Dover NH Youth Safe Haven
Site Director: Liz Puchacz
40 Hampshire Circle
Dover, NH 03820
(603) 749-6692
The Quantum Opportunities Program in an integral part of the Seymour Osman Community Center and the Dover Youth Safe Haven, which are open from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Friday. On weekends it is open for special programs.
For high school students, Dover has a Quantum Opportunities Program – the longest running of all Eisenhower Quantum Opportunities Program sites, beginning its fifth year, with a new cohort. The previous group completed the program in June, 2006. It was also the only site where all Quantum youth attended the same high school for the whole 4 years.
As part of its end of the year activities, the core group decided to travel to Gulfport, Mississippi to assist with Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efforts. Their experience was captured by video, and a 35 minute documentary was created to journal their efforts. We would like to show it to you.
Of the original 20 youth in the first Dover Quantum cohort, 17 completed the program (3 moved away). Sixteen of the 17 graduated, with one intellectually challenged Associate being on track to receive a certificate of completion a year late. Eleven of the 17 have begun college level work, and one has joined the Marines. At least 2 additional Associates are scheduled to begin college in January. The control group, with which the associates are compared, had over a 35 percent drop-out rate, with only 3 known to possibly be enrolled in advanced education.
This great success will be featured in a new Eisenhower Foundation book on the Quantum Program.
Evaluation
The first cohort of 20 associates has finished the four years of the program, with exceptional results. When compared to a control group of 20 youths selected at the beginning of the program, the Quantum associates are significantly better in:
- High school completion (100%)
- Graduation with a diploma (95%)
- Standardized test scores (TABE)
- Continuation of education or training (college, vo/tech, military)
They were also:
- Less likely to be teen parents
- Less likely to have involvement with the law
Another, admittedly subjective indicator of the success of the program was the decision of the associates to celebrate their graduation by going to Mississippi to help with Katrina cleanup, rather than to go to a theme park, New York City, or Washington DC. This civic minded choice is a strong indicator of the importance and success of the community service component of the model.