AmeriCorps VISTA is a national service program, created by President Johnson in 1965, to help alleviate poverty. VISTAs primary role is to build the capacity of non-profit organizations across the country. VISTA members serve communities across the country, creating a grassroots effort to combat poverty.

At the end of each school year, Colorado Youth for a Change collects and analyzes the data from our programs. This information is used to evaluate achievements and adjust practices to better serve our youth. Here is a snapshot of the 2018-2019 school year. Thanks for making this important work possible with your support!

My high school had a rule that if any student was tardy 3 or more times, they would receive detention. I was always a rule follower and avoided trouble at all costs, but sometimes I was 5-10 minutes late because of my carpool. I remember actually feeling angry about the rule, it’s such an extreme consequence for teenagers who had trouble getting to school by 7 am each day. Here’s how I solved my problem: on any day I was going to be late, I would just skip school entirely to avoid detention. The result was that instead of missing 5 -10 minutes of homeroom, I would miss a full day of instruction. I never got detention, but I also missed enough days of school that my grades suffered. Nothing about that experience was restorative. I didn’t grow as a person, and the only thing I learned was that high school was another “us vs. them” kind of place.