Organization works to empower youth in Duval County
1/28/2014
At the Jacksonville Public Education Fund's Second Annual ONE by ONE Convention, the room was full of community leaders and students who were passionate and dedicated to ensuring quality education for all children.
After the convention, I took a personal pledge to highlight the various organizations that attended and the impact that they are making in the community.
This year's convention had a special focus on student voice, including a dedicated student dialogue session and presentation to ensure that education and community leaders the opportunity to hear the voice of the students. Students from various schools all over the district voiced the successes, failures and challenges that their individual schools face.
One of the organizations that majority of the youth derived from was the group Teen Leaders of America. The mission of Teen Leaders of America (TLA) is to empower youth to face the challenges of the 21st century by providing students with the life and leadership skills necessary to get into college, graduate and select rewarding careers.
I was very impressed to see the students and leaders of Teen Leaders of America being so engaged and volunteering their time for such a worthy cause. This is an example of a program that is working to educate the whole child and has engaged the families and caregivers to be involved in the success of their students.
(Picture above: Teen Leaders of America partnered with Duval County Schools and the Office of State Representative Reggie Fullwood to donate laptops to graduating college bound high school students in Duval county.)
Teen Leaders of America provides their services to youth in grades seven through 12. Teen Leaders of America offers college awareness programs, workforce development programs, a teen fest day trip and leadership development workshops.
After seeing all of the great things that this organization is providing to our students in Duval county, I believe that the students of Teen Leaders of America will help pave the way for student success and allow more dialogue sessions to be developed throughout the Jacksonville community for the #StudentVoice to be heard.
For more information about the Teen Leaders of America please contact Marica Brown at marcia.brown@baml.com.
-- Ciara Walton