The Michigan Young People’s Project program is a part of a larger Math Literacy Project in South Eastern Michigan, centered in Washtenaw County. The specific YPP work expanded after 5 students attended the Summer 2007 College Math Literacy Worker (CMLW) Training in Chicago. Throughout the remainder of the summer and the fall of 2007, the five worked with Advisors in the University of Michigan’s department of Literature, Sciences & the Arts (LSA), School of Education, Residential College, and Project Community to model YPP for the Math Literacy Project and began solidifying community connections.
As of January 2008, CMLWs were training MLWs at Cesar Chavez Academy High School in Southwest Detroit, working with a group of students in Ypsilanti through Eastern Michigan University (EMU) GEAR UP, and running an occasional workshop at Second Baptist Church in Ann Arbor, as a part of the church’s Academic Achievement Program. LSA began to fund the work of the CMLWs and again sent 3 students to Chicago’s Summer CMLW training in 2008. The Summer of 2008 shows YPP-Michigan working with the Summer Camps at Ann Arbor Community Center, EMU GEAR UP, and Second Baptist Church of Ypsilanti.
By the end of the summer, CMLWs will also have attended the Algebra Project Conference in Mississippi, as well as the Training of Trainers in Georgia. YPP-Michigan is eager to build a strong base in its community and is actively seeking ways to promote community ownership of the work. This fall, one of Cesar Chavez Academy’s former MLWs will hopefullly begin working as a CMLW.