PROGRAM DEFINITION: A comprehensive prevention and early intervention mentoring program for the benefit of academically and socially at risk middle and high school youth who live in Montgomery County.

PROGRAM GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

GOAL:
To assist young people achieve their maximum academic potential for success and become positive citizens for tomorrow.

OBJECTIVES:
1. 90% of students participating in the program will show a statistically significant improvement in academic performance by the end of the school year.
2. 90% of participants will have proven understanding of how to set and achieve life goals.
3. 90% attend college and graduate.

PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS: Any school within Montgomery County with limited resources and capabilities to provide such services.

STUDENT ELIGIBILITY: MBF officials work with the participating schools to select students who have submitted applications to participate in the DSLP. Selections will be made based on degree of need. Independent applications to the DSLP will also be accepted.
> Grade Levels – 4th through 12th
> Gender – Boys and Girls
> New Students Per Year – 25 additional
> Acceptance – Based on academic performance need and behavioral issues.

FACILITIES: Services will be provided on the school premises or a yet to be determined site.

CURRICULUM:
1. First semester (Fall 2005)
a. The month of September, 2005 will be used as an assessment period during which a program is designed specifically to address each student’s improvement areas of need. At the end of the assessment period, MBF officials, parent and student will meet to establish attainable goals for the remainder of the semester.
b. Academic, social and athletic mentoring program will start on October 11, 2005 and continue for 9 weeks.
c. Subsequently, the foundation will monitor the academic and social performance improvements for the next 4 weeks and determine if goals were attained. If not attained, the cause's will be analyzed and adjusted if needed. If goals were not attained because of lack of commitment and/or behavioral issues the student will be put on a semester probation.

2. Second semester (Winter 2006). Follows the same process as the first semester.

3. Students will advance concurrently with their school grade until they graduate from high school.

4. A student may leave the program voluntarily at any time. No student is required to stay with the DSLP through the 12th grade as a requirement to be accepted.

GRADUATION: If completed through the 12th grade a graduation ceremony will take place in the spring.

COLLEGE ASSISTANCE: There will be a college assistance program developed by the foundation to help those who have graduated from the DSLP to apply to college and for college scholarships.

This current generation of young people exists in a turbulent, raging war zone. Daily assaults by the media, on-line, video games, television, and music, leave them confused, overwhelmed, and unable to process the staggering amount of information on their own.

Author Kevin Graham Ford has described this generation as “Clinically Depressed.” He sees a people without proper values unable to make value judgments and in many cases unable to distinguish clear lines of reality. They make decisions without the benefit of the perspective of seeing a long-term vision. To them, there is no long term.

The Mark Baker Foundation seeks to offset the negative risk of factors of academic failure, alienation, economic deprivation, and community norms that support drug abuse, by providing services that consist of skill building exercises that foster self-empowerment, increase awareness and knowledge, and empower them with a sense of competency to become responsible citizens who make positive contributions to the communities in which they live.

Through innovative programs that use athletics, the Mark Baker Foundation is dedicated to helping young people reach their God-ordained potential for success!