IT’S OFFICIAL!!! Madera County now has an official Chapter of Teach One to Lead One® and we’re super excited about it! Teach One to Lead One® (T1L1) is dedicated to transforming the lives of our at-risk youth into responsible citizens of character and integrity through our team-mentoring program. Two of the most common questions I’m asked are: “What does ‘at-risk’ mean?” and “Why Madera?” I’d like to address those two very important questions.
A basic definition of an at-risk youth is ‘one who is vulnerable, especially to abuse or delinquency.’ An at-risk student is less likely to graduate and more likely to engage in illegal activity. According to an article published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census in 2001 (revised in 2011), there are several conditions, Individual Risk Factors, that can identify a child as “at-risk”. A child needs to fall under only one of these conditions to be considered at-risk. Allow me to share some of these Individual Risk Factors and how they apply to the kids in Madera County.
1. Speaks English less than ‘very well’.
• According to Madera Unified School District (MUSD), 34% of the student population are English learners.
• 9 of 16 elementary schools in the district have a higher than 50% population of English learners.
2. Either parent emigrated in the past 5 years.
• 58.3% of the children in Madera County live with one or more foreign born parent.
• The percentage of foreign born adult population in Madera County is 48.5%.
3. Low family income.
• 88% of the students enrolled in the MUSD are eligible for free or reduced meals.
• The percentage of high poverty schools in the MUSD is 97.5%.
4. One or both parents are unemployed.
• 50.8% of the children in Madera County live without secure parental employment.
There are several other factors that attribute to the high at-risk population in Madera County: high gang activity, high alcohol use, high drug use, high truancy rates, high number of teenage pregnancies, etc. I think you get the gist. Basically, Madera County has a well above average number of at-risk kids in our communities. The goal of Teach One to Lead One® is to take the risk away from our kids by helping them understand that they can lead lives of purpose and potential, giving them the hope and desire for a better future.
Please join us as we “Take the Risk” away from our invaluable kids in Madera County!
