United Way program giving Boost! to city students

With the backing of Yale, United Way of Greater New Haven (UWGNH) is currently implementing a program called Boost! in the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS).

Working together with the NHPS system, Boost! will provide much-needed wraparound services to support the physical, social and emotional health of children.

“Boost! is really about coordinating community resources in order to bring about positive academic and well-rounded change to student achievement,” says Michelle Mitchell, Boost! program manager at UWGNH. “We believe children have the greatest opportunity for success when they are supported not only in the classroom but outside it, too. Good mental health and nutrition, engaged parents and safe spaces before and after school are all critical to ensuring a child’s positive school experience.”

Through Boost!, every child will have the opportunity to strengthen and enrich their learning opportunities while cultivating positive youth-adult relationships. By coordinating efforts between the schools and the community’s resources, Boost! will also offer opportunities like counseling services and family support to those families with an expressed need.

Boost! is being piloted in five schools: Metropolitan Business Academy, Augusta Lewis Troup School, Wexler-Grant Community School, Barnard Environmental Magnet School and Clinton Avenue School. Principals are actively involved in the program, and the schools have identified coordinators and have begun assessments to determine what wraparound services are required to support academic success. United Way’s goal is to expand Boost! to every school in the New Haven school district over the next five years.

Boost! is just one of the many initiatives which can benefit from this year’s Yale campaign in collaboration with United Way, titled “Give Every Child a Chance,” focusing on poverty and early childhood development in the greater New Haven area. For For information about options for giving, visit www.yale.edu/unitedway.