CURA Community-Based Research Programs
Application Form
1. Briefly describe your organization.
Plymouth Christian Youth Center (PCYC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) community-based
organization with a fifty-two year history of providing services on a non-sectarian basis to youth
and families of diverse cultures in North Minneapolis. Founded out of a Lutheran tradition of
social justice, it was first housed in an old hotel on Plymouth Avenue and relocated to the present
campus in 1969. Over 100,000 individuals have participated in the various educational, social,
recreational and neighborhood programs since its founding.
The mission of Plymouth Christian Youth Center is to enrich the skills, prospects and spirit of
North Minneapolis youth and adults, in partnership with families and communities.
PCYC programs include diverse options for children, youth and families conceived to meet the
agency mission and goals. Services are offered through two program divisions: the Education
Division (Alternative School) and Youth and Family Development. Programs in these divisions
include:
Youth and Family Development Programs
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After School Enrichment provides academic, social and recreational learning experiences
during non-school hours for neighborhood children in kindergarten through 6th grade.
Summer Friends offers a summer program for children in kindergarten to 6th grade
combining academic enrichment with recreational and social experiences.
Capri Summer Cultural Arts Program provides an intensive performing arts experience
for youth ages 9 to 13. Youth work with professional artists from the Twin Cities to create
an original performance which is staged at the Capri Theater.
Friendship Groups and Clubs, offered at Minneapolis elementary schools for more than 30
years, help nearly 600 children in kindergarten through 8th grade learn behavior management
and social skills and overcome isolation.
Rocking Readers links volunteers with kindergarten children in the public schools,
introducing the children to reading and conversation in one-to-one reading sessions.
STEEP (Steps Towards Enjoyable and Effective Parenting): Working with up to 25 teen
moms and their babies at a time, STEEP uses an “attachment model” with home visits and
social support groups to enhance parent-child relationships and to help mothers connect to
resources to strengthen their developing families.
Education Division – Alternative School
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The PCYC Alternative School, operating in North Minneapolis as a contract alternative
with Minneapolis Public Schools, serves approximately 300 9th through 12th grade students
who have not been successful in their regular public school setting. The PCYC Alternative
School offers a basic, state-mandated curriculum, working toward the achievement of a high
school diploma through small learning communities in cultural arts, service learning and
technology.
The Alternative School After-School Program provides academic, social and recreational
learning experiences during out-of-school time for students in the Alternative School.
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The Health and Wellness Program provides comprehensive health care and social work
services for adolescents in the Alternative School including health self-assessment, vision
and hearing screening, health education classes and groups, fitness and nutrition activities,
and student and family support services. Northpoint Health and Wellness Center partners to
offer an in-school health clinic. PCYC is also piloting a wellness program in mind-body
skills to teach youth how to maintain control of their mental and emotional well-being and
reduce stress.
As an agency PCYC also offers numerous community-building and cultural arts activities
which span both divisions and also involve community. These include neighbor groups,
cultural arts for and by the community and PCYC participants and regular community
activities and events. The PCYC neighbors’ group acts as a neighborhood block club and also
serves as an advisory task force helping to shape new initiatives and provide input on strategic
planning. PCYC sponsors weekly Saturday afternoon movies for families centered on the
Capri Theater. At the Capri, PCYC also sponsors theater, music and art performances for the
community, and also encourages theater use by artists seeking an appropriate venue. The
popular Children’s Christmas Gift Sale, an annual event at PCYC for over 40 years, gives
nearly 1,000 neighborhood children can purchase (for $1) up to five new items as presents for
their family members. The event involves hundreds of volunteers from across the Twin Cities in
this effort to help children learn the joy of giving. PCYC also sponsors several community
gatherings and dinners throughout the year.
PCYC staff and students actively participate in local initiatives to strengthen community
livability factors in North Minneapolis, through groups such as the City of Minneapolis, West
Broadway Business Association and Area Council, University Northside Partnership, and local
citizen participation organizations.
Cultural arts programs and health and wellness activities and services are the latest of our agency
endeavors. As noted in this application, we are vigorously pursuing the physical and
programmatic expansion of our Capri Theater, seeing a Capri Renaissance as key to raising the
neighborhood livability factors and stimulating economic growth along the West Broadway
Commercial Corridor. The wellness program currently being piloted and evaluated also offers
opportunities for expansion to students and others in the community.
2. Briefly describe the specific neighborhood, community, or group
that will be served by the proposed project (including, if possible,
demographic and geographic description).
The study serves North Minneapolis, where PCYC is located, where the vast majority of
PCYC students live, and where many youth continue their education and employment after
leaving PCYC.
3. What is the title of the proposed project?
Plymouth Christian Youth Center Longitudinal Student Outcome Study
4. Project Description.
a. Describe the specific problem to be addressed and the nature
of the project designed to address the problem.
Very little is known about how alternative schools shape later life patterns of at-risk youth
and young adults who attend those schools. However, both public and private funders of
alternative schools and community-based educational institutions such as PCYC often ask
whether we are really making a difference to the youth and families served, and how we
determine whether we are making a difference. Clearly a goal of high school education is to
set students on the right track for successful future experiences in education and employment.
During the 2002-2003 academic year, PCYC began a study to collect longitudinal data on
exiting students for the purposes of better understanding how students fare in terms of
education and employment after they leave PCYC, and to gather information about student
experiences while at PCYC. The study, which has been approved by the University of
Minnesota’s Institutional Review Board, will continue for a total of 15 years.
Through the study, PCYC high school students who exit the school from years 2002-2007
are invited to participate and provide information for up to 15 years after they exit.
Information on students is gathered from several sources at multiple points in time, then
stored and safeguarded by PCYC, with approved University of Minnesota researchers
analyzing the data and creating reports.
All PCYC students (grades 9-12) are invited to participate in the study, with students over 18
consenting to their own participation and students under age 18 participating with the consent
of a parent or guardian. Students who remained in PCYC for fewer than 24 weeks students
who were in junior high school (PCYC stopped serving junior high students in 2006) and
students who had a record of violence have been excluded.
Data are collected using mailed surveys. PCYC has employed a variety of techniques to stay
in touch with former students, including birthday cards, reunion events, and contact with
significant adults listed on school intake and study forms.
Longitudinal findings rest on the ability to track students long-term, to follow up with nonresponders and to track participants as they move and change addresses. Our request to
CURA is for a research assistant who would help with these tasks and also assist in the
analysis of study data.
b. What specific question(s) do you want the research to help
answer?
The study is designed to answer the following research questions regarding high school
students who were enrolled at PCYC.
After exiting PCYC:
(1) Are the former students employed in stable jobs that meet their financial needs and career
goals?
(2) What is the level and type of educational attainment achieved?
(3) How do former students’ actual educational attainment fit with, or complement, their
educational and employment goals?
(4) What PCYC experiences, opportunities, relationships, courses or other factors were
important, from the students’ perspective, in preparing them for embarking on their
educational and employment goals?
c. What will be the final research product?
The final product with be results and findings of a 15-year longitudinal study of students who
attended PCYC’s alternative school. The study will demonstrate the impact of an alternative
school education on at-risk youth and young adults, and will track their life progress in
educational achievement and employment.
d. How will your organization use the results of this research to
benefit the neighborhood, community, or group you serve?
The information gained from this study will be used to develop and improve PCYC
curriculum and environment, and to influence the curriculum and environment of other
alternative schools both locally and nationally.
5. How will the people who are served by your organization be
involved in this research project, especially those affected by the
results?
Students who have agreed to participate in the survey will be contacted via mail and receive
regular surveys which require their response. The results will affect future curriculum and
environmental choices at PCYC, and will enable PCYC to become a more effective
educational institution. This will impact the North Minneapolis community in which many
former students continue to live, and will eventually impact their own children.
6. Does this project involve other organizations beyond yours? If so,
please describe these organizations and how they will contribute
to the project.
The project involves only PCYC and the University of Minnesota.
7. Has a faculty advisor been recruited to assist with the project?
__X__ Yes: (provide name, department and contact information, and
attach short letter of support).
Dr. Susan Wells, Gamble Skogmo Professor of Child Welfare, University of Minnesota
105 Peters Hall
St. Paul, MN 55126
612-624-4721
swells@umn.edu
____ No: Describe the faculty qualifications desired for the faculty
advisor, (or explain why you do not desire a faculty member to
be involved).
8. Describe the duties and responsibilities for each of the following,
including the specific tasks each will be expected to complete:
(a) The student research assistant
 Tracking participants
 Following up with non-respondents (by phone)
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Inputting information into database
Participating in data analysis
Ongoing communication with project supervisor.
(b) The faculty member
 Primary responsibility for analyzing data and reporting findings
 Maintaining human subjects approval with the University of Minnesota
 Establishing and updating system database operations
 Analyzing yearly additional wave of survey data on its own and in comparison to
previous findings (both qualitative and quantitative results)
 Creation of a yearly summary report
 Assessing the viability and response rates for future survey waves.
 Ongoing communication with PCYC staff
(c) The project supervisor
 Manage the mailing lists of potential study participants to send surveys to.
 Complete mailings of 3 surveys, cover letters and postcards yearly.
 Develop and complete mailings of birthday cards for all study participants yearly.
 Receive all returned surveys, track return dates and after which mailing they came.
 Tally all returned surveys.
 Make all efforts possible to track down study participants whose surveys are returned
to sender.
 Ongoing communication with Karen Goodenough, Project Manager.
9. What specific skills, experience, and qualifications will be
required of the student research assistant?
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Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Strong organizational skills and detail oriented.
Basic understanding of evaluation and research methodology.
Ability to use technology- specifically Microsoft Word and Excel.
Critical thinking skills.
Understanding of culturally relevant practice.
Project Support.
a. What additional expense items will the project require (estimate cost)?
None.
Submit applications via one of the following methods:
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as an e-mail attachment (preferred) to ksn@umn.edu
by fax to 612-626-0273
by U.S. mail c/o Northside Community Seed Grant , CURA, 301—19th Ave.
S., 330 HHH Center, Minneapolis, MN 55455
The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs,
facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status,
disability, public assistance status, veteran status, or sexual orientation