Our Next Generation

research and observation at our next generation

I participated at Our Next Generation during the organization’s homework club time. The facility is a church that resembled a school like atmosphere with artwork and crafts fluttering the classroom and entrance areas. The staff was very organized and there were plenty of volunteers arriving at the same time I went. The age of the students in this homework club program varied from elementary aged students to middle school. Once they were done with middle school they moved on to the High School Connection group that is more geared toward high school students.

Our Next Generation was stared in the basement of a church in the early nineties and then moved to the new facility shortly after that. The program is very much committed to serving the children and improving their education. They strive to help them graduate high school and move on to college. According to the website Milwaukee has the highest child poverty rate in the country and helping these, at times helpless, students improve their attitude and education will slowly diminish this statistic.

I asked Sarah, one of the head staff, about Our Next Generation and if she thought it helped the children. She felt very strongly about the effect it had on the students and improving the attitude they brought to learning. Although they are children and have their normal temper tantrums and stubborn spurts, they respond well to the one on one attention they receive during the homework club hours. The list of children that attend Our Next Generation is always full and there is even a waiting list for students to join in.

The majority of the students were well behaved and understood that the rules needed to be followed with every volunteer and teacher, not just the ones they were used to working with. We talked with a little seven year old girl working on her spelling homework with a tutor about the club. We asked her if she like coming to Our Next Generation and she said “yeah, I really like it when my mom picks me up and I tell her what I did during the day”. She clearly loved being at ong and sharing her experiences with her parents. She was even more excited about her photo being taken, so I let her take a few of her own.

One of the really unique and special moments Sarah mentioned was that there are a few current students in the program that had parents attend Our Next Generation when they were younger. To witness that generation of people go through the program was inspiring and proof of how successful and loved the program is. This program improves life skills, education, attitudes, personalities, motivation, and provides a network of family between the children, their parents and family, and the staff/volunteers at Our Next Generation.