ASPIRA of Florida, Inc. is in the front lines of the school reform movement to provide greater educational opportunity for Latino and other minority students. We believe that parents must be given a choice in public education to send their children to small schools operated by community-based organizations that have the credibility in their neighborhoods to deliver services to youth and their parents. For the past 10 years, we have operated alternative middle schools for high risk minority youth and we concluded that it was time to administer schools that would be available to all minority children, not just those at risk.

Under the leadership of Raul Martinez, our President/CEO, we began this journey in 1998 with the opening of the ASPIRA North Youth Leadership Charter School in North Miami.  The next year, we opened the ASPIRA South Youth Leadership Charter School near Homestead, and in 2001 we began classes at the ASPIRA Eugenio Maria de Hostos Youth Leadership Charter School in Miami.

Our schools emphasize excellence in reading, math, and science. Each school is equipped with a computer lab for tutoring and Internet access. We celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month as well as Black History Month in multi-cultural Miami-Dade County. Parents are encouraged to participate in the educational process. Students develop leadership skills and learn the ASPIRA Process of 1)awareness 2)analysis and 3)action.

After school, students have the opportunity to further their skills in a safe environment, via the 21st Century Learning Program and the GEARUP Program with Florida International University School of Science and Engineering. College students from Miami-Dade Community College serve as mentors and tutors. For more information on ASPIRA Charter Schools, contact Aymet Chaples, Vice President of Operations, at 305-576-1512, ext. 22 or via e-mail at AChaples@fl.aspira.org.