We Want You Back: A Minneapolis success — but there's still work to be done

On Saturday, Sept. 11, over 300 Minneapolis volunteers came together let youth between the ages of 14 and 21 know: “We Want You Back!”

Prior to the city-wide door-knocking event, the campaign helped put 57 high school-age students, 162 middle school students, and 28 adult basic education students back on the path to graduation.

Then, on the Sept. 11 "Day of Action," We Want You Back volunteers knocked on thousands of doors and connected almost 100 more young people with a school or program that will support their education.

But there's still a lot of work to do: Officials with Minneapolis Public Schools believe that there are approximately 2,000 Minneapolis youth un-enrolled from our schools.

“We are committed to helping students find a program that meets their needs,” said Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson. “Our goal this year is to recruit 200 of our students back to school.”

The Day of Action kicked off an influential campaign that will bring the dropout crisis to the forefront. The schools, city, county and others are committed to an ongoing partnership that will deliver the support young people need to be successful. We Want You Back leadership has already begun planning for next year’s Day of Action and for a continued strong partnership between Minneapolis Public Schools and Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board, which helped lead this campaign. The campaign and program to reach and help dropouts will be sustained throughout the year.

This outreach was the result of the two-tiered approach implemented in our “We Want You Back” campaign. For outreach during the 2009-10 school year, we targeted students who had already earned 40 credits toward graduation with outreach efforts that involved telephone calls, posters and mailings. While the results of this were gratifying, we knew we had to do more. In partnership with governmental and community organizations, this campaign mobilized hundreds of volunteers to blanket the city of Minneapolis, going door to door to contact young people who have dropped out over the last five years and let them know we are here to support them and get them back into school. Staff and volunteers will be conducting weekly check-ins with these young people to help them enroll in school or a program and complete their high school education.

Efforts such as We Want You Back are being implemented across the country, in cities like Houston and Philadelphia. Superintendent Johnson, Mayor R.T. Rybak and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman are jointly chairing the campaign. The campaign is also seeking support and sponsorships from a host of public, private and nonprofit organizations.

Volunteers are still needed to be part of an important follow-up effort connecting students to resources, support and information of all kinds to help them graduate. To sign up to volunteer, please visit www.wewantyoubackmpls.org. If you know a young person who would like to re-enroll or to find out more about Minneapolis school programs and services, contact Mary Barrie, Minneapolis Public Schools at 612-668-0721 or mary.barrie@mpls.k12.mn.us.

Diane Elkerton is an administrator with Minneapolis Public Schools.