1. family and parenting
2. children

 1 Our Community Activities Report FOHTA is delighted to present its first Community Report detailing the major activities involved in our summer pilot, the Summer of Innovation Camp. From One Hand to Another (FOHTA) is a non‐profit charitable organization established by Pharrell Williams in 2008. The organizations' sole purpose is to provide support for community center concepts and learning facilities known as the Pharrell Williams Resource Centers (PWRC). FOHTA's mission is to “Change the world one kid at a time by giving them the tools and resources to meet their unique potential”. Pharrell Williams believes that every child can be a success if given the right tools. He was fortunate enough to find his tool for the future through music. This also allowed him to broaden his horizons to include his entrepreneur endeavors in many areas. FOHTA's vision is to modernize the community center concept by empowering kids to learn through new technologies, arts, media and motivation. We bring
the community center concept to child safe environments including schools and churches where we are invited to team to create a better learning outcome. FOHTA is part of the movement within
education circles that believes hands on activities and team learning enhance curiosity and increase motivation. When coupled with career planning or dream mapping and STEM subjects you create a recipe for the future success of underserved youth. FOHTA plans to open centers in 13 locations around the country. FOHTA's Pharrell Williams Summer of Innovation STEAMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and Motivation) Education . pilot program met from July 11, 2012 ‐ August 17, 2012 over the course of 30 days for five hours a day at two sites‐ Bettie F. Williams Elementary School and the New Jerusalem Church of God in Christ in the city of Virginia Beach, VA. The instructional days focused on the strategic extension of needed math and language arts content and skills integrating NASA STEM activity periods, motivation projects and strategic career planning activities. Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) content and skills were also incorporated throughout the program. We introduced the STEAMM content and processes to the students through specially selected NASA and Pharrell Williams Resource Center (PWRC) activities that were, according to some of the participants, a great deal of fun and helped to ensure they would be motivated to learn. A custom designed curriculum book was developed to provide a guide for teachers to assist the students to acquire new math and reading skills, how to utilize media technology and prepare a strategy for a future career. Our Major Pilot Project Methodology 2 Participants The 297 students were enrolled in the Summer of Innovation camp program from Bayside Middle Schools 21st Century program, Enoch Baptist Church's City Sponsored summer camp, Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation summer program and direct admissions from FOHTA's registration efforts. This was the first time the major summer programs in the area worked together to bring education programs to students in the summer. Parents Orientation We held a parents orientation at both sites to insure parents understood what their children would learn and had tools to help them get the most out of the experience. Teacher Training All teachers had mandatory training sessions on how to teach NASA science, engineering and math activities, the motivation and the dream mapping curriculum. Operational Specifics The students were divided into cohorts by grade level, with math, language arts and NASA trained teachers assigned to each group at both the Bettie F. Williams Elementary school and the New Jerusalem COGIC sites. Each classroom operated on a 10 to 1 ratio with a college student or corporate volunteer acting as a tutor/mentor assigned to each teacher. Smaller teams with five students were formed for specific NASA project activities within the cohorts. 3 Educational Content Although we focused on the strategic extension of needed math and language arts content and skills infused within the NASA STEM activity periods, the NASA lessons like the Airplane challenge or Building a Robot Arm were instrumental in keeping the children's interest. For the Motivation segment, teams of students under the guidance of corporate communication and media professionals prepared 60 second media (PSA's) spots to inspire peers. They were presented at a red carpet graduation ceremony the last week of camp with Pharrell and Astronaut Leland Melvin presenting awards. The Dream Mapping curriculum allowed students to learn to organize and strategize life goals and activities as they relate to potential careers. Our facilitators' helped the children identify each step needed to become the doctor, architect, business owner, musician, engineer etc. that students aspired to be as part of their life choice. NASA professionals volunteered their time to relate individual career stories to the children through distance learning connections several times a week throughout the program, widening our students' knowledge of career options. Our instructors helped each student prepare a dream map that outlined the life skills they would need to develop and education courses they would need to master from elementary school through apprenticeship or college in order to create their own future. 4 Stem Field Trips The program included STEM related field trips to NASA Langley, the Air & Space Museum, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Museum and the Virginia Living Museum culminating with a graduation celebration showcasing the children's projects to end the program. Success Measures FOHTA believes all strategies should be measured. Our first pilot held at Bettie F Williams Elementary school from March, 2012 to May, 2012 was measured using surveys for each math, science and reading activities unit. FOHTA now defines and tracks student performance and achievement with metrics established and approved by the school systems with whom we partner. In addition to funding by our corporate partners NASA and REVLON, we were honored to be named a partner on the Bettie F. Williams Elementary Schools 21st Century Grant for three years as long as we continue to make a difference. Currently, the methodology to determine success includes comparison of the performance of our students on the Standards of Learning (SOL) Tests in the areas of Math, Science and Reading over three school years and four summers; and changes in student grades for these subjects. For soft skills such as collaboration, research, strategic planning, career mapping and problem based learning, we capture feedback on the soft skills by performing both entry and exit surveys asking the same questions to determine if there has been any change in perceptions, expectations, and understanding. Data is reviewed and compiled with the assistance of our executive committee board member chair of metrics, Dr. Derrick, the Dean of Education for Regent University. We will be following students who participate in our programs from Bettie F Williams and Bayside Middle from elementary to graduation from college. 5 Community Impact 2012 One of our major goals is to increase educational achievement for underserved students and raise the student performance on all classroom activities, end of year exams, standardized tests, and others. We believe our educational model which involves the corporate and education community, as represented in the Summer of Innovation pilot will help to achieve those goals. The impact on the 297 participants who attended FOHTA's Pharrell Williams Summer of Innovation STEAMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and Motivation) Education pilot program was significant for students in the following areas: motivation, life skills, understanding the relevance of science and math and the importance of the choices they make in life including staying in school. Ability To Learn: We were able to positively impact the participant's ability to learn by widening their understanding of their environment and honing their math and reading skills. Many of the children informed their instructors they had never participated in the types of activities offered at the Summer of Innovation Education camp either in school or the community. New skills: At least 60% of the children personally surveyed had never learned how to make a paper airplane, or understood measurements before the camp. All children participated in NASA's aeronautical activities which improved their ability to measure. It also gave them the pleasure of learning the aerodynamic components that make paper airplanes fly and building their own robotic arm. New Knowledge: 90 % of the children who participated had never met an engineer, a scientist, a mathematician, an engineer or a program administrator. Through NASA's professional's willingness to participate in distance learning interviews with our students, they were able to meet professionals in STEM related fields and learn about their job responsibilities including how NASA teams create and develop new scientific and technological innovations. As a result many children chose as their dream career engineering and science. Remedial Action: We identified several children who could not read and were able to refer them to professionals for help. Without reading, success in all subjects is threatened. 6 Respect for Learning: Our surveys indicated that our program, for the majority of participants, dramatically increased awareness of how relevant science and math is to how we live and what will happen in the future. Establishing this connection to STEM learning, we believe, will increase students willingness to take science and math courses. Learning Teamwork/ Learning to get along with others: According to the majority of students, working in teams was a new experience. Their ability to work together was required to complete NASA activities and the media technology motivation projects. We require collaboration because it plays a key role in developing the knowledge and skills of individuals who compose the team. There are outcome improvement studies that support our experience with respect to how individuals benefit from team learning activities that expand intellectual, career, and personal development goals. Feedback from personal interviews and surveys lead us to
conclude team projects resulted in an increased sense of responsibility for individual students, encouraging friendly competition providing positive pressure for them to learn and successfully complete tasks, as well as helping students to personally assess whether they are progressing well enough compared to other group members. The healthy competitive environment made them feel better which facilitated their performance. Inclusion of team exercises also inspired our students to develop diverse ideas, views, opinions and feedback, which, independently they would not have considered or would have taken a significant amount of time to discover. We believe team exercises will help in improving our student’s grades, exposing them to a skill which would not have been learned by an individual effort. The team based learning encouraged constructive conflicts which helped them to learn how to handle differences without fighting. Partnerships: The impact on the community was significant since, according to the City of Virginia Beach, this was the first time there had been a partnership between the city, the schools and all the community organizations that were responsible for summer programs that benefit the children in this section of the city. Everyone agreed that all the children should have the education components offered by FOHTA's Summer of 7 st
Innovation summer program. Every group (Bayside Middle school 21 Century grant, Parks and Recreation, Enoch Baptist church, New Jerusalem COGIC, and VA Beach schools) proved their dedication to this concept by working together diligently to insure children from every program could participate. We ended the program with a red carpet graduation program where 197 of the 297 student participants, their families, our partners, and special guests including the Mayor celebrated their successes. (100 were invited to a major field trip at the same time). The majority of the children had never received an award for performance before. Anecdotal information from Media coverage Comment by student (M atthew) picked up by local newspaper:
Go to college, get a degree and land a job in his chosen field of construction.
If it doesn't work out, initiate Plan B.
"It's always important to have a backup plan," Matthew said, looking serious outside his classroom. "My backup plan
is to become a Realtor. So if I can't build the house, I could sell it."
Comments by teacher and student:
Their teacher, Hampton University associate professor Kathleen Cabler, asked the children to draw connections
between books they read and videos they watch and how they could help them toward career goals.
"You might think, 'I'm 9 or 10 years old, I just want to have fun,' " she said. "But you can learn and have fun at the
same time."
Comments by student:
Mason Greer, a 9-year-old who said he wants to be "the president, or maybe a teacher," raised his hand.
"What if your Plan A and B and other plans go away? What if you have all these, and you can't get the goal?" he
asked.
Newspaper comment: Good question. Organizers at the camp say these children can accomplish anything they set out
to do - they just need the right tools. Carolyn Williams said that for her son, who grew up with little but has won two
Grammys, the right tool was music. The children in the camp need to find theirs.
Comments again by teacher and student:
Cabler told Mason to set high expectations but bite-size goals. It takes time, she said, to get where you're going.
Matthew thought this over. As the lesson wound down, his hand shot into the air for one last comment.
"If they won't let you into your career, you need to try harder," he said.
Comment on Developing G reat Relationships in Motivation C ur riculum, Shaun H ines -T eacher
"I absolutely loved this unit. I thought the kids were going to lose their minds. TEAMWORK! I paired them up
with students they either didn’t like or didn’t want to work with. Since role playing worked so well before, the unlikely pairs would have to put aside their differences to do what they like. THANK YOU FOR THIS UNIT!
Special Thanks 8 It was important to have the behavior improvement plan again! This really helped ease the tension for the final
push toward graduation.
We want to thank our funding partners REVLON and NASA for their amazing support throughout this pilot. We could not have served these children without their support. We look forward to a strong partnership in the future. Our strategic partners included:  Virginia Beach Public Schools, especially Mr. Timothy Sullivan, the principal of Bettie F, Williams for providing our major site and mentoring us on the logistics of running a camp.  VA Beach Parks and Recreation, especially Mr. Harry Young, the Out of Schools Time Coordinator and a FOHTA board member for his facilitation of the partnership  New Jerusalem COGIC‐Elder Adam Thoroughgood  Enoch Baptist Church‐Dr. Michael Daniels, Pastor; Dr. Tanya Faulk and Kevin Stanley  Bayside Middle School‐Jackie Blackwell, CLC Coordinator  Crestline Hotels & Resort‐Carolee Moore, Vice President of Sales; Denise Reynolds, Senior Area Director of Human Resources; Tim Bailey, General Manager Westin Hotel; Julie Bernheisel, Director of Catering Westin Hotel; Scott Bernheisel, Chef of the Westin Hotel  PSA DEVELOPMENT: Headstrate Entertainment‐Joshua Head, President; Parchelle Hotten‐Fresh Level Productions, Crewestone Technologies‐Michael Diller, and Michelle Larkin  VA. Beach City Public Schools and Administration  VA. Beach Mayor and City Council  VA. Beach Parks and Recreation: Jimmy Butts, Mary Cole, Barb Lito, Christopher Moore, Betty Edwards, and Lisa Matthews  Mt. Olive Baptist Church ‐ Susie Whitehurst and Pastor Puckett  Survivors Not Victims – Pat Johnson, and Dee Brown for food service Our Staff & Volunteers  FOHTA Executive Assistant ‐ Stacey Lopez  Site Technologists – Stephen Orr (Bettie F. Williams ES) and Warren Gentry (New Jerusalem Church of God in Christ)  Site‐Supervisors ‐ Annette Dunbar (New Jerusalem COGIC) and Dee Magdalina Robinson (Bettie F Williams)  Interns ‐ LaTaya Bracey, Tamika Mitchell, Alexus Strayhorn, and Ebony Burns  All the teachers and volunteers who made this program possible PARTNERS in EDUCATION INNOVATION APPENDIX Results and Statistics 2012 Measurable Success Our success measures are determined by outcomes related to both short and long term goals. FOHTA SUCCESS MEASURES SHORT TERM LONG TERM Improvement in SOL scores in reading, math and science Follow a coherent course sequence leading to postsecondary education Increase in number of courses passed Attend school, arrive on time, go to all classes Increase in student self‐confidence and self‐worth Students learning to manage their own academic outcomes Restoration of curiosity and creativity Have opportunities to apply their knowledge while in school (through work‐based learning Achieve a B or better in the sciences, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics Have access to and do well in academically challenging courses Persist to high school graduation Graduate from college Take standardized and college entrance exams(e.g. Stanford 9, California Achievement Test, SAT, ACT, Achievement, and Advanced Placement tests) and obtain competitive scores Have no need for remedial education in college or service‐learning) Read at grade level or above Increase in the number of schools with over 90% graduation rate Obtain good grades (B or higher) Sustain academic achievement and good grades in college Successfully pursue graduate/professional school degrees or fulfilling work in their chosen career. Sustain Financial Aide/Scholarship FOHTA will define and track student performance and achievement with metrics established and approved by the school systems with whom we partner. In addition to funding by our corporate partners NASA and REVLON, we were honored to be named a partner on the Bettie F. Williams Elementary Schools 21st Century Grant for a possible three years. The methodology to determine success includes comparison of the performance of our students on the Standards of Learning (SOL) Tests in the areas of Math, Science and Reading over three school years and four summers; and changes in grades for these subjects. The FOHTA curriculum engages students on multiple levels including technical skills such as math, reading and science. As stated above, we use approved metrics for the technical skills. For soft skills such as collaboration, research, strategic planning, career mapping and problem based learning, success is measured through completed projects and the analysis of both entry and exit surveys that ask the same questions of students and parents to determine if there has been any change in perceptions, expectations, and understanding. For this year, FOHTA has established a partnership with the Virginia Public School System that permits us to have access to the SOL test scores of our participating students. Since the programs are designed to have repeat enrollment, we expect an 85% student return rate even though Virginia Beach, VA is a transient area. Access to this information will allow for substantial tracking of performance. We will compare, among other metrics, the aggregate average of our students in the areas of Reading, Math, and Science and track the outcomes to document the impact of FOHTA’s curriculum on this particular cohort of students over a three year period. Providing an enriched curriculum to augment the public school program of study, we believe, will assist the students in the communities served by both our summer and after school programs will result in improved ability to learn, enhanced curiosity and exposure to STEM occupations. The sustained interaction and tracking system allows us to continuously improve our curriculum, address any areas of weakness as well as reinforce any areas of growth. FOHTA will engage in data collection and analysis to track the achievements of our students through, at least high school to determine significant impacts. We are scheduled to host a series of after school and summer programs that will take us through 2015.