RISD Project Open Door
Project Open Door’s mission is to increase access to high-quality arts learning and careers in art and design for Rhode Island's urban core city public high school students. Their goal is to help prepare teens to enroll in post-secondary education by offering guidance on college selection and preparation of college applications, especially portfolio preparation for art and design college programs. In partnership with ELO, Woonsocket HS students, with any level of art experience, have the opportunity to attend art classes run by RISD graduate students exploring a multitude of mediums.
Website: https://www.risdprojectopendoor.com/
Healthy Lifestyles
The Healthy Lifestyles curriculum is developed and provided by the Rhode Island Department of Health. Participants of this course will be given the guided opportunity to improve on a health subject of their choice by setting a SMART goal and gain valuable knowledge in areas such as emotional and behavioral health, boundary setting, preventing illness, nutrition, and gaining independence. Students in this course earn 1 PE credit to help them towards on-time graduation.
Pathways to Medicine
Pathways to Medicine (formerly known as Pipeline) is a mentorship program started in 2013 at the Warren Alpert Medical School (AMS) of Brown University. Students join AMS students and students from URI, JWU and Bryant medical schools monthly for Pathways Sessions. Students are introduced to hands-on experiences and principles relating to healthcare professions. High school mentees then spend dedicated time with their mentor, where they’re able to form strong mentor/mentee bonds, and receive support on the college application process, the medical school application process, and how to pursue their healthcare career goals.
Website: https://www.brown.edu/academics/medical/student-affairs/pathways-mentorship/home
Boating
The Pathways Boat Shop, a partnership with both the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol and Community Care Alliance’s Youth Harbor Center, provides programs for youth incorporating career exploration, work experiences, leadership development, adult mentoring, basic skills development and job readiness skills for students. By participating in the program students will increase marine trades-specific knowledge: boat design, blueprint reading, boatbuilding, carpentry, tool handling /use, and 21st Century skills: critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, communication, planning and goal setting that are transferable to other fields.
Our programs increase youths’ awareness of employment opportunities by exposing them to multiple career pathways within the marine trades industry and informing them on the skills that employers are seeking in their work force. Students experience industry guest speakers and tours, as well as classroom/ shop -based activities and assessments. Students also participate in tours and receive information on post-secondary schools that can attend to learn the skills that the employers are looking for.
Website: https://herreshoff.org/steam/
URI Pharmacy
ELO Woonsocket has enjoyed a multi-year partnership with University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy. Through this “Intro to Pharmacy” program, first year Pharmacy students (P1s) serve as Industry Mentors, with oversight from the partnering URI Pharmacy professor. Industry Mentors supply the hands-on experiences and applied real-world learning through a variety of modalities, including but not limited to: interaction with URI’s regionally recognized medicinal garden, understanding of drug interactions via patient simulations with human-like dummies, compounding labs, visit to research labs, pharmacy visits, and 3D modeling. The hands-on experiences are complemented by student-chosen research in a timely topic impacting any area within the field of pharmacy. At the culmination of the course, students present jointly on their collective experience and then independently on their personal research topic. Curriculum content and activities are overseen by the partnering URI Pharmacy Professor and follows a similar role out as experienced by P1s. Participating professionals and organizations include: Dr. Jeffrey Bratberg, Opioid Epidemic; Dr. Kelly Matson, Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse; Dr. Navindra Seeram,Bioactive Botanical Research; URI College of Pharmacy graduate students, various; CVS Health; RI Hospital; Farmacy Herbs, among others. Through involvement in this ELO program, participants have received additional opportunities to attend Walgreens Summer Academy, serve as peer leaders at the Youth-to-Youth Conference, as well as enhance their college application when seeking enrollment into college; in 2016, an ELO Intro to Pharmacy alum was admitted to the College of Pharmacy as a Freshman.
Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education-ARISE
ARISE’s mission is to mobilize policy, programs, and partnerships to prepare, promote and empower Rhode Island’s Southeast Asian students for educational and career success.
Southeast Asians (SEA)—specifically Cambodians, Hmong, Laotians and Vietnamese—are among the most economically disadvantaged people in the United States and struggle from long-term poverty, language and literacy issues, and post-traumatic stress disorders associated with their forced migration to the United States. SEA students also experience poverty, cultural tensions, and language barriers which hinder their educational and academic success; these educational experiences are often overshadowed by the aggregation of educational attainment data. ARISE’s weekly after school programs empower youth to advocate for their communities and prepare youth for academic and career success.
Website: http://www.ariseducation.org/
Teens Empowered to Advocate for Community Health - TEACH
ELO Woonsocket has enjoyed a multi-year partnership with Brown School of Public Health affiliate, TEACH, founded and overseen by Dr. Margret Chang and Dr. Eric Chow. In 2017, TEACH presented on the program at the Society for Adolescent Mental Health Annual Meeting in New Orleans and were featured in the September 2017 issues of the Rhode Island Journal of Medicine.
A TEACH Program Associate from Brown University’s School of Public Health serves as the lead Industry Mentor. The Industry Mentor delivers a series of healthcare modules featuring lectures, field trips and hands-on activities. These modules are strengthened by the addition of a guest speaker, an expert on that week’s session focus. Weekly sessions will cover: Public Health, Environmental Health, Chronic Disease, Nutrition, Sexual Health, Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Teen Pregnancy. Taken together, they will receive foundational knowledge about public health approaches and methodologies, explore key public health issues of our time - both understood and perplexing, and learn about ways to advocate for improved health access and equity within their communities. Lectures, hands-on activities, and field trips will be coupled with independent research that requires development of an action plan that addresses a public health issue pertinent to each student’s own community. At the culmination of the course, students present jointly on their collective experience and then independently on their personal research topic.
The goals of this course align with Brown School of Public Health MPH Five Competencies, which include coverage of: Knowledge Base, Research, Community Service & Intervention, Communication & Advocacy, and Information Management/Informatics. Students who complete this course are essentially receiving a survey of a full MPH program.
The course also addresses aspects of CCTC-HL (Health Science Career Cluster®).
Website: http://www.teachcommunityhealth.com/
Movement Education Outdoors - MEO
MEO teaches leadership development, outdoor skill building, team building and increasing awareness of environmental issues. This project helps students learn about the natural environment and their ecozones, which is so close to them, but often seems completely inaccessible. Students also learn about Native people and Black history of the land, and focus on their own wellness and personal growth.
MEO educates youth through four core pillars: (1) honoring their fitness level, increasing their capacity for physical activity and maintaining their health, (2) learning mindful awareness of oneself and the environment, (3) awareness of environmental injustices and the relationships between food, water and health systems, (4) history of those who have walked the land before us.
Website: https://meoutdoorsri.com/
Individual ELOs
Students are also able to work with ELO staff to develop their own ELO programs based on their interests and credit needs. Each individual student’s activities will center on identification of field of study, pairing with an industry mentor from chosen field, project development towards completion of independent research, reflection, production and presentation. Individual work is complemented by group work in face-to-face sessions, small group exercises and team building, field trips and critiques through which students will build the necessary skills for high performance and acquisition to mastery.