For Demetrius Brooks, receiving his diploma from Bay View High School a few weeks ago was a major accomplishment.

Also, a relief.

He was not always a model student, and sometimes rebelled against his teachers. But with support from a program within the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee that aims to keep kids and their families focused on long-term goals, Brooks summoned the motivation.

"I started to realize that I had to keep pushing myself," Brooks said. "I could be something — not just another kid on the street."

Now, Brooks is working in an architecture internship through the City of Milwaukee. In the future he plans to pursue advanced art schooling at either the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design or the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

He attributes these latest steps to the Housing Authority's Education Initiative, a program launched in 2005 that Brooks and his family have participated in since he was in third grade.

The Housing Authority provides low-income housing to people throughout the city. In specific sites, such as the Highland Homes project, parents are required by a mandate in their lease agreements to actively participate in their children's schooling through the Education Initiative.

Helping them do that is Education Specialist Darrell Finch, who heads the initiative. He makes sure the children attend school every day and often works one-on-one with parents to map out a plan for their children's future.

Brooks is one of the successes of the program, which saw 16 students graduate this year.

Jada McMillian, who graduated from Milwaukee High School of the Arts with help from the initiative, will be the first in her family to go to college. She plans on studying physical therapy at Milwaukee Area Technical College.

Daphanie Hudson will be the last of her four siblings to graduate from high school after receiving help from the program. She plans on studying cosmetology at Alverno College so she and her older sister can start a salon together.

This year, 14 of the 15 high school seniors taking part in the initiative graduated from high school, with two juniors graduating early. The graduates and other students were honored last month at the Housing Authority program's annual awards ceremony.

Finch said almost all of the seniors participating in the program have graduated, with all seniors graduating in 2008 and 2009.

This fall, about 400 youth at all grade levels from more than 130 families will be enrolled in the initiative, and all of them are on track to graduate, Finch said.

"My job is to provide resources," said Finch, who has been leading the program and managing student progress with families since the initiative began in 2005. "These kids just want some encouragement, love and praise."

He said much of the success came from getting parents, teachers and children on the same page to address problems, rather than allowing one group to blame another.

In quarterly meetings with families, he requires parents to keep folders with the students' records and academic work, to track their progress.

The initiative provides support to the children in the form of after-school tutoring, summer reading programs, etiquette classes and academic competitions such as spelling bees.

"It's not reinventing the wheel," Finch said. "I'm not here to say, 'Let's try to get these kids an A.' It's about addressing the problems they face."