Board hears proposal to formalize Youth Positive Impact Coaching/fatherhood program partnership as pilot in three schools

District staff presented a request to approve an agreement with Youth Positive Impact Coaching (YPIC) and an associated fatherhood program to formalize a partnership that has been operating on an in-kind basis in several schools.

Dr. Cheeks introduced the item and said the program has provided services as an in-kind donation at sites including Angie Kellogg and Verona Elementary and has offered reading and teen-parent supports at Fremont and WK Kellogg Preparatory Academy. "They are literally a well rounded programming that speaks to children in school, after school, and even in the evening," Dr. Cheeks said.

Marcel Heath, director for the Fatherhood Family Service Hub, described the fatherhood program's work supporting fathers, coordinating with DHS and foster care, conducting parenting classes and supervised visits, and offering home visits. Heath said the organization has graduated multiple parenting-class cohorts and that program work has involved early-childhood connections and guiding families to preschool resources.

Brandon Reynolds, operations manager for YPIC, said the nonprofit started as a mentoring idea and has grown into school-based programming. Reynolds and Heath described YPIC’s curriculum for elementary students (grades 1–6) that includes an "emotion wheel" for social-emotional learning, literacy components and peer-led feedback. They said coaches work with tier 2 and tier 3 students and coordinate with the school's behavior interventionists; some students will be placed on YPIC caseloads when they need more intensive supports, while other tier 1 practices will remain with school staff and community partners.

Staff said the pilot year will focus on three buildings (identified in the discussion as Verona, "MJ," and WK Kellogg Preparatory Academy) because grades 3–5 in those buildings presented the greatest need; presenters said other schools have expressed interest. Heath described home visits and individual family support, and gave examples of families receiving medical and eviction assistance and other referrals. "Strong dads equals strong families, and strong families equals strong community," Heath said.

Trustees asked about program selection criteria, overlap with existing behavior interventions, data collection and scale. Presenters said selection is tier-based (upper tier 2 and tier 3 students are priorities), the program collaborates with building behavior interventionists, and YPIC collects data (presenters said they have outcome data and offered to share anonymized results upon request). Dr. Cheeks and staff also said the program could be a resource in the district's Bearcat Family Connection (formerly Parent University) events.

The transcript records the recommendation to approve an agreement and substantial discussion of program design, reach and data, but it does not record a formal motion, second or a vote to authorize the agreement at this meeting.