Missionaries of the Sacred

How Community Building Can Help Respond to Matters of Social Justice

High School Graduation and Tutoring Services

Only 75% of freshman high school students in public schools in the USA graduate in four years with a regular diploma. 13% of people in the USA between the ages of 25 and 29 do not have a high school diploma or equivalent (2007 estimate). People who drop out of high school are less likely to find employment and tend to earn less income over their lifetime (an average of $400,000 less than their peers who graduated from high school). They are also less likely to have health insurance.     Students who drop out of high school are more likely to become parents as teenagers, which perpetuates the vicious cycle; children of teen mothers tend to do worse in school and are 50% more likely to repeat a grade than children born to older parents.

What You Can Do
Support efforts to help increase your community schools’ graduation rates, offer GED preparation to teenagers and adults who have dropped out of school, and lower rates of teenage pregnancy. Consider becoming a tutor. By helping a student complete his/her homework and understand the material, you help reduce the chance that the student will have to repeat a grade, which is important because  repeating a grade is strongly correlated with dropping out of school.

Homelessness and Mental Health Services

While not everyone who is homeless suffers from mental health problems, poor mental health is related to homelessness. About 25% of the homeless population has a serious mental illness, such as chronic depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

What You Can Do
Support efforts to bring mental health and counseling services to people who otherwise would not be able to access these services. If you are a licensed mental health care practitioner, consider donating some of your services to an organization that provides free or discounted counseling to people who could not otherwise afford it. Not a mental health care professional? Learn more about mental illness so that you can join the effort to overcome the stigma sometimes associated with seeking psychological
assistance, which may cause a person who needs help not to seek, or delay seeking assistance.