High Rocks Educational Corporation

HIGH ROCKS IS A LEADER IN TRANSFORMING THE LIVES OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE IMPACT THEY HAVE ON THEIR COMMUNITIES.

HIGH ROCKS RUNS AWARD-WINNING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AGES 12-29 FOCUSED ON EMPOWERMENT, CRITICAL THINKING AND LEADERSHIP.

Our Mission: EDUCATE, EMPOWER and INSPIRE young people in West Virginia and beyond.

Our Vision: We believe that all people are gifted and that by investing in young people, we are creating a strong, vibrant, participatory community for us all. We want to provide pathways out of poverty for our youth, giving them viable options for success in their home communities and abroad. We envision sustainable local economies that take advantage of our rich human and natural resources. We seek to inspire a culture of learning in our area that prepares rural Appalachian youth with the skills and ideas to drive change locally and on the national stage.

Who We Serve: “High Rocks gave me leadership skills that helped me through school and will continue throughout my life, also independence which I cherish! “ – High Rocks Alum

Our students reflect our communities. Seventy percent of the students we work with are low-income, and more than half will be first-generation college students. Our students also demonstrate advantages. One hundred percent of our participants graduate from high school and go on to college or a career path. Their persistence and college graduation rates are far ahead of the norm.

We work with young people, generally from the beginning of middle school through high school, college, and beyond. We also work with adults in our Grow Appalachia program and our AmeriCorps programs.

We believe in the transformative power of single-sex education and spaces for girls, and High Rocks is and always will be a powerful center for women and girls. In addition, as we grew with our girls we also started working with the boys who were drawn to High Rocks and hungry for the opportunities and challenges we had to offer. Now, we work with young women and men emerging as leaders in schools and communities. Our target focus ages are 12-29, but we also work with older adults and younger children.

We believe in local economies and place-based education, so we focus our work primarily on our core communities located closest to our home base, secondarily on West Virginia, and thirdly across the central Appalachian region. We offer resources, services and opportunities to any young person from or invested in the Appalachian region.

Through enriching programming and intentional mentoring provided by High Rocks and our AmeriCorps partner sites, in one year we were able to spend approximately 70,000 hours supporting more than 5,000 youth and community members. We have literally served thousands of young people and engaged thousands of volunteers over the last 20 years.

Our Theory of Change: Our theory of change is that if youth, young adults, and community organizations engage in positive multi-directional relationships to build learning, leadership, wellness, and community engagement, young people will experience improved self-efficacy, problem-solving skills, and persistence in education and the workforce. Participants build workforce skills, knowledge, and resumes to secure meaningful jobs in our region. Our target population is young people, ages 12-29 years, including 50%+ low-income families and 50%+ first-generation college goers. Along with improved economic status, our program provides grounding to develop leaders, promote and support wellness, and create stronger communities.

Many young people in West Virginia grow up in communities with high rates of poverty, food insecurity, academic disengagement, poor health, addiction, isolation and limited civic involvement. In addition, negative stereotypes about the region hide community strengths and overshadow positive shared history and identity. Under these circumstances, young people are at risk for low self-esteem and self-harming behaviors, including addiction, academic refusal, ongoing economic insecurity, and a sense of powerlessness.

High Rocks programs directly respond to socioeconomic and health challenges in our communities. High Rocks believes such outcomes arise from a lack of learning and engagement to empower young people to work together to improve their lives and communities. High Rocks programs are rooted in a community youth development curriculum that has been successfully implemented since 1996. A sustained investment in young people will increase educational attainment, increase labor force participation, and reduce unemployment.