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several project employees are former emancipated foster youth from Orange County, we will have staff on hand <br />uniquely qualified to assist foster youth interns. <br />Probation Youth: <br />The "Seeds to Trees Digital Media Academy" program plans to recruit youth who are on probation through our <br />partnership with the Orange County Probation Department. We have had tremendous success with probation <br />youth community service volunteers. Forty to fifty probation youth volunteer at the library annually, and ten to <br />fifteen of those remain as volunteers after their service hours are completed. We are currently piloting a <br />program specifically aimed at probation youth that includes workshops on adolescent behavior and attitudes and <br />how they resonate in a student's life, as well as classes in needed academic subjects. <br />Youth with Disabilities: <br />Youth with physical disabilities will be welcome in the program, as will youth with mild learning disorders. <br />Youth with severe cognitive disabilities will find the educational components of the program too demanding. <br />With space in the program limited, it is necessary to offer the training only to those who can benefit from it. <br />Among the youth served by the Santa Ana Public Library, there are a number of barriers associated with <br />poverty preventing the achievement of short and /or long term goals. The most common barrier as concluded by <br />the TABE test is basic skills deficiency. Student results indicate that a majority of students are performing at or <br />below an equivalency of 8.9 grade level. These students often have difficulties in the completion of their <br />education, since they are likely to fall behind in semester credits and in turn eventually drop out of high school. <br />A second common barrier is poor work history. Students with poor work history are at least 19 years of age and <br />have never had a full -time job. As students continue to search for opportunities in a competitive job market, <br />they have fewer opportunities with limited education and work experience. Many of the youth do not have <br />reliable transportation to and from school or to the place of employment. As a result it causes an attendance <br />and /or punctuality issue. Many of the students do not have professional clothing readily available for <br />employment interviews or professional events. These barriers are often setbacks for students. <br />V. State the Solution <br />The Seeds to Trees program is supports students by providing resources, knowledge and /or informational tools <br />to find personal connections for educational and local workforce opportunities. Throughout the program, <br />students will have the opportunity of attending media arts instruction with the implementation of a curriculum <br />similar to college coursework. Students will attend or partake in various activities to enhance their educational, <br />employment and life skills. <br />Mentorship has always been a cornerstone of the Santa Ana Public Library's Teen (12 -18) and Young Adult <br />(18 -24) programming, and thus it will be a cornerstone of the "Seeds to Trees Digital Media Academy" <br />program as well. All program participants will be assigned a Tutor Mentor, who they will meet with <br />individually on a weekly basis for 30 minutes as part of their on -the job training. They will discuss the progress <br />of their vocational and on -the job training as well as any additional educational tutoring and support service <br />needs that they may have. Tutor Mentors will provide the necessary resources to meet their mentees' needs <br />(Please see attachment M for a list of resources). Tutor Mentors will also schedule their mentees' tutoring time <br />at this meeting. In addition to mentoring from their assigned Tutor Mentors, interns will also receive <br />mentorship on their particular production projects from project mentors. These Project Mentors will be <br />responsible for helping interns develop and produce content for programming on specific topics. (Please See <br />Attachment K for a list of tutor mentors and project mentors). They will also receive mentoring from the Lead <br />EXHIBIT A <br />