Partnering for Success

As we all get back into the routine of the school year, I’m confident that you join us in our concern about the fact that in Minnesota over 40% of African American boys don’t graduate from high school on time.

One of the things St. Paul Youth Services has been doing for over 10 years to address this concern is to partner with St. Paul Public Middle Schools to reduce suspension rates – which disproportionately affect African American boys, particularly in their middle school years. Being out of the classroom means that students aren’t learning. The result is that they fall behind their classmates and if a pattern develops, they never catch up. Years ago Principal Mike McCollor told us that in a school of approximately 700 middle school students, we lose about 100 per year due to behavior problems in the school/classroom.

Through our Behavior Intervention Program, we place staff full-time in middle schools to provide one-on-one intervention, support and accountability for youth who would otherwise be suspended. We also work with teachers to understand the needs of these student and develop the skills to better engage them in the classroom.

An example of our success is that at Washington Technology Secondary School, we have been able to help the staff reduce the number of discipline referrals by 72% and the number of students suspended by 50%. Ninety-five percent (95%) of teachers report that our staff are a source of information/support and 97% said we help establish appropriate behavior norms for all students.

We know that as students improve their behavior, teachers improve their skills, and buildings establish clear expectations for all students, schools become a place where ALL students can learn.

Our Behavior Intervention Program depends on financial support from people like you who are interested in these kinds of results that lead to more of our students succeeding in school. So today, I’m asking you to join us as a partner in these efforts by making a financial contribution to the program.

You can contribute in one of two ways:

(1) Send a check to St. Paul Youth Services, 2100 Wilson Avenue, St. Paul MN 55119

(2) Via credit card at GiveMN

Thank you so much for your support!

Cathy W. Morley – Service Comes in Many Forms – All are Important

 Cathy Morley brings a lifetime of stewardship to her position as Secretary of the St. Paul Youth Services Board of Directors. Cathy grew up in a family that lived its strong social values. Her parents taught her the importance of giving to others. One of the sayings she has lived by much of her life is, ‘for those who receive much, much is expected’.

Cathy began sharing what she had with others at a young age. Her family moved to the Twin Cities from Cloquet, Minnesota when she was a child. In high school, under her father’s guidance, she began volunteering at the Union Gospel Mission with the young people who came there. As a volunteer, she participated in hands-on projects with the youth and taught art to many of them. She drove them to swimming beaches and took them on other field trips. She witnessed ‘smart, fun kids handling adversity in their lives as best they could’. She saw the world through their eyes and was grateful for the opportunity to engage with others in this way.

As an adult, Cathy took on a key role in the stewardship of funds for the Frederick and Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser Foundation, named for her grandparents. Cathy reads many proposals from non-profit social service agencies that are doing very similar work; she believes they would be more efficient and effective if they collaborated in their work.

In 2007, Bob Long, former Chair of the St. Paul Youth Services Board, invited Cathy to consider a proposal for funding the St. Paul Youth Service’s Capital Campaign. Cathy was impressed to learn that collaboration was central to St. Paul Youth Service’s successful programming. Government agencies covering both human service and criminal justice programs as well as public schools are among the groups with which the agency collaborates to redirect youth who are beginning to get in trouble at school, home or with the law. Cathy valued how the agency achieved this mission through strong community partnerships.

Therefore, in 2009, when Cathy agreed to join the St. Paul Youth Service’s Board of Directors, she already had a positive impression of the agency’s strategic approach to getting the most results from its funders. She also had recently completed a term on the Board of the St. Paul Boys and Girls Club. She wanted to sustain her commitment to participate in ways that help youth who have limited resources and often lack the family support needed to get through difficult times.

Cathy brings her expertise as a funder to the agency’s Board. She is a good resource for advising the agency’s leadership and other Board members on ways to enhance both the number and intensity of ‘friends of the agency’ who may contribute to its mission. She looks forward to adding her ideas to the conversations on this subject in the months ahead.

Cathy also values her experience on the Board because of a personal experience she had with one of the agency’s programs. One of her children made a bad decision with a few others: they illegally trespassed on an abandoned property to play a game of ‘flashlight tag.’ Police in the neighborhood caught and arrested them.  Cathy learned first-hand how the agency’s Pre-Court Diversion Program works with youth to help them learn from their mistakes and make appropriate restitution through community service.

Cathy’s service on the St. Paul Youth Services Board of Directors speaks to her life-long commitment to give of herself in ways that advance the well-being of others, particularly youth. As she reflected, ‘you have to give it away to keep it.’ For Cathy Morley, this means using her gifts of empathy for others and her knowledge of how to best steward the resources you have.