Girl Effect is partnering with StriveTogether – a national nonprofit working to improve education for children in the US – to launch TEGA in Adams County, Colorado, US.
TEGA (Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors) is Girl Effect’s youth-led research methodology, originally developed in Nigeria. The project will see young women from Adams County between the ages of 18 to 19 becoming fully qualified researchers, unearthing unique insights about their communities to inform educational outcomes.
In Adams County — the fastest growing county in Colorado in both population and employment — many families face challenges, including poverty, high rates of teen pregnancy and single motherhood, lack of health insurance for children and families with English as their second language. Across the five school districts in the region, the free and reduced-lunch rate is as high as 84 percent, compared to the 49 percent state average. These factors affect the success rates of students from graduation rates through to proficiency in maths.
Adams County marks the second project Girl Effect has launched in the US, following a successful TEGA pilot in Saginaw, Michigan, last year.
With StriveTogether and one of its partner organisations, Youth Initiative of Adams County, the pilot will test how combining TEGA’s unique mobile-first methodology with local community partnerships can improve educational outcomes for the young people they serve.
Laura Scanlon, Director of TEGA, said:
“We can’t enable young people to live healthier, safer, more educated and economically stable lives without first understanding the issues that affect young people. The lack of proper understanding is what limits the effectiveness of any intervention. This is a challenge not just in developing nations but across the globe. By partnering with StriveTogether we will gain a better picture of the underlying issues that are holding young people back in Adams County.”
By partnering with StriveTogether we will gain a better picture of the underlying issues that are holding young people back in Adams County.Laura Scanlon, Director of TEGA
StriveTogether helps communities to build stronger cradle-to-career partnerships through continuous improvement and collective impact. Communities in the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network track up to seven key educational outcomes from infancy to adulthood – such as kindergarten readiness and completion of post-secondary school. In each community, a coalition of local partners – including educators, government and parents – work together to improve these outcomes.
Becky Hoffman, CEO of Youth Initiative of Adams County, said:
“At Youth Initiative of Adams County, we work with partners on dramatically improving outcomes and closing gaps for youth. Using the StriveTogether approach — of which student and parent perspective is a key component — we want to help our partners understand what it’s like to be a young person in Adams County. We’re particularly excited about getting authentic input through the ideas and insights gleaned by local TEGAs.”
We want to help our partners understand what it’s like to be a young person in Adams County.Becky Hoffman, CEO of Youth Initiative of Adams County
Jennifer Blatz, President and CEO at StriveTogether, said:
“StriveTogether believes every child should succeed and have the opportunity to reach his or her full potential. To get better results, we need to engage those impacted most, and forming a locally led group of researchers will give girls a chance to change their lives while creating real impact. We are thrilled to work with Girl Effect and the Youth Initiative of Adams County on using community voice to shape community solutions.”
Learn more about TEGA.