A small group of individuals concerned about Atlanta’s high school drop-out rate met during the summer of 1988 and created what was to become YES! Atlanta (for Youth Experiencing Success) . They started with the Rising Star program which was launched in spring of 1990; Coaching for Success followed in 1993. Since then, the Rising Star programs have positively impacted the lives of close to 1,000 teenagers.
Their specific intention is to provide program participants with tools for taking charge of their own lives – and then to support them in doing so for up to a full year. Our mentors (called Committed Partners) have the responsibility of holding the youth to the commitments they make for self improvement when they entered the program.
Although the basic principals of both Rising Star and Coaching for Success are similar, the objectives of Coaching for Success, a simpler and less expensive program, are to have the participants remain in high school and successfully earn their degree or a G.E.D certificate while eliminating or reducing self-defeating behaviors such as drug use. Coaching for Success participants are recommended by their school counselors as being at risk of dropping out, or are remanded to us by the Juvenile Court as an alternative to adjudication for minor offenses. Their participation is mandatory, not voluntary. This difference lessens our ability to stimulate a basic change in their attitudes.
