| 1998 |
UrbanFUTURE (formerly known as Meramec Educational Foundation) is founded in St. Louis by a group of successful St. Louis professionals who were concerned that the youth in the region’s core urban neighborhoods were being left out of the nation’s expanding prosperity. |
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| 1998 |
UrbanFUTURE operates its after-school mentoring program in the old DeSales School Building at 2652 Iowa in the Fox Park neighborhood. The program consists of a Parent-Mentor-Student relationship and the areas of academics and character are stressed. |
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| 2001 |
UrbanFUTURE moves its one-on-one programming to a school-based model by partnering with Fanning Middle CEC. The One on One INSPIRE™ Mentoring “pilot” program enrolls select middle school students. The INSPIRE team is composed of the parent, teacher and mentor working together on behalf of each student. UrbanFUTURE Team Leaders oversee each INSPIRE Team. UF receives “Program of the Year” for INSPIRE. |
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| 2002 |
INSPIRE expands to include all 6th graders at Fanning. Students see a 38% increase in their literacy scores, moving from a 2nd grade reading level to a 5th grade reading level in one year thanks to the influence of the program and the mentors. |
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| 2004 |
IMPACT™ Tutoring joins the UF line up to help support the INSPIRE teams by offering students homework help and academic tutoring. IMPACT is SES Certified with the State of Missouri.
Edward Jones and City Property Company collaborate to cover the cost of UrbanFUTURE’s new office space on South Grand Blvd. making UF a fixture in the Tower Grove Community.
Walgreens continues its history of support by investing $300,000 and by appointing David Lovejoy, Vice President of Operations to the UF Board of Directors. |
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| 2005 |
MetLife invests $35,000 enabling UrbanFUTURE to launch a new program called
Explore!™ which allows urban students the opportunity to explore a multitude of career options through on-site visits, classroom projects in job readiness and business internships. |
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| 2006 |
Inaugural Explore! Community Resource Guide, entirely student produced, is unveiled and distributed to the South Grand business district and Tower Grove Communities.
UF retains Steven Wernet, Ph.D., St. Louis University to audit and evaluate 5 years of collected data. Findings include significant literacy and GPA increases.
Creation of The UF Academy model aligns community resources to support students, families and schools. |
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| 2007 |
UrbanFUTURE formally “adopts” Fanning
Middle School and expands INSPIRE™ Program to
Mann Elementary School. |
