The Maranathan Story

Mission

The mission of Maranathan Academy is simple – to save the lives of critically at risk youth. Maranathan Academy is dedicated to, through the transformative power of education:

• Provide an educational oasis for individuals in desperate need of a second chance
• Provide academic, spiritual and emotional strength for critically at risk youth and their families
• Assist each graduate to become a productive, contributing member of society

Primary Goal

The primary goal of Maranathan Academy is to break the cycle of intergenerational dependency on government assistance that has plagued the families of critically at-risk youth for generations.

Critically at-risk students belong to a subcategory of the “at–risk” student classification. Their lives are fraught with challenges, e.g., nonexistent or extremely weak support systems, discouragement of academic achievement and family histories of incarceration and cyclical dependency on government assistance. Often written off as lost causes, these students tend to become U. S. Department of Justice statistics rather than success stories—unless they gain access to hope.

Maranathan Academy is a nonprofit, private alternative school specializing in critically at–risk youth and adult students. Its primary goal is to break cyclical dependency on government assistance which plagues the critically at-risk populace. As the only private school in Birmingham and its surrounding cities that works exclusively with critically at-risk youth and the only private school in Birmingham that accepts students who have been expelled for weapon-related or violent offenses, Maranathan serves as a source of hope and is frequently a deciding factor in the lives of critically at-risk students and their families.

Maranathan enjoys a graduation rate of 85%.

53% enter college.

47% enter trade school or achieve military enlistment.

Yet, those who labor at Maranathan mourn the loss of the 15% who fail to complete the Academy’s course of studies. Only 3% of those lost are dismissed due to refusal to adhere to behavioral policies. The remaining 12% are withdrawn because they’re learning and their parents or guardians are unwilling to lose an additional slow learner stipend received from the government.

Founded in 1991, Maranathan Academy offers middle school, high school, and adult education. The Academy has graduated nearly 400 critically at-risk students and, due to wraparound services provided to students and their families, has impacted more than 2,00 lives. Maranathan Academy’s impact is inarguable and it’s model replicable.