- [Narrator] Chasing the Dream:

Poverty and Opportunity in America is an ongoing

public media reporting initiative.

(mumbling and quiet conversation)

- In fifth and forth grade, I didn't really like

coming to school, but then, I know how school

is very important to all of us,

and so, like, I need to come to school.

So, I started coming to school, and I started liking school.

- Our families in Fres Unified usually when we're out

speaking with parents, some of the challenges

that we find is that their students are ill.

That's mostly the first comment

that we would get from parents, you know,

that's why students are missing school.

But as you dig deeper, we find that, you know,

there are other things that are challenges for the parents.

- I usually, like, tell my dad that

I don't want to go to school.

And then, like, sometimes, he'll say yes,

but sometimes, he'll say no.

It's most of the time that he says no.

He don't usually say yes.

(slow, somber music)

- We find that in the 93706, that you know,

families struggle with a lot of different things that,

that impede the attendance for the students, so.

Things such as, you know, family crisis,

which would be homelessness, it would be

metal health issues, you know, lack of transportation,

domestic violence issues, substance abuse,

lots of different things that, you know,

become part of the more important part of the day

for the family, and they're not really able to

really focus on, you know, the attendance as much.

- My mom and dad are split away from each other,

so, like, it's very hard to see them together,

so, like, sometimes I'll go to my mom, my dad,

but I'm mostly with my dad than my mom.

But I just wish they'd come together.

- The program that I operate is the Mentoring Office

of Fresno Unified School District,

which encompasses mentoring services,

which we matched students with responsible adults

or peers, with overall goal is to help support them

to do well academically, but also to do well in life.

- Calvin, I started to talk to him, like in fifth grade,

he would usually tell me about, like,

how it is without school, and like, he gave me some, like,

life lessons that school was important,

so I started, like, using those.

- If we're going to reach students that have

attendance issues, what I've found in our mentoring,

we need more of a daily mentoring.

Which is always hard, because how do you get

people in the community to give you time every day?

So, what we've learned to do is utilize those people

that are at the school site, whether it be a teacher,

a staff person, a person that works in the cafeteria,

that they can meet a student daily.

- I feel smarter, like, I feel better than I was last year.

Because last year, I was just fooling off,

getting kicked out of class,

but now in sixth grade, I started paying attention.

And now, like, sometimes, it goes hard,

but like, I know how to go through it.

So that's why I actually, like,

start listening, know how to do better in class,

and don't get sent to the office.

- For me, this is a dream job, you know,

this is, to be able, if I would've ever thought:

one, that I woulda graduate from high school

at the time, because I was kinda,

I was one of those students that you would consider.

One, we were poor, I didn't have a father.

My father was in an out of prison.

But it took a mentor that connected with me,

that really kinda changed, you know, my plight in life.

So, to be able to now do it on a major scale in a district

is really, you know, it's a great opportunity.

So I'm giving back.

- I want to graduate high school.

Finish college, and probably, I want to be astronaut.

(slow, melodic music)

- In this day and age, without a high school diploma,

no, your rate of being successful drops significantly.

The graduation rate in Fres Unified has been climbing,

you know, in the last few years.

And we're actually, as a district,

higher than the state average in graduation rates.

And that's something we're very proud of.

(slow, melodic music)

- [Narrator] Funding for Chasing the Dream

is provided by the JPB Foundation and Ford Foundation.