YS3 Vision

Empower youth to become lifelong scholars and generous global change makers.

YS3 Mission

Building strong foundations for successful transitions into adulthood

We seek to help youth in foster care who previously dropped out of school:

• Create and maintain healthy relationships,
• Learn social and emotional skills,
• Gain exposure to global culture,
• Graduate from High School or obtain their GED, and
• Be prepared to face the challenges and opportunities of adulthood.

We accomplish this by providing:

• World-class academic enrichment and acceleration,
• Nurturing and relevant mentoring, and
• Resourceful and diligent advocacy.

(YS3) Youth Scholars, Skills and Service Program is a collaboration between the Alternative Schools Network and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to provide year around educational and social services to older, out of school youth in care. YS3 serves out of school youth in care from the ages of 15-21 who are interested in returning to school and earning a high school diploma or GED. The program is coordinated through 15 community based alternative high schools.

In addition to educational services, youth receive wrap around services, which include:

• Life skills,
• Scholarship program,
• College preparation,
• Leadership training,
• Computer assisted learning, and
• ACE

Each program site has one to two mentors working with 6-20 students at a time. The mentor’s role is to recruit and retain the youth to empower them to graduate from high school or earn their GED. When students do not show up for school, mentors actively seek to locate the student and re-engage them. In addition to focusing on helping students navigate the school environment; mentors also assist youth in obtaining services from DCFS (e.g. obtaining clothing vouchers, scholarships, bus passes).

Mentors also provide:

• Attendance and retention support services,
• Coordination of school services,
• Coordination of child welfare services,
• Graduation and transition services, and
• A caring adult to model positive behavior and relationship building.

Students are also provided opportunities for tutoring, counseling, extracurricular activities and employment. Social/ Emotional learning and life skill development are cornerstones within our schools and the YS3 Program.

Monetary Incentives for Students Youth participating in the YS3 Program have opportunities to earn monetary incentives for passing or acing standardized tests, maintaining high grades, and other similar benchmarks. Mentors seek to help students find meaningful employment at the school or in partner organizations. We also encourage students to earn additional credits and monetary rewards for passing FuelEd Online Classes. When students pass a course, they immediately earn $50 and accrue $200 towards a scholarship account. Upon graduation, youth receive an additional $1,000 towards their scholarship account along with a laptop, which they can then apply for when they enter college or a vocational training program.

YS3 also offers students an opportunity to focus on tutoring, counseling, and/or employment or internships depending on the needs and interests of each participant. We refer to this as the Accelerating Creative Education (ACE) Program. The goal of the program is to provide a bridge between school and career pathways. Students are compensated monetarily for their participation in the ACE Program.

Currently students may be compensated through the ACE Program at the following rates:

• Tutoring at $8 per hour
• Counseling at $8 per hour
• After School at $8 per hour
• Work at $16.20 per hour