The Need: Although neighborhood schools are doing all they can with limited resources and crowded classrooms, many of UV's students require a more focused and tailored education. Urban Vision seeks to help answer the need so that the kids of North Hill can achieve their full potential, both personally and socially.
UV's Response: Urban Vision has formed Beacon Christian Learning Center (CLC), which offers state-approved education through an online academy, K12. North Hill students enrolled in Beacon are driven, hardworking youth who show a strong desire to learn, but who require more individualized attention - whether as a result of learning disabilities, struggles due to immigration and English being a second language, or simply the challenges faced in any overcrowded classroom.
Urban Vision dedicated a section
of its building to house Beacon, and in summer 2012, volunteers
refurbished a hallway and two classrooms in order to prepare for the
incoming students. When eleven young elementary and middle-school faces
entered the building in late August, they were greeted by new floors,
painted walls, and K12 computers and books. Currently, Beacon is under way, and a third classroom is being prepared
to hold an additional eleven high school students who joined the program
in October. Every student is actively engaged, and all 22 are working
hard to use Beacon as a stepping stone to a higher education once thought
unattainable.
The K12 academic program offers students instruction and support via online courses, while Beacon facilitators keep students on track with lesson plans. Beacon CLC supplements the regular K12 academic program with personalized teaching, Christian worldview development, and a healthy learning environment that allows and encourages students to pursue personal excellence, so that they can later continue on successfully in a higher form of education. While K12 provides computers and books, Beacon CLC receives no other state support in funding. Urban Vision relies heavily on donations and volunteers in order to keep the CLC running.
The Goal: Beacon CLC aims to provide hardworking students with the educational and personal tools they need to succeed both in school and as leaders within their communities. Together, teachers and students strive not only for improved grades and behavior, but enhanced understanding, a sense of personal empowerment and discipline, establishment of self-worth, and a broadening of opportunities. It is our goal that these youth will grow to become leaders of their peers, holding local positions and influencing more people towards a strengthened and balanced society. The students are even now learning the value of diligence, perseverance, and cooperation, lessons that will one day benefit not only their futures, but the future of North Hill, North Akron, and even Northeast Ohio.
Beacon CLC is not a final destination for these students. When they are able to progress to school settings where they can learn at the same pace as others, in healthy and educational settings, they will move on, and other children will take their places at Beacon. By reaching out to students who would otherwise fall through the cracks in society, Beacon offers a light to the community, a place for youth to be refreshed and revitalized before going out to refresh and revitalize their world.