Greater Miami Academics and Technology Training Academy

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2011

Miami-Dade County government has established a goal of having self-sufficient population and ensuring that individuals 18 years and older including foster care and juvenile justice youth are work-ready. In 2009, Miami-Dade Community Action Agency, in partnership with the Greater Miami Service Corps (GMSC) and The School for Integrated Academics and technologies (SIATech) formed a partnership aimed at preparing out-of-school youth to become self-sufficient. Through their partnership, they created the Great Miami Academics and Technology training Academy (GMATTA), an initiative aimed at serving out-of-school youth in a charter high school that combines occupational training and work experience as a mechanism to reengage disconnected and disadvantaged youth. The vision of the program embodies the intent to break the cycle of poverty and underachievement for youth who have dropped out of the traditional school system. The program model ensures that classrooms are equipped with high-end, internet-accessible workstations that simulate a modern office environment, rather than a traditional classroom, providing a more interactive experience for the young people involved in the program.