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2015-2016 Annual Report
Academics Mentoring Athletics
2015-2016 Annual Report
SNAP SHOTS
Sandra has been a dedicated mentor for Adriana since January 2013
meeting both in school for lunch, as well as in the community occasionally.
Sandra has gone above and beyond as a mentor, exceeding the time ex-
pectations and sometimes meeting twice a week with Adriana. She en-
courages Adriana to try new activities and games that will support her aca-
demic and social growth. Noticing Adriana’s interest in animals and sci-
ence, Sandra wanted to support and encourage her to think of future ca-
reers. This led the two of them to volunteer together at the Humane Soci-
ety. After learning the safety and caretaking procedures to volunteer with
the cats, the two volunteer several hours a month. Adriana states she en-
joys being able to spend time with animals and Sandra and is thinking of a
career in animal caretaking at a zoo.
This year Striders piloted a health and wellness mentoring program, Kids
on the Move. Four adult mentors met with a group of 18 students to train
for the St. Pat’s Dash. Mentors led mentees in weekly lessons on running
safety, proper stretching, and healthy eating before heading out for a
group run. Students and mentors ran in the cold February snow. After
each run, students and mentors met back at Fletcher Elementary school
to eat a healthy snack and do a few cool down activities. Students also
filled out journals to document their feelings about each run. On one par-
ticularly cold day one student exclaimed, “It was tough but I did it.”
Chautauqua Striders is dedicated to the
mentoring and guidance of youth through
education, advocacy and athletics.
Originally founded in 1979 as a local track club, Chautauqua
Striders has since developed into a multifaceted community
organization, proudly offering diversified programs that incorporate
its mission to "Mentor and guide youth through education, advocacy
and athletics." The not-for-profit agency, based in Jamestown, New
York, provides tutoring, mentoring, outreach and athletic programs
to more than 1,800 Chautauqua County youth annually. The goal of
Chautauqua Striders is to help youth graduate high school inspired
with the knowledge, skills, and confidence required for successful
college and career experiences.
Our Mission
By The Numbers
1,531 participants ages 5-21
197 track club members
118 volunteer mentors
29 tutors
13 staff members
From The Board I would like to officially welcome Pete Morgante as the Executive Director of Chautauqua Striders, Inc. Pete was officially appoint-ed in April and brings 37 years of educational experience to Chautauqua Striders. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Educa-tion and a Master’s Degree in Reading from SUNY Fredonia. Pete also has a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from Saint Bonaventure University. He taught at Cassadaga Valley for 25 years, served as the K to 12 principal at Panama Central School, and was the Superintendent of Schools at Alexandria Bay and Pine Valley Central Schools. Pete recently served as the interim Jun-ior/Senior High School Principal at Salamanca Central School. He is a member of Holy Apostles Catholic Church, Lakewood Rod and Gun, Eagles, Rotary, YMCA, and Moonbrook Country Club. Pete serves on the board of directors for the Girl Scouts of America and the YMCA.
I would also like to welcome back two employees to Chautauqua Striders, Michelle Waterman and David Reinhardt. Michelle Wa-terman is returning to Jamestown and to Chautauqua Striders as the Director of Education. Michelle is a graduate of Jamestown High School, Jamestown Community College, and SUNY Fredonia with a Bachelor’s Degree in English, Secondary Education with Post-Graduate coursework in Curriculum and Instruction completed through Gannon University. Beginning her career as a middle school tutor for Striders, Michelle was hired as the Elementary Coordinator in 2005 where she continued to serve for eight years.
David has been a Strider for his entire life. His name is synonymous with track and field. Along with Athletics, Reinhardt has devel-oped and implemented many successful outreach and mentoring programs for the organization. A community icon, his dedication to helping young people realize and achieve their potential through education, athletics, and mentoring has been recognized on both state and national levels.
The mission of our organization is “Chautauqua Striders is dedicated to the mentoring and guidance of youth through education, advocacy, and athletics.” This is very evident in the many successful programs that we run. During the 2015-16 funding year we served 1,531 youth throughout Chautauqua County.
Through our academic Program, 775 students received homework help, were retaught material, and studied for exams, and were prepared for SAT Prep and Regents Assessments. The SAFARI Program held at Jamestown High School enrolled 111 students. These students received small group academic assistance and mentoring.
Our Mentoring Program matched 145 youth with mentors, logging 1,635 hours of mentoring; our Life Skills Program worked with 166 youth and their families; and 34 students from Fletcher Elementary School participated in a newly created program Kids on the Move. Mentors and their mentees meet exploring the community, eating lunch or dinner, working on a project and building posi-tive relations. Our Life Skills Program offers activities in English and Spanish that are specifically designed to improve soft skills such as communication, feelings, identification and expression, relationship building, and time management. Life Skills educators also act as a liaison between home building a bridge of communication and creating a positive educational experience for youth and families. Our newly created program, Kids On the Move, enabled students to train weekly for a 5k run/walk develop healthy living skills and gain knowledge in nutrition. The culminating event of this program was running in our annual St. Pat’s Dash and am proud to say all Kids on the Move students ran and finished the race. What fun!
Our Athletic Program is comprised of a Youth Development Program, a Track and Field Club, and an Athletic Club. 118 youth par-ticipated in our Youth Development Program introducing and giving them a solid introduction to the sport of track and field. Twen-ty-one athletes participated in our Track and Field Club honing their track skills and teaching them the value of hard work, disci-pline and education. 112 runners participated in our adult Athletic Club. This club promotes and encourages life-long fitness through running and walking and provides financial support for our youth programs. New this year was a program called Striders on the Move. Over 40 participants trained on Mondays to improve their physical fitness and their 5K time.
I would like to thank our board members Max Martin- Vice Chair, Marty Idzik-Secretary, Michele Lunz- Treasurer, Susan Churchill, Ellen Ditonto, Katie Geise, Robb Jones, Dan Lausterer, Karen Mason, Tim Shults, Heather Turner, Daryl Wadsworth, Karl Wiggins, Jay Yaggie, and John Zabrodsky for their dedication and service. I would especially like to thank Ellen and Tim, who are leaving our board, for their years of dedicated service. Ellen and Tim, you will be missed!
I would especially like to thank our dedicated staff who tirelessly work supporting our many endeavors. I would like to thank our many funders and our community for their unyielding support. Striders is definitely on the move and together we can continue moving forward helping youth graduate from high school inspired with the knowledge, skills, and confidence required for success-ful college and career experiences.
With sincere appreciation,
Rob Liebers
Board Chairperson
Year in Review
Chautauqua Striders works with students throughout
Chautauqua County in grades K-12, as well as students
of Cassadaga Job Corps and individuals finished with
high school who are looking for support in placement
tests for Jamestown Community College and Jamestown
Business College.
and Job corps
Academics
The Academic Programing offered by Chautauqua Striders consists of re-teaching material that students
struggle with, homework help, assistance in studying for assessments, and preparation for Regents Examina-
tions. Our Academic Program is taught as part of the Jamestown Public Schools After School Programs, as a
partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Jamestown and Northern Chautauqua County, as a partnership
with Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. at Brocton Central School, and at our office locations, the Main office
on 301 East Second Street in Jamestown , the North County office at 296 Lakeshore Drive East in Dunkirk.
29 Tutors 51,435 Tutoring Sessions
775 Students 28,254 Homework Assignments
Program Sites
Striders at Jamestown Public Schools After School Programs
Bush Elementary School 45 students
Ring Elementary School 54 students
Fletcher Elementary School 46 students
Love Elementary School 32 students
Jefferson Middle School 68 students
Washington Middle School 43 students
Striders at Jamestown High School
SAFARI Program 111 students
Striders at Jamestown Boys and Girls Club
Boys and Girls Club 60 students
Striders at Main Office
Main Office 150 students
Striders at North County
Brocton Elementary School 16 students
North County Office 137 students
Cassadaga Job Corps 54 students
Academics
students from 4 north county
school districts attended at least
one STEAM Workshop made
possible by Northern Chautauqua
Community Foundation
117
Academics
Male Female
47% 53%
Academics
After attending one of our tutoring programs for approximately five weeks, students are administered the
Student Assessment Rubric by their tutors. Based on their five-week performance, students are assigned a
starting value ranging between 0 and 3 to assess their Academic Behavior, Self-Initiative, Management Skills,
Basic Skills, Grades, and Attendance. Students are reassessed in June. This value, as compared to their
initial starting value, is meant to chart their progress during the time they attended.
Key
Improved: increase greater than or equal to .5 Maintain Satisfactory: Greater than or equal to 1.5 with less than .5 change Maintain Unsatisfactory: Less than 1.5 with less than .5 change Regress: Decrease greater than or equal to .5
Through the support of the Sheldon Foundation and a partnership with Jamestown Public Schools,
Chautauqua Striders, Inc. is fortunate to administer a program entitled SAFARI at the Jamestown High School.
The acronym SAFARI stands for Students Attaining Future Aspirations, Respect, and Inspiration which is the
goal or mission of the program.
Safari is a regular scheduled class that provides
academic assistance and mentoring to approximately
one hundred students a year. Students scheduled into
to this program are deemed at risk of dropping out of
school or failing to meet graduation requirements.
Through the consistent support of a tutor who also
serves as a mentor, students set subject specific goals
and work through barriers that will enable them to
realize their potential to excel.
SAFARI
Of the 328 students who graduated in June of 2016, 38 or 12% attended SAFARI one or more years while
attending JHS.
SAFARI
Of the 111 students, 78 students received course credit in one or more core subjects.
5 SAFARI Tutors 111 Students
22% IEP or 504 11% English Language Learners
SAFARI
During the 2015-16 school year 122 Regents Exams were
administered to SAFARI Students
SAFARI
47% Female Male
53%
SAFARI
Students scheduled into to this program by school counselors are deemed at-risk of dropping out of school
or failing to meet graduation requirements. After students have been attendance for approximately five
weeks students are administered the Student Assessment Rubric by the SAFARI Staff. Based on their
five-week performance students are assigned a starting value ranging between 0 and 3, to assess their
Academic Behavior, Self-Initiative, Management Skills, Basic Skills, Grades, and Attendance. Students are
reassessed in June. The value, as compared to their initial starting value, is meant to chart their progress
during the time they attended SAFARI.
*The validity of this year’s results are not valid because the same SAFARI Staff member did not give the pre- and post-test
Key
Improved: increase greater than or
equal to .5
Maintain Satisfactory: Greater than
or Equal to 1.5 with less than .5
change
Maintain Unsatisfactory: Less than
1.5 with less than .5 change
Regress: Decrease greater than or
equal to .5
SAFARI Assessment Rubric
Mentoring
Mentor one child, change two lives
Chautauqua Striders mentoring provides students with another
caring adult to offer support and encouragement. Mentors and
mentees are asked to spend at least 4 hours a month together
exploring the community, eating lunch at school, working on a
project or planning for future. The goal of the program is to help
youth graduate high school.
Community Based Mentoring
School Based Mentoring
E-mentoring
Peer Mentoring
Our mentors logged over 1,635 hours of
mentoring
Mentoring by the numbers
39 Months—average match length
60%
40% Female
Male
145 Youth Matched With a Mentor
23 Project Based Mentoring Matches
18 E-Mentoring Matches
Mentoring by the numbers
The Hemingway subscales measure positive connections to important ad-
olescent worlds. The four major worlds include connectedness to
1) school (school and teachers), 2) family (parents and siblings), 3) friends
and 4) self and are depicted in the figure above. The theoretical basis and
empirical validation for these scales is described in the manual and more
fully elsewhere (Karcher, 2000a). (adolecentconnectedness.com)
85%
91%
44%
38%
40%
37%
37%
39%
85% Decreased problems
with peers
91% Decreased Hyperactivity
64% Decreased Conduct Problems
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
The SDQ is a research based behavior
screening that measures 5 scales ; emo-
tional problems, conduct problems, peer
problems, hyperactivity, and pro-social
behavior. (www.sdqinfo.org)
Life Skills Education
166 Youth Participants 4 Staff Members, 2 Interns
23% English Language Learners 10 Schools
Life Skills Educators (LSE) meet with students in groups of 3 to 5 once a week during the school day
utilizing the evidence based curriculum from ARISE Life Skills Programs (at-riskyouth.org). Group lessons
focus on eliminating hurdles that prevent students from achieving academic success. Activities, offered in
both English and Spanish, are specifically designed to meet the needs of each group and focus on develop-
ing soft skills such as communication, feelings identification and expression, relationship building and time
management.
In addition to working with the youth, LSE staff act as liaisons between home and school, helping to build a
bridge of communication and create positive educational experiences for youth and families
Life Skills Education
The SDQ s a brief behavioral screening questionnaire that measures children's symptoms and
positive attributes related to 5 subscales; 1) emotional problems, 2) conduct problems,
3) hyperactivity and inattention 4) peer relationship problems and 5) pro-social behavior .
This questionnaire is given to parents at the time of intake and again at the end of the school
year.
23%
37%
40%
43%
20%
29%
29%
14%
37% 43%
97% Of students showed a positive improvement
in at least one subscale measurement
Emo
tio
nal
Co
nd
uct P
rob
lem
s
Hyp
eracti
vity
Pe
er P
rob
lem
s
Pro
-Social
Life Skills Education
The Hemingway Scale of Connectedness measures positive
connections of youth to important adolescent worlds. Positive changes
in Connectedness subscales have been found to correlate with
academic success and graduation.
70% Of students improved in one or more subscales
29% 17% 39% 30%
29% 27% 24%
Kids On The Move
Kids on the Move is a new health and wellness mentoring program offered to students at Fletcher
Elementary School thanks to the school’s Community Schools Grant. Mentors and mentees met weekly to
train for a 5K run/walk and develop skills and knowledge in healthy eating, proper stretching and staying
motivated.
During the weekly meetings, mentors provided mentees with a short interactive lesson to help them devel-
op healthy living skills including proper nutrition and running safety. After the lesson and warm up, the men-
tors and students run or walk a predetermined distance and increase each week.
This year Striders offered 2 group sessions and students trained for the Chautauqua Striders St. Pat’s 3 mile
Dash in March and the Cummins Run for Literacy in May.
34 Youth Participants 5 Mentors
24 students session 2 18 students session 1
Kids On The Move
50% 50%
Male Female
23% of students attended sessions 1 and 2
4th Grade
3rd Grade
41% Of families (parents or older
siblings) ran or walked in the
races with the youth
participant
Athletics
Since its inception 35 years ago, Striders has encouraged young people to channel their energies into
physical activity and to persevere in pursuit of their goals. While the track and field team has produced
athletes of national and Olympic caliber, the most notable achievements of the program can be measured by
personal best and improved ability by participants at every level. Chautauqua Striders also encourages and
promotes participation in the sport of track and field through
USA Track and Field youth programs available to area school
districts. Programs like USATF’s Run, Jump, & Throw foster
physical fitness and provide a fun introduction to the sport.
Youth Development
In the track and field program, designed for ages 14 and under, children learn and develop basic athletic
skills during June and July. Competitions are based on age and give the participants and their parents a solid
introduction to the sport. Young athletes can choose the events in which they compete based on their indi-
vidual interests and abilities.
118 June and July 2015 participants
Boys 100m Hurdles – 9-12 Division (week 2)
1. Andrew Brown 15.4
2. Luke Brown 17.4
3. Colin Johnson 17.8
4. Nicholas Bell 17.9
5. Connor Bush 18.1
6. Domenic Cusimano 18.5
7. Jack Lundberg 18.6
8. Dominyck Brown 19.9
9. Anthony Hughes 21.4
10. Zachary Bishop 22.0
Girls 55m Dash – 7/8 Division (week 1)
1. McKenna Cuifolo 9.7
2. Olivia Alfa 11.1
3. Caidence Rapp 11.2
4. Abigail Bullaro 11.4
5. Leah Olejniczak 11.5
6. Brooke Warner 12.3
7. Isabella Anderson 12.6
8. Sarah Teagarden 12.8
Athletics
The Track and Field Club
Nationally competitive, this program is intended for athletes 13 and up who participate in USA Track and
Field events as well as regional, national, and international meets. In addition to honing their physical skills,
athletes are mentored by coaches who help them gain self-confidence and motivate them to realize their
individual potential. Former athletes attest to the impact the track and field team has made in their lives
because it taught them the value of hard work, discipline,
and education.
21 Participants, May – July 2015
112
Athletic Club
The mission of the Chautauqua Striders Athletic Club is to encourage and promote life-long fitness through
running & walking. The program provides the road running community an opportunity to train and compete
as a team. The Athletic Club as provides programs to develop and support runners throughout the year.
participants
Athletics
Winter 5K Series
Never letting the winter weather keep them away from what they
love, Runners meet for five separate 5Ks starting and ending at the
Lakewood Rod and Gun Club.
Road Races
St. Patrick’s Dash 327 runners
Daniel Feather Memorial 5K 168 runners
Runner of the Year Series This is a year-long grand prix style running competition designed to determine the top adult distance runners in Chautauqua County. During the year, runners accumulate points in selected Chautauqua County races.
Brooke Adams (Top Female)
Adam Rowe (Top Male)
Athletics
Striders On The Move
For the first time, Chautauqua Striders designed a fitness training program for anyone ages 13 and older looking to get back into shape, improve their overall physical fitness or improve 5K finishing times.
This once a week program ran for 11 weeks beginning January 4th and ending March 14th. The program took place at the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena track and was instructed by Brooke Adams. The program included group runs, dynamic stretching, interval training, and health and wellness tips.
45 participants
Financials
Moving Forward
Main Office tutoring will focus on reading and math intervention for Elementary and Middle
School students
Main Office tutoring for High School Students will specialize in Science and Math
After School Tutoring will expand to include all Jamestown Public Schools
Workshops will be offered in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math subjects (STEM)
Youth Cross Country Program
Chip times road races
Project Based Mentoring– Short term mentoring with High School and college students as
mentors
2 Family Run 5Ks in June to support Kids on the Move, one in Jamestown and one in Dunkirk
Kids on the Move expanding to other Jamestown schools and to Dunkirk
Life Skills Education expanding in Dunkirk and Jamestown Schools
SAFARI will become Striders@JHS
Thank You!
A special Thank You to our major contributors:
Carnahan Jackson Foundation
Chautauqua County Youth Bureau
Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc.
Chautauqua Region Community Foundation
Cummins—Jamestown Engine Plant
Five Star Bank
Holmberg Foundation
Hultquist Foundation, Inc.
Jamestown City School District
Jessie Smith Darrah Fund
Johnson Foundation
Lynn Development Corporation
Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation
Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation, Inc.
Shults Auto Group
The Lenna Foundation
United Way of Northern Chautauqua County
United Way of Southern Chautauqua County