Welcome to the New RAMP Website and Blog!

Hello and welcome to the new and improved Ready to Achieve Mentoring Program (otherwise known as… RAMP!) website – we are glad you are here!

As the Director of the Program, I get the honor of writing our very first blog so here goes…

I’d like to start off by bragging a bit about all the great work our 12 RAMP sites have done so far: The first year of RAMP was an unmitigated success. 95% of the youth enrolled participated, 95% stayed out of the juvenile justice system, 92% stayed in school, 91% successfully completed the first year of the program, and 71% showed improved attendance in school – these are incredible first year outcomes!  In addition to achieving personal goals such as studying more, learning about college financial aid, or completing their first job application, youth with disabilities across the nation explored careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.  Youth in Texas worked with a meteorologist to create their own weather stations, youth in Vermont built cameras and developed their own film, youth in Florida toured the Kennedy Space Center and watched a shuttle launch, and… youth in Albany are learning how video games (including Guitar Hero!) are designed. We are proud to have so many great youth development, workforce, and disability organizations from communities across the country as our partners in this initiative and can’t wait to see what happens in Year 2!

Next, I’d like to tell you a bit about what you can expect in future visits to our site: upcoming blogs will be written by other staff here at the Institute for Educational Leadership, RAMP coordinators from each of the sites, and most importantly… youth who are participating in RAMP.  We will also share pictures, videos, and news articles highlighting the activities of the various sites and each month, we will feature more in-depth “close up” information about one of our sites.  Finally, this site will feature all kinds of resources you can use to implement career-focused mentoring activities at your school or organization, including: individualized mentoring plans, a career-focused mentoring guide, weekly activities, “RAMP It Up” Practices (the best strategies from Year 1 of the program), and… much, much more!

So, thanks for coming by, feel free to look around a bit, and please come back soon!

Patricia