Abington Foundation Funds YTA Mobile Computer Lab
In 2010, the Abington Foundation awarded the Youth Technology Academy funding for the purchase of a 20-computer mobile technology laboratory, which is now helping YTA deliver its innovative model of technology instruction to locations off campus and outside the traditional classroom.
The Abington Foundation was created in 1983 to support organizations which promote education, health care, economic independence, and cultural activities primarily within Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
The Tri-C Youth Technology Academy thanks the Abington Foundation for its confidence in its work.
Area Youth Gain Work Experience Through 2010 TANF Summer Pathways Project (SPP)
More than 460 area youths made their mark on the local workforce during the summer of 2010 through the Tri-C/YTA Summer Pathways Project (SPP).
Federal funding made available through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and distributed through the Workforce Investment Board of the City of Cleveland/Cuyahoga County enabled YTA to recruit and place young people, ages 14-18, into six-week, paid summer positions at the various Tri-C campuses, community organizations, and area businesses.
2010 marked the second year that YTA received federal funding to conduct a summer employment program. The 2009 SPP received funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the federally-enacted “Summer Stimulus” program.
Both programs required participants and their families to comply with federal income guidelines in order to qualify for summer employment opportunities.
NSF Robotics Corridor Project (2006-2009)
In 2006, YTA received an award from the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technology Education (ATE) program for the YTA Robotics Corridor Project, a three-year initiative to provide supplemental, after-school technology instruction to Cleveland Metropolitan School District high school students. The grant also funded compensation and advanced robotics/technology training for CMSD educators who agreed to serve as YTA Technology Ambassadors throughout the duration of the award.
The Robotics Corridor Project enabled a broader population of CMSD students to participate in YTA activities, since the NSF award that funded the project did not limit participation to only WIA-qualified families.
The Robotics Corridor Project blended a proprietary Robot-C software programming curriculum developed by the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute with enhancements provided by the YTA Robotics Corridor Project instructional staff (CMSD teachers and Cuyahoga Community College instructors) to ensure that the program content met the Ohio Academic Content Standards for Mathematics, as well as CMSD curriculum needs. The curriculum used the VEX Robotics design system to teach C programming. Informal inter-school VEX Robotics tournaments provided incentive for students to design and program robots for competition.
The Robotics Corridor Project added a distributed learning component to YTA’s instructional delivery model. Utilizing PolyCom technology purchased with grant funding, YTA broadcast weekly installments of the EET 1150/Basic Robotics with Math programming course from the Cuyahoga Community College Metro Campus to 10 CMSD high schools. At each site, a CMSD/YTA Technology Ambassador recruited students for the course, facilitated their participation and supported student learning and review of the course materials, and conducted weekly, hands-on VEX Robotics activities designed to reinforce math concepts presented in the broadcasts.
Students enrolled in Basic Robotics with Math received college credit through the Ohio Department of Education Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Program (PSEOP).
The Robotics Corridor Project also funded the creation of a Resource Room to support both participating students and YTA Technology Ambassadors. In addition to a 15-computer lab and LCD projector, the Resource Room housed a photocopier, robotics lab supplies, lesson plans and materials, and a technology education publications library.
Through the Robotics Corridor Project, more than 600 CMSD students gained exposure to programming fundamentals that they never would have otherwise received. Many of these students have gone on to take additional engineering and/or manufacturing technology classes at Cuyahoga Community College through PSEOP and are now in college or working in well-paying technical jobs.
The Robotics Corridor Project did more than teach programming. By participating in the program, students learned transferrable work skills that they could apply in technical jobs. They enhanced their math proficiency and other STEM skills, learned how to integrate parts into a working whole, and developed analytical thinking and problem solving skills.
Student data collected throughout the Robotics Corridor Project, which concluded in June of 2009, indicate that participation in the project has significantly enhanced students’ grasp of fundamental STEM concepts. For a comprehensive overview of program results, click here.
Summer Pathways Project (SPP) (Summer, 2009)
From June through September, 2009, funding provided by WIA through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, the “Economic Stimulus Program”) enabled the YTA Summer Pathways Project (SPP) to place more than 400 young people, ages 14-24, into paid summer employment positions throughout northeast Ohio.
The short time window between program award and the required start date of the SPP required an intensive mobilization effort to recruit, place, and compensate these young people. Targeted to both in-school (ages 14-18) and out-of-school (ages 19-24) youth, SPP participants completed six-week, 120-hour job placements with local businesses, government, non-profit community corporations, and educational institutions.