Developed out of the same work that led to our Future Leaders Rising program, but focused on in-school youth, SBCC's Urban Arts Crew (UAC) aims to increase graduation rates among at-risk young people. UAC grew alongside our Future Leaders Rising program as part of an arts- and culture-based youth development strategy launched through the support of the Everychild Youth Pathway Initiative. Earlier cohorts of UAC were offered at SBCC's facilities and worked primarily with out-of-school youth. Participants in these cohorts continue to receive supportive services and career development assistance thanks to Everychild Foundation support. While the new in-school version of the program is no longer part of the Everychild Initiative (which focuses primarily on out-of-school youth), UAC gives ongoing thanks to the Everychild Foundation for its role in the program's creation.
UAC is offered as a 12-week in-school program at participating high schools, and focuses on re-engaging students at risk of dropout through exploration of arts skills, positive peer community, and leadership opportunities. This program focuses on the visual arts in particular, and incorporates individual and group coaching support, graduation assistance and advising, group workshops focused on major areas of challenge to positive youth development, and access to counseling support alongside technical skills-building for young artists and arts-contextualized core academic instruction.
SBCC works on both a group and individualized basis with youth to discover their creative passions and talents, build positive relationships and explore leadership opportunity, bolster resiliency and determination, and develop artistic skills that incorporate key high school graduation requirements in math, language arts, and science.