Umoja partners with high schools across the city of Chicago to help more students stay in school and graduate, prepared for college and careers. Their work emphasizes three core areas of student development: Restorative Justice, Social-Emotional Learning, and College and Career Readiness. This coming year they are partnering with 11 high schools and impacting more than 4,000 young people.
Ted joined Umoja in 1999 as an intern while working on his master’s degree at the University of Chicago, and has been the organization's CEO since 2011.
Umoja is an on-the-ground partner for schools and districts focused on ensuring every student graduates from high school equipped for college and career success. They achieve this by equipping teachers, staff, and school leaders with the knowledge, skills, and tools essential to increasing on-track and graduation rates, decreasing disciplinary infractions, and increasing college enrollment.
They build a college-going culture through comprehensive post-secondary curriculum, college application assistance, scholarship availability, financial aid, college trips, career events, data-tracking systems, and alumni transition support.
They work with teachers, consultants, and counselors to increase college enrollment and help with career planning for non-college-bound students. Here are some statistics to demonstrate their success:
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One-year drop-out rates decreased 38 percent at schools where Umoja has been doing Restorative Justice at least one full year.
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Out-of-school suspensions decreased an average of 49 percent across Umoja’s four Restorative Justice school partner sites in 2014/15.
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99 percent of students (average) applied to college and 94 percent submitted financial aid (FAFSA) across Umoja’s Senior Seminar school partner sites, an increase over previous years and CPS-wide numbers.
They use the Peace Room concept to implement restorative discipline practices and policies with students and adults (i.e. deans, security, administrators, teachers) to resolve conflicts, teach skills, reduce suspensions, and prevent future conflicts and violence. They teach kids how not to be angry.
Questions from our Rotarians:
What does Umoja mean?
Ans: Umoja is "unity" in Swahili.
Why an outside organization is doing this work?
Ans: Systems in schools are not designed to do the independent work organizations from outside can do. They are not equipped for budget crises; don’t have enough staff; and don’t have the expertise.
What is your relationship with schools?
Ans: We work with principals, staff, and students. It’s all about relationships.
Does Rotary help with your projects?
Ans: Not as yet.
What is the cost of the programs?
Ans: It is less expensive to have Peace rooms. Four years of college is less money than the costs to incarcerate a person. Their work is $50,000 to $60,000 per school. They ask schools to pay 5-10% of this cost. They pay the rest.
Where does the money come from?
Ans: They have a $2.6 million budget for 30 staff members. Most money comes from private foundations. A small amount comes from federal funding. Some contributions come from schools.
How did your organization start?
Ans: Lila Leff founded it in 1997.
What are your expansion plans?
Ans: We are looking to work with 20-25 schools with a roll-on-roll-off program.
What does roll-off mean?
Ans: Roll off is when schools meet the necessary criteria and benchmarks we set. We give them advance notice before we are finished so that they have time to roll-off. Once they do, we can work with a new school.
