Martha O'Bryan Center

THRIVE is Martha O'Bryan Center's comprehensive youth program serving those in grades 2 through 12.  Through THRIVE, our young people learn a range of academic, social, and life planning skills.  A key to our success is blending traditional forms of academic study with active learning outside the classroom.  For example, we focus both on the building blocks of reading and math skills as well on projects that foster youth development, responsibility, and leadership skills such as community service. 
 
THRIVE operates during the regular school year as well as during the summer.  During the school year, we focus on after-school programs Monday through Friday 15 hours per week at our two locations, the Martha O'Bryan Center and the CWA-Cayce Learning Center, located within two blocks of each other.  Serving the CWA-Cayce residents addresses the needs of a growing Somali population believed to be the second largest such concentration in the United States.  During the summer, we offer activities including a summer enrichment camp and job readiness programs.
 
Recent examples of successes include:        
 

• 100% of our high school students were graduated on time from high school.  This compares to only 75% of their peers in their high school.
• THRIVE participants have comparatively low suspension records and a zero dropout rate.  We actively engage them in academic tutoring, life-planning, visits to college campuses to learn about admissions and financial aid and help with vocational schools.      
• 91% of students in our Reading Achievement Program (RAP) have raised their reading scores by more than half of a grade level.  
• We have added a similar program for math skills which promises to be equally successful. 
• Teens in our summer jobs program acquired pre-job soft-skills training and paid work experience. 

Our Reading Achievement Program (RAP) serves elementary, middle, and high school students and has been cited by the Tennessee Department of Education as having an "exemplary tutoring program."  Trained tutors work with students twice weekly and use lesson plans based on best practices incorporating the five components of reading developed by the National Reading Panel and Reading First: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension.