Students
PFY accepts applications from students every summer. We will begin accepting applications for Class Fifteen in July 2011. To apply, students must be at least 14 years old by the following June 1st (1/1/12 if you apply in the summer of 2011) and no older than 16 years old. Student applicants must either live within Southwest Central Durham OR attend Githens Middle School, DSA or Jordan High School. Students who do not live in Southwest Central Durham must be eligilble for free/reduced lunch to apply, and/or be a first genertaion immigrant to the US. Student applicants must complete an application, attend an interview, and participate in a screening workshop.
PFY works with twenty-five students each year. Once a student joins, they are asked to re-enroll every year until they are 19 years old or have completed their first year of college. To apply, students complete a three-page application form, which includes references from a teacher and a parent, as well as attend an interview with program staff. PFY enrolls students who want to improve their grades, work with a group, have a mentor, and learn new ways to approach the challenges of life.
Download Student application PDF or Word.
Community-Based Mentor
Our Mentors Make the Difference!
Each PFY student is matched with four mentors who,together, provide a comprehensive web of support.
Adults who live or work in the Triangle area are eligible to apply to become a community-based mentor.
Community-based mentors work with one student, year-round. They are responsible for meeting with their student at least four hours/month and are encouraged to attend monthly group meetings for all students and community-based mentors.
Community-based mentors are the student’s “all-purpose” mentor who they look to for general support. Effective mentors are good listeners who enjoy teens, are patient and persistent, and are open to new experiences. Students and mentors are matched for gender and common interests.
Community-based mentors must be at least twenty-one years old, have graduated from high school or have a GED, and be employed or retired. Prospective mentors complete a short application form, attend an interview, submit a criminal and driving record background check form, and provide three character references. New community-based mentors attend an orientation and receive a program handbook. Community-based mentors are eligible to be reimbursed for expenses up to $25/month.
Most mentors say that mentoring a high-school student is more challenging than they had first expected, but most also say that it is extremely rewarding to get to know students and become a part of their lives. If you have life experience that you want to share while sharing your life with a young person, this is something that you should seriously consider.
Download Mentor application Word.
Career-Based Mentor
If you want to help a student explore a career path…
Career-based mentors are adults who supervise a PFY student at their summer internship site. PFY students who have made good grades and participated fully in the program during the school year are eligible to interview at internship sites for 6-week internships in the spring.
Businesses and non-profit organizations submit job descriptions and the name of a job-based mentor to PFY if they are willing to consider hiring a PFY student. Students contact various employers directly and interview with a prospective employer and career-based mentor. Employers and students then report their preferences to PFY staff and students are matched with available positions.
Businesses and non-profits who work with younger students (age 14-16) do not pay their students; grant funds cover the cost of the students’ stipends. Older students are paid directly by their employers. All students are overseen by PFY staff and receive constant support.
Internship sites are responsible for identifying an adult at the site who will monitor the student’s performance, explain various roles within the business/organization, and discuss potential careers with the student. Career-based mentors are asked to supervise the student on the job, and discuss their progress with PFY staff, and discuss long-term educational and employment goals with their student.
Application to be a Career-based Mentor coming soon…please email susan.mccraw@partnersforyouth.org
School-Based Mentor
Teachers… do you want to influence and assist a student? Students… is there a teacher who you believe would be supportive?
PFY students choose their own school-based mentors. At the beginning of each school-year, each student identifies a teacher they would like to meet with at least one hour/month at school.
The student is responsible for asking the teacher to work with them and for establishing a meeting schedule. One of the goals of this match is to have the students practice engaging the support of a mentor – something all successful adults have to do.
During the year, the school-based mentor checks on the student’s grades, helps them choose their schedule, and discusses post-graduation plans.
Application to be a School-based Mentor coming soon…please email susan.mccraw@partnersforyouth.org
Tutor-Based Mentor
Academic skills meet interpersonal relationships…
Tutoring mentors meet with a PFY student twice a week for focus on that student’s “challenge classes”, two subjects that the student has identified as their most challenging subjects.
Tutoring is held on Duke campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 – 5:15 pm.
Tutors complete a short application form and are matched with a student, based on gender and subject matter. Because tutoring is held on Duke campus, most tutors are Duke students, but other college students and adults are eligible to apply as well.
Orientation for new tutors is held at the beginning of each semester during from 4 :15 – 5:15 pm at GA Down Under. Contact Susan McCraw at susan.mccraw@partnersforyouth.org for upcoming dates.
Download Tutor application Word.
Donors
You make it possible for PFY to encourage Durham’s youth…and your support is greatly appreciated.
To invest in PFY, send your check, made out to Partners for Youth, to:
Leigh Bordley, Executive Director
Partners for Youth
1309 Halley Street
Durham, NC 27707
As an indendent non-profit, Partners for Youth relies on the support of private foundations and individual donors. Since our founding, our core funding has been provided by the Duke Endowment and we are grateful for their continued support. We are currently also supported by The BIN Foundation, The Duke Endowment, The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, The Twelve Labours Foundation, The Stewards Fund, and the office of Durham and Regional Affairs at Duke. Duke remains committeed to support PFY as a valued neighborhood partner.
At PFY are constantly working to diversify our funding base. As a community-based program, we are especially interested in engaging the support of individuals. We are a focused program that works in a specific area. As such, we do not generate a huge amount of data or claim to be changing a region. But we believe that our neighborhood-based strategy is an effective one. Since 1998, thirty-nine of our students have graduated from high school; thirty-six of them have gone on to college. We typically retain over 80% of our students. We know that we are having a positive impact on our students and Southwest Central Durham, one of Durham’s poorest, most troubled areas.
Your tax-deductible donation to PFY will directly support our work. Specific projects this year will include a weekend retreat focused on individual goal-setting and team-building; and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity and the Durham Community Kitchen. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you have – our contact info is below. We would be glad to talk with you about our mission and any possible improvements we can make.
Click here to make a donation online.
