The Rock School's RockReach Program--An arts education and outreach program for inner-city youth

The RockReach is a multifaceted art education outreach program that provides after-school and in-school activities for elementary school children in West Chester and Philadelphia, PA and Camden, NJ. The project is designed to inspire and motivate inner-city, at-risk youth to engage in their academics, develop their awareness of future opportunities, and channel their mental and physical energy into positive and constructive action. RockReach will achieve its goals by: 1) providing structured after school activities to 25-30 youth as positive alternatives to delinquency and safe havens during non-school hours; 2) increasing school attendance rates among participants; 3)improving student behavior; 4) building student self-confidence, self-esteem, and a sense of belonging; 5) providing positive group interaction with like-minded peers and 5) increasing awareness of and create future employment opportunities. As part of this grant the Rock School plans to hire an independent evaluator to conduct an analysis of the program using evaluation tools developed in a previous evaluation while adopting new measurement tools to capture the following data: the number of children served; number of hours; attendance and improved behavior. NCA/NCF