Atlanta Cares Mentoring Movement Inc

ATLANTA CARES 

Atlanta CARES, an affiliate of the National CARES Mentoring Movement,  is a galvanizing force working on behalf of mentoring organizations in desperate need of volunteers, particularly minority volunteers. We are leading the mentor-recruitment movement focused on closing the huge gap between the relatively few available African American mentors and the thousands of Black children who need caring mentors, tutors, and role models. Through our youth match mentoring program, we address the core needs of the youth and young adults we serve by following our mission: To establish a personal relationship with a caring adult capable of providing positive feedback and  facilitating the development of students' self-efficacy. With the support of our partners, Atlanta CARES impacts thousands of youth through mentoring and direct services including academic tutoring, coaching, and preparation for post-secondary education.

                                                                             STEM CAMPAIGN

Atlanta CARES  launched a  STEM Campaign in 2010 to provide opportunities for under resourced middle and high school students to engage in hands on STEM activities, explore STEM careers, and interact with STEM professionals. The annual STEMfest Youth Conference  convenes over 350 students at Georgia Tech  to participate in STEM workshops and STEM networking activities. The STEM Campaign also includes  an annual STEM EnRICH Summer Academy at Morehouse College where youth participate in a five week ultimate camp experience. The STEM classes include Robotics, Apps Design, Virtual Reality, Forensics, Cyber Security, Engineering, Filmmaking, and Music and Coding. Weekly field trips to local STEM related museums and corporations provide opportunities for the students   to gain exposure to a variety of STEM artifacts and careers. 

HBCU Rising

The HBCU Rising is an Atlanta CARES program designed  to elevate academic literacy, STEM competencies and self-esteem among challenged readers in primarily low-income community schools neighboring Historically Black College  (HBCUs)s campuses. The innovative HBCU Rising initiative uses a two-tiered group mentoring model in which corporate volunteers in STEM-related professions coach college students from Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College, Historically Black Colleges (HBCUs) who then follow coach and mentor students at King Middle School and Brown Middle School. The college mentors support teachers in science and math classes and gain valuable hands-on teaching experience and form strong relationships with school staff. The program provides opportunities for our cohort of 20-25 college mentors to reach up to 1,200 children per year.

UNIVERSITY FOR PARENTS

The University for Parents, our Atlanta CARES flagship program, is a community collaborative designed to undergird low wealth parents through education, inspiration, and support.  Parents are taught the hard and soft skills necessary to acquire employment that leads toward upward mobility and disrupts intergenerational poverty. The wholistic classes lay the foundation for parent-learners to reimagine their lives and grow their self-efficacy. Working closely with their transformational life coach, a dedicated case manager responsible for monitoring parent-learner progress, parents are provided individualized coaching, guidance, and resource referrals to propel them  toward achieving their goals. In addition to taking classes in parenting skills, life skills, computer literacy, and financial literacy, parent-learners may  also enroll in classes that lead to professional certifications including Early Learning Career Pathway Certification and Microsoft Technology Certification. The program is free of charge for the parent-learners. To ensure that they can fully participate in the classes, quality childcare, Marta Cards, and healthy meals are provided to the parent learners and their families.