This is post 4/5 in a series highlighting students on “The 20-Year Journey” at UrbanPromise. UP's holistic, long-term support of students from Kindergarten to college graduation and beyond is what sets our program apart, and we couldn't empower our students without you. Thank you so much for committing to our students for the long haul!
We aren’t the most important people.
On “The 20-Year Journey” from Kindergarten to a first post-grad job, a student will need a lot of support and guidance from positive influencers! At the end of the day, though, the most important people in our students lives can’t be found at UrbanPromise.
The most important people are found at home.
Piedad with her son, Steven
We’re taking a break this week from exploring the different stages of “The 20-Year Journey” to bring in a very important voice, one that speaks across the spectrum of a student’s life — the voice of an UrbanPromise parent.
Piedad is a mom from our South Boulevard Site who has two children have attended UrbanPromise programs for eight years! Her daughter, Daisy, was one of our very first StreetLeaders, and her son, Steven, is a rising ninth grader who we introduced you to a couple of weeks ago.
Back in the spring, our South Boulevard Site hosted an evening for the parents of new StreetLeaders. At UrbanPromise, we believe parent engagement and support is critical to a student’s success, so the evening was designed to help parents understand the expectations of the StreetLeader Program so they can partner in supporting their children through the experience.
At the event, our staff invited Piedad to be the “keynote speaker” — who better to address a group of parents than a fellow parent herself? This week we wanted to share the message that Piedad delivered to a room of her peers. Without further ado, let’s “pass the mic” to Piedad!
Daisy as a StreetLeader in 2015 in with camper Estefani. Estefani just graduated with our class of 2021 senior StreetLeaders!
"For me this is a good program. Not only because it provides a job for young students, but also because it helps them with their own school work, it motivates them, and it gives them guidance in going to college and being a good person.
From my experience with Daisy, she knew it was a commitment to the kids she was going to help. She had to have patience to help them with their school work and motivate them so they'd keep wanting to come to UrbanPromise and feel happy and safe.
Parents also have to help motivate their children to know that being a StreetLeader is more than a job, it's a commitment. They need to understand that they are not just studying, but that they have a job, too. They are studying to have a career in the future and a better life.
Their example doesn't only motivate the kids to become StreetLeaders, but it also shows them that their leadership will matter to the next generation.
Personally, I really like the program because it also psychologically helps the kids with their fears and problems. It's not just adults who have these problems, but also kids and even us, the parents. We need to also help them, and, here at UrbanPromise, they help us with all of it."
Steven, now a rising ninth grader and future StreetLeader, has been an UrbanPromise camper since he was in first grade!
When you support UrbanPromise, you aren’t only supporting students, you’re also supporting their families — parents like Piedad.
THANK YOU for partnering with us to collectively empower UP students of all ages. They say it takes a village, and we are so privileged to be a part of their’s!