The next take on online education and career development
ACCESS / NO EXCUSE is an enriched academic / career development search engine site, both real and virtual, designed to connect an individual’s talents and abilities to the needs of a thriving, balanced business world, with professional, academic and referral support. We can no longer afford to separate Education and Corporate America. They are not separate entities. They must become one in our students’ minds and spirits.
In the 23 years that Educating Young Minds has been working with the children of inner-city Los Angeles, we have seen a prevalence of destructive academic, emotional and social behaviors that are fueling unacceptable levels of academic failure. Aggressiveness, inattentiveness, poor organizational skills, excessive talking, difficulty concentrating, depression, and being easily distracted are all hallmarks of students who enter our program, especially young, African-American and Hispanic males. Many young people today are in school and community environments where self-destructive attitudes and poor work habits go unchecked. Many of these students are not held accountable. These behaviors must be changed; otherwise we will continue to see the poor high school and college graduation rates, and high unemployment and incarceration rates that plague our at-risk communities.
Among African American and Hispanic students who do graduate high school, a disproportionate number do not attend and graduate from college. Only 7.5% of African American men and 5.9% of Hispanic men aged 18-29 have graduated college, as opposed to 17.3% of white and 34.7% of Asian men. This dearth of college graduates impacts mentoring and vocational networks for African-Americans and Hispanics, making their transition from college into the working world more difficult and less advantageous.
Educating Young Minds has built a powerful and successful system through which we address the academic, emotional, and social needs of our students. We take a long term approach to education, change does always occur overnight. However, with persistence and the support of parents or guardians we succeed and educate our students with the skills and ability to compete at the highest levels of the academic and professional worlds. More than 87% of our high school graduates are currently attending or have graduated from colleges such as: Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Cal Tech, Morehouse, Spelman, Tuskegee, Cal State Los Angeles, University of Kentucky, Fresno State, San Jose State, Xavier, Syracuse, University of Pittsburgh, Clark Atlanta, University of Illinois, Dillard, Cal State Northridge, Hampton University, San Diego State, Syracuse, Howard, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, UC Riverside, Kentucky State University, University of Illinois, Northwestern, Cal State Long Beach, Columbia, Cornell, University of Pittsburgh, Cal Poly Pomona, and many others.
Over the past decade these former students have increasingly drawn Educating Young Minds into collegiate and post-collegiate mentoring and the establishment of professional support networks. We have drawn upon our partners in the academic and professional worlds to help guide and support our former students. Our students have taught us the incredible need not only for our K-12 educational development programs, but also for our collegiate and post-collegiate support services.
ACCESS / NO EXCUSE answers this need in our inner-city communities for academic and vocational development. We must find a way to access more children and young adults, to share our insights and expertise, and to draw upon the underutilized resources and potential of the corporate and academic worlds to reach our target populations. Our goal is to empower our clients with increased access to information and support networks that in turn will lead to increased access to jobs/careers, and educational opportunities. At-risk communities across the nation can utilize the tools provided by ACCESS / NO EXCUSE, allowing EYM to expand the reach and the scope of our services beyond the doors of our learning centers.
The on-line revolution has broken down so many barriers in our society; now is the time to apply our expertise and experiences to the powerful new tools in technology, empowering students, their families, and the communities at-large.