The Friendly Place, the Montgomery Ward-Cabrini Green Tutoring Program and the Highline Indian Tutoring Program. The programs&s; success verifies Project on Adolescent Literacy researchers&s; initial assumption that after-school programs can recapture the hopes of young adolescents who are drifting away from school because of academic failure. The Friendly Place is only one of several literacy demonstration projects sponsored by the American Reading Council, founded in 1976. The Montgomery Ward-Cabrini Green Tutoring Program is the result of the unusual partnership between a corporation and a community. Youth workers and educators can learn some important lessons from the innovations the Montgomery Ward-Cabrini Green Tutoring Program has adopted from the world of business management. For many Native American children in the Seattle area, the Highline program may well be a critical factor that weights the balance towards future success.