The Bryant Program of the Philadelphia Chapter is another beneficiary of Say Yes research indicating the importance of introducing educationally disadvantaged students into the Say Yes community as early as possible in their school careers. Launched in July 2000 at the William C. Bryant Elementary School in West Philadelphia, the Bryant Chapter was initially comprised of 50 children slated to enter kindergarten the following year. This group was the youngest cohort ever to be included in a Say Yes program.

In return, the following supports have been provided to the students and families of the Bryant Program:

• A reading specialist to promote early literacy for the students;
• Parent and sibling financial assistance at two-year-, four-year, or vocational institutes (during the first five years of the program).

In keeping with its intention to address children's social and academic needs in the earlier grades where intervention can be most effective, Bryant Program initiatives also currently include the following:

• One-on-one and small group tutoring for students in math, reading, and writing;
• Experience Corps;
• Say Yes After-School Program;
• Crafts and other activities (including dance, cooking, chess, etc.);
• Saturday Program;
• Summer Philadelphia Freedom School Program;
• Say Yes Bryant Team Meetings (school-based team meetings).

In addition, the Say Yes staff works continuously to ensure that students are able to learn in a high-quality school environment. When it was determined that students were not receiving adequate support at the Bryant school, a consensus was reached among Say Yes representatives and parents to locate a better educational environment for the kids.

After intensive research, Bryant Program Director Maisha Sullivan -Ongoza visited and eventually selected three charter schools with solid test scores as potential partners for Say Yes. Of the three, KIPP Academy, then in its second year of operation, was the most responsive to the possibility of partnering with Say Yes. Ms. Sullivan-Ongoza met several times with KIPP principal Marc Mannella and, with his cooperation, arranged a field trip for parents and children to tour the KIPP facilities.

Recognizing that the urban problems of the North Philadelphia neighborhood where KIPP was located would create a bias about sending children there, Say Yes took the time to educate and engage the parents about the advantages of enrolling their children in the academically rigorous KIPP Academy. Say Yes also successfully mediated the application and enrollment process for children. Finally, they also assuaged parental concerns about the well-being of the children by assuring parents that their children would be bussed directly to the KIPP academy and thus would not have to find their own way through the notoriously crime-ridden neighborhood.

Ms. Sullivan-Ongoza worked aggressively to support the process of transferring about half of the Say Yes students to the KIPP Academy. Challenges inevitably arose along the way. For example, KIPP Academy has mandatory Saturday programs twice a month. For many parents, the question of how to transport children to these programs posed a serious problem, but Say Yes once again overcame parental anxieties by chartering a special Saturday bus for students.

Similarly, when a logistical problem arose for some of the younger siblings of Say Yes students who remained at Bryant, and who counted on their older siblings to get them home after school, Say Yes extended an after-school program so that the Bryant students had a place to go - and activities to occupy them - before parents picked them up at the end of the day. In addition, graduate-level social work students from The University of Pennsylvania continue to be present during the day at Bryant to provide the students remaining there with academic and advocacy support, as well as additional resources as needed.

All of these different forms of assistance helped to ensure that Say Yes parents had the best support system possible for keeping their children in the nurturing academic and youth development environment provided by KIPP Academy. Since their absorption into KIPP, the majority of the other Say Yes children have been transferred to charter, magnet or other neighborhood schools around the greater Philadelphia area. Because of the dispersal of the students across the city, the Bryant Program now offers a Saturday Program for all Say Yes students who are unable to attend the after-school program at Bryant.


Successes

Because the Bryant Program is still in progress, we have no graduation statistics at this time. However, an analysis of the students' success, measured through indexes such as grades, standardized test scores, and promotion rates, demonstrates that the Say Yes program is already experiencing significant success. Click to see the report:

SYTE OUTCOMES ANALYSIS, 2000-2006