Description
Since its founding in 1990, Pro-Vision has offered young men from Houston’s most underserved neighborhoods the guidance and support they need to realize their full potential academically, morally, and spiritually. The young men who enroll in Pro-Vision’s programs are those who are the most vulnerable to the negative forces that continue to undermine entire communities. The average student at Pro-Vision enters 2-3 grade levels behind in Math and Reading, has a history of disruptive behavior at school and at home, and is being raised by a single mother who makes no more than $24,000 a year. Pro-Vision has developed a variety of programs that address the root causes of the despair that continues to have a powerful grip on the lives of these young men and their communities. These programs emphasize physical fitness, proper nutrition, and responsible citizenship, exposure to arts and culture, and clear and consistent standards of behavior. The following are the four core programs of Pro-Vision.
(1) The Manhood Development Academy is a mentoring program that develops thoughtful, hard working, and respectful youth who take responsibility for their own lives. The Manhood program places young men in situations and activities that reinforce moral and ethical thinking to improve their decision making process.
(2) The Pro-Vision School is the first all male middle public charter school in the state of Texas, and it addresses the special needs of fifth through eighth grade students who desire a second chance at achieving academic success. The academic needs of students are evaluated and addressed continually and students benefit from individual and small-group learning modules in every discipline and at every grade level.
(3) The Vision Academy high school consists of a distance learning technology-based methodology that addresses the needs of all learning styles and behaviors by incorporating individualized educational plans for each student. Instructors incorporate a collaboration of rigorous academic programs with relevance and relationships.
(4) The Job Enterprise Academy taps the most abundant asset of those at risk - their labor - and channels it in a direction that will benefit them with increased income and self-sufficiency. A variety of revenue-generating businesses provide the venue for improving basic literacy, numerical and organizational aptitude, and interpersonal skills, thereby providing the base for increasingly more sophisticated vocational or technical training.
Although no statistic can completely capture the entirety of what Pro-Vision as an organization does, it is worth noting that 90% of Pro-Vision graduates go on to graduate from high school, and after graduation 97% have either enrolled in college, joined the military, or found gainful fulltime employment.
