Vickery Meadow opens Success Center for youth empowerment

DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - The Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation celebrated the grand opening of it's latest offering to the Dallas community. The Success Center aims to encourage education growth, personal growth, and community development.

Executive Director Janet Morris-Lane told CBS News Texas that the center starts preparing students as young as 7th graders for their college journey in the Equal Scholars program.

"We start with our scholars when they're in middle school and stay all the way through college graduation because we know to get them to college is one thing, going through college is a whole different matter. To pair with that, we have moms groups so that we are connecting, so it's a two-generational approach," she said. "As we move forward, we want to really grow and offer things to the broader community and to do other educational opportunities with and for the community."

To support students and their parents, the center is offering a variety of programs and resources to empower youth to achieve educational goals and become future leaders. 

• Educational workshops aim to reinforce academic skills and prepare students for college. 
• There will also be career development sessions to help youth make resumes, practice interviews and learn how to network. 
• In the mentorship programs, mentors will have the opportunity to share some of their own experience to guide and inspire students. 
• What's more, there's a relationship incubator that will allow people to connect across the variety of 30 languages and cultures in Vickery Meadows. 
• And finally, the center will also host events for any age to foster connections and collaborations within the community.

"There's over 30 languages in the Vickery Meadows community, so a lot of families are refugees and immigrants in this community but there's a whole diversity of people," she said. "Every time I've ever met with a family, they have always said—you know, if they came from another country—'I came here for education.' Even families that live here, have lived here all their lives, if they haven't had opportunities in life, they're always saying, 'I want my kid to have that educational opportunity that I didn't have.'"

The Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation says the Success Center is a "testament to the organization's dedication to providing a safe and welcoming space for the young individuals in the community to thrive and succeed."