2021 COMBAT Funding: $45,000.00

In The Urban Ranger Corps' Own Words

86% Of Participants From Single-parent Households

The Urban Ranger Corps (URC) provides youth programming to boys and young men grades 7th-12th, ages 12 to 18, with a unique opportunity to develop the appropriate life skills necessary for them to become successful and contributing members of society. URC is a singular program operating annually, from June through May, and broken down into two sessions: a Summer Session (June-August) and a School-Year Session (September-May). Since its founding (2005) URC has worked with more than 820 young men. Ninety-four participants are enrolled in the current program year. Ninety percent of participants attend school within Kansas City Public Schools or the Kansas City Charter School system. Eighty-six percent of participants are from single-parent, low income households.

Working Toward The Future

URC operates one holistic program, designed to work as a comprehensive community-based system that promotes and shares ownership of its program success with the entire population of Kansas City.  We utilize evidence-based tools and widespread institutional partnerships to deliver quality projects and activities to our participants. All projects and activities are designed to offset some of the major problems affecting youth in the urban core, while at the same time working to upgrade the status of our future human resource pool.

URC makes available to young men opportunities to expand their involvement in activities that will augment their future personal growth and development as members of a worldwide human resource pool. We offer each participant a global view in the content areas of Career and Academic Enhancement, Financial and Entrepreneurial Education and Neighborhood and Community Involvement. URC is unique in that for every program season we evaluate these content areas in conjunction with the greatest needs of our participants, and develop specific projects and activities that are designed to upgrade each participant’s complete ability to become successful and productive citizens.

Collaboraton Partners

URC has formed collaborations with:

• The Kansas City Public Schools
• Veterans Community Project
• Blue River Watershed Association
• Kansas City Parks & Recreation
• State of Missouri Conservation
• Entrepreneurship KC
• College Coaching Network
• Turner Construction
• Plaza Rotary Club
• City of Kansas City, Missouri
• Center School District
• Hogan Schools.

Overcoming Obstacles

Our newest and most important project initiative is Overcoming Obstacles Curriculum mentoring sessions. These sessions are held twice per month during the school-year and are led by our Student Success Coach and volunteer mentors. 

The Overcoming Obstacles curriculum is organized into middle school and high school level programs, each beginning with the three fundamental skills on which all other skills can be built: communication, decision making and goal setting.

Both levels of the curriculum encompass a variety of individual skill modules that incorporate the same structure and organization. Because of the modular format, URC focuses on the specific modules dedicated to conflict resolution and problem solving.

Need

Ninety-eight percent (98%) of the boys and young men we serve are African American and live in high-risk Kansas City neighborhoods. All of them are exposed to prevalent criminogenic factors that include neighborhood economic deprivation; high crime and violence rates; availability of drugs; low expectations/aspirations for school; and chronic absenteeism.

In our educational system, boys are now twice as likely as girls to be labeled as learning disabled. "Boys constitute up to 67 percent of our special education classes, and in some school systems are up to 10 times more likely to be diagnosed with a serious emotional disorder—most likely attention deficit disorder for which many boys receive potent medications with potentially serious side effects," Why Are So Many Minority Students in Special Education? Understanding Race and Disability in Schools (2006 New York Teachers College Press). Increasingly boys are more likely to endure disciplinary problems, be suspended from classe, or drop-out from school entirely.

Boys are experiencing serious trouble outside of school time as well. 

According to an article published in Psychology Today ("Teen Depression-Boys: Adolescent Males Face a Unique Set of Pressures" • May 21, 2007), “rates of anxiety disorders and depression are soaring among boys. For the first time, depression among males is nearly as prevalent as among females in this group."