Our Impact
ALMS Impact/Outcomes
With ALMS, young adults have an opportunity to receive mentoring, learn job readiness, and life skills while still attending high school, as well as after graduation. For the past four years, Cache Creek High School, a continuation school in the Woodland Joint Unified School District, has offered the ALMS program as an elective before graduation. The ALMS after-school and evening program is also available for out-of-school young adults and those working minimum wage jobs who want to gain the job-readiness edge ALMS offers. As of June 2020, ALMS has served over 166 young adults. Of those young adults, we have at least 47% returning for additional training sessions to retain relationships with mentors and their peers in the program.
Of the 166 young adults served, at least 53% are employed, even during the current health crisis. Some ALMS graduates work more than one job to assist their families, demonstrating their ability to land a job, keep a job, and their eagerness to work.
“Over the last 5 years, with the weekly presence of ALMS’ mentors on campus, we’ve seen improvements in attendance, behavior, grades, and our graduation rate. In each year, our graduation rate has increased significantly, from 49% in 2015, to 80% in 2019. Most significantly for Cache Creek, dramatic changes in behavior and a move away from street life dominating campus culture, are now the norm. Referrals have dropped by over 70%, and suspensions, especially fighting, have dropped by nearly 80%. By pulling in students, and often students with the most difficult of circumstances, ALMS’ impact on our school has been direct, consistent, and, most importantly, sustainable.”
— Will Jarrell, Principal, Cache Creek High School
Young adults who have been through the ALMS program have been hired in nursing homes and clinics as Medical Assistants, an LVN graduate, others working with autistic children, working jobs in solar, utilities, administrative, warehousing, and more.
Going forward, ALMS intends to work closely with Yolo Health & Human Services, the Woodland Chamber of Commerce, and industry partners to help place ALMS graduates into jobs, apprenticeships, and internships with potential for advancement. ALMS anticipates that some ALMS graduates with particular skills might gravitate toward self-employment. ALMS will help advise and support this path as well, by connecting graduates with experienced entrepreneurs, QuickBooks training, and other resources to get them started.