FAQs
What is UpLink?
UpLink is Greater Kansas City’s community hub connecting the workplace to the classroom in order to further students’ academic skills and interests in the areas of math, engineering, technology and science (METS). The hub includes three core components: YouthFriends, LaunchPad and TeacherTech.
What is YouthFriends?
YouthFriends, in partnership with school districts, connects young people with caring adult volunteers in schools to promote success, encourage healthy behaviors and build stronger communities. What began as a pilot in six Greater Kansas City School districts with 613 volunteers has grown to include a network of 105 school districts and thousands of volunteers in Missouri and Kansas.
What is LaunchPad?
LaunchPad links students to job shadowing and internship opportunities with local employers with primary focuses on math, engineering, technology and science. Volunteer classroom speakers from area businesses also bring their job experiences to life during in-school presentations.
What is TeacherTech?
TeacherTech connects teachers to paid summer positions in area businesses, academic and research facilities, linking them to real-life applications and advancements in the fields of METS which they can bring back to the classroom.
Why was YouthFriends chosen to develop and manage UpLink?
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation chose YouthFriends because of its nationally-recognized leadership in the fields of school-based mentoring and volunteerism, its prudent risk management protocol, and its proven operating system of tools, training and technology being used by hundreds of school districts and organizations throughout the country.
Why is this program important to the Kansas City community?
Statistics show that students’ proficiency in math and science drops from elementary school to high school. There is also a growing lack of interest among students to pursue careers in METS with only 5 percent of today’s U.S. college students majoring in engineering and related fields.
Other questions? Contact us at uplinkinfo@youthfriends.org.