Hello! This week I had to exchange my jeans for slacks because Cassandra had a meeting with GCU on Tuesday about the Habitat for Humanity youth program and she brought me along. We met with Dr. Tacy C. Ashby, Ed.D., who is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Educational Alliances and Jennifer Johnson, who is the Director of Academic Alliances in a conference room on the GCU campus.
First we told the receptionist that we had an appointment and waited in the lobby for them to be ready for us. The purpose of the meeting was to explore the possibility of GCU working with Habitat for Humanity to get more high school youth involved, since GCU has connections with a lot of the high schools in the area. We brought the housing simulation that I finished last week, as well as the notes I had taken on the Youth United program, to show them how the youth program would work and examples of activities high schoolers would do. They seemed excited about the prospect but had questions about whether there were lesson plans they could give to teachers that would help satisfy state learning requirements, so the schools would be more likely to work with Habitat.
Wednesday through Friday I started going through the lesson plans that were on the Habitat for Humanity website (Just Neighbors was put on the back burner since GCU seemed more interested in the lesson plans)(also the VCR I borrowed didn’t work). I initially went through each of the lesson plans which were already divided into elementary school, middle school, and high school, sorting them by the number of class periods they would take. They ranged from two class periods to four class periods, which wasn’t ideal because at the meeting they said that they would prefer lesson plans that lasted for only one class period. I then went through each of the lesson plans, updating any broken links and adding more current statistical information.
Also, I finally got a response from Habitat International!
They no longer support Youth United.
But the good news is the affiliates can still do the Youth United program, they just won’t get any monetary support from it from Habitat International. They also sent me the 2014 guide to setting up the Youth United program, which is going to be very helpful I think.
And... that’s it for this week!
Hi Sarah!
ReplyDeleteDo you know why Habitat International no longer supports Youth United? I was just curious. Also how are you making the lesson plans comply with state requirements?
Thanks for posting!
Hey Serena! Habitat International said that they paused it last year to "evaluate what kind of support affiliates need from HFHI to engage the younger youth (age 5-15 audience)". The lesson plans right now actually have a section already in them that explains how they meet national requirements, so I'm not making many edits on that front.
DeleteYeah, that's too bad Sarah that Habitat International no longer supports Youth United. Would it be possible to find some other organization to fund the affiliates monetarily or will they be able to continue without any monetary support? Another great post! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kiri. Habitat still supports the affiliates in general, and the affiliates also get funding from various individuals and organizations who donate, so the youth orogram will not go unfunded. Beyond that, I don't know any of the specifics about how the affiliates are funded but basically everything's fine.
DeleteHi Sarah! I don't know why but your gif of the llama was well-timed and so perfect that it made me laugh for an unreasonable amount of time. Thank you! So I was wondering, during the meeting, were there any conclusions drawn regarding the lesson plans for the teachers? Is there going to be this partnership between the H4H club and the teachers at some point?
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Can't wait to see more!
Thanks Robert! I live for well-timed llama gifs. The only thing that was established at the meeting about the lesson plans was that GCU thought that high schools would like to have them, so they asked if we could see if any existed. And yes, hopefully Habitat will be partnering with schools and school clubs to advocate for affordable housing.
DeleteIt is unfortunate that Habitat International no longer helps Youth United, but it is great that people are still available to help out. This week sounded like a new and exciting week especially the meeting. Is there any set plan to make the lesson plans shorter and allow them to fit into one class period? Can't wait for next weeks post.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Right now I'm just going through each individual lesson plan to see if the schedules for each day (or at least the first day of each lesson) could become standalone lessons, which most of them can.
DeleteHi Sarah! I'm really sad to hear that Habitat International no longer aids Youth United, is their another organisation that can help with your cause? Also by far I am very impressed with the work you putting in.-Ismail Hamed 10
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