20 Year Evaluation & Synopsis
At the invitation of Pastor Wadie Lanier, Samuel Cephas was invited, in the summer of 2001, to run an “after-school” and Saturday tutoring/mentoring program out of her Community Church, the New Temple of God, located in Unity Plaza, right in the midst of three elementaries (Clark, Wish and Waverly) schools and which were in the area. Students began attending in the fall of 2001. Mr. Cephas over saw all academic aspects of the program. The New Temple of God Church handled all mentoring. Approximately 75% of the students were attendees of the church; about 25% were from the surrounding neighborhoods.
During this 10-year period, a total of 560 students were served, an average of 28 to 30 students per year; Each year was different. This average includes a low of 15 students during the very first year to a high of 30 students, which occurred immediately after the New Temple of God Church had co-sponsored a woman's conference of ministry which highlighted work with teenage girls. Not only did the average attendance per session rise for the MC² program, but the make-up of the group totally changed with far more girls now attending than boys. This change lasted for the four middle years of the program, which meant that for the first five years (the elementary years) - boys outnumbered girls by at least a 2:1 ratio every year. During Year 10, the last year as it turned out, the boy/girl division was equal, without separation, with nine boys and nine girls.
In 2008, the first group of program participants were finally old enough to graduate. 4 graduated in 2008, 10 in 2009, 13 in 2010, and three in 2011; and still in the pipeline to graduate in 2012 were another four students. MC² could directly witness the graduations from 2008-2011, which were mostly from Weaver high school. And MC² can now proudly say that between 75 to 85% of that number did pursue post high school education and did graduate from college with associate or bachelor's degrees, and that five went on to postgraduate work which resulted in both M.A.’s and Ph.D.'s being earned. New Temple of God Church’s invitation to house an educational program within its century had led to a wonderful conclusion for the students/participants.
1) Full program at the New Temple of God Church can really be divided into two sections, years 1-5 and years 6-10, because during the first five years, the students were primarily of elementary age, while in the last five years, they were primarily of junior high and high school age.
2) It was during the 5th year that, upon the suggestion of Pastor Lanier, the program would focus its attention on the older youth, who were on-the-bubble, and in danger of dropping out, or being on the truancy list, within their respective public schools.
3) This emphasis was certainly enhanced by the Women's Conference of Ministries, Inc. For teen girls, held in downtown Hartford, and from which program participants for the “after-school” and Saturday program hit its average (and, in fact, maximum for the space available) of 30 during the academic year of 2008-2009.
4) Over the span of the ten years, 560 students were served, when adding together the average number of participants per year for all ten years. 30 of the students graduated while Pastor Lanier was still alive; another eight were ready to graduate during the two years that followed her death, and the much larger number was in the 8th-10th grade pipeline making “that decision” to “stick with the program” or just end it. We felt particularly good that retention, within the program, was above 90%.
5) Of those who graduated, as referenced in number 4, 75-85% of them went on into higher education and of those, five went further into graduate programs to earn M.A's or Ph.D.'s.
6) The statistics included in this summary does not include additional use (up to 50 per summer) who were involved in the MC² summer programs which included tutoring, but also much more and straight socialization through competitions and trips.
7) Since Pastor Lanier's death in July 2011, the MC² board of directors has chosen to concentrate its efforts in a Hartford suburb which is facing the same kind of statistics and drop-out rates, truancy, and achievement deficit as Connecticut's major inner-city urban locations.