MEF Summer Program in Full Swing

As area schools prepare for summer vacation, instructors at the Midtown Center for boys and Metro Achievement Center for girls are hard at work preparing for their summer programs. These programs embody MEF’s mission: to guide Chicago’s at-risk youth along pathways of success.

With your support, kids from underserved communities have the opportunity to grow during the summer, instead of falling behind. These kids grow in character, they grow by engaging one-on-one with a mentor, and they grow through new experiences, particularly field trips. We invite you to support these efforts with a gift toward the annual Summer Works Appeal. As an added incentive, an anonymous donor has offered to match each contribution for this year’s appeal. So, a gift of $100 will become $200, and a $500 contribution will become $1,000.

Contributions from this appeal will directly benefit MEF’s summer programs, which serve more than 800 kids and families. Each individual who walks through the doors at Midtown and Metro has a story. Montserrat, a graduating Metro senior, shared part of hers with us:

“I began at Metro in the fourth grade, a tiny fourth-grader. There are certain limitations imposed on first-generation students, so I felt a burden, a pressure on my shoulders to prove people wrong. Countless times at Metro I was told that I can succeed. The tutors, advisors, teachers, and staff all encouraged us and supported us in our weekly struggles. These walls have become a home and the people here, my family.”

The summer program at Midtown and Metro features leadership opportunities, academic classes, and support, individual mentoring, creative outlets and field trips. For example, the MAP Program’s summer extracurricular offerings include classes in music, drama, leadership, cooking, sports, and dance as well as character education.

High School students also have the opportunity to gain real-world working experience through paid summer apprenticeships in Architecture, Business, Computer Science, Engineering, Hospitality & Management, and Visual Media.

For the past fifty-four years, MEF has helped more than 23,000 kids like Montserrat who are living in under served communities in Chicago. This has been possible only with the generous support of people like you. MEF receives virtually zero funding from government sources and relies on the greater Chicago community to continue to fulfill its mission. And the results speak for themselves: Ninety-four percent of 2019 Midtown and Metro eighth-grade students have been accepted to college preparatory high schools and 100% of 2019 seniors have graduated from high school and enrolled into college—the 20th consecutive class to achieve this feat!

Monteserrat’s success story is one of many at Midtown and Metro, year after year. Please help us continue this work through this Summer Works Appeal. If you are interested in touring the Midtown Center for boys or Metro Achievement Center for girls, please contact Louis Artiaga, Director of Advancement, at 312-738-8300 ext. 27 or lartiaga@midtown-metro.org. Also, plan to join us for an Open House at Midtown (1819 N. Wood St.) on July 12th from 11am to 2pm, as well as Metro (310 S. Peoria St.) on July 26th from 11am to 2pm.

If you are interested in learning more or signing up for a program, please click here.