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Juma's History

Juma was founded in 1993 with a single Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream shop franchise in San Francisco that provided a handful of job opportunities to homeless youth. Since then, Juma has grown from a job-training and placement program serving 25 youth to a comprehensive youth development program operating eight social enterprises in three cities that help more than 200 disadvantaged youth annually to realize their goals for post-secondary education. Since 1993, Juma has served more than 2,500 youth who have earned in excess of $1.4 million in wages.

In 1999, Juma was the first youth program to develop and offer financial literacy education and asset-building services to teens. Through these services, youth build financial knowledge, save for college, and receive matching funds through Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). Today, Juma runs one of the largest youth IDA programs in America, with 710 accounts opened and more than $995,000 of youth savings and matching funds invested in realizing their dreams for the future.

In recent years, Juma has increased the focus on college access efforts, committing resources to help youth not only gain admission to college, but to help them thrive in college and complete their degree. By integrating essential academic and support services to assist youth in making the transition to post-secondary education successfully, Juma empowers youth to build the life skills, financial assets, and academic skills they will need to succeed there.

Juma Ventures will continue developing the depth and quality of college preparation and success programming. This will include increasing the educational planning and academic preparation elements of the core program for youth during their junior and senior years in high school, and launching increased supports for youth during their first two years in college. Additionally, Juma is investing in increasing effectiveness through enhanced evaluation and performance management systems.

 

Juma's High-Impact Results

Juma's program helps close the achievement gap by increasing the college-going and completion rate of low-income youth of color, including juvenile offenders and foster youth. Juma partners with youth to increase their work readiness, financial literacy and asset base, working together toward the singular goal of breaking the cycle of poverty by ensuring that these young people complete a four-year college education.

Juma Ventures' recent outcomes and accomplishments include:

  • 100% of Juma's 2009 Bay Area high-school seniors graduated from high school (compared to Oakland's graduation rate of 46% and San Francisco's graduation rate of 73%).
  • For the third year in a row, over 80% of Juma's graduating high school seniors in the Bay Area (San Francisco and Oakland) are college-bound (compared to the prevailing college-going rate for low-income high-school graduates of 52%). Among 2009 high school graduates, 89% are currently committed to entering institutions of higher education, and Juma staff are working with the remaining undecided youth to encourage them to pursue a college degree.
  • Two years after completing Juma's program, 97% of Juma youth are still working and/or enrolled in academic or vocational training; with 53% working and enrolled in school; 24% working only; and 20% enrolled in school/vocational training only. (source: BTW Consultants independent evaluation of Juma program, 2006)
  • Within the highest-risk youth group, those who had been convicted of a crime prior to entering Juma's program (11% of participants), 13% had relapsed into criminal behavior at some point during the two-year follow-up period. This recidivism rate is dramatically lower than the rate for youth offenders in California, where 91% of youth commit another offense within three years of release from the Division of Juvenile Justice. (source: BTW Consultants independent evaluation of Juma program, 2006)