Phase One:

Life Skills Training will allow us to focus on self-control, making connections, critical thinking, communication, personal hygiene, and taking care of our daily needs.

Phase Two:

Emphasizes self-control and anger management. Many of our participants have been bullied, abused and let down, so we give them room to express those feelings and teach techniques and coping skills that help deal with emotions like rage more healthily. Because children can experience various feelings and emotions, we want to teach them coping skills, problem-solving skills, and rules to manage their feelings.

Phase Three:

Addresses the pervasiveness of drug and alcohol abuse our kids are exposed to. Since drugs and drinking are around us nearly every day, we teach how these two elements can affect us, particularly young minds and bodies, and how to avoid some of the traps of drug abuse.

Phase Four:

Instructs on navigating when they are in high-risk situations. Since so many of our youth live in areas where there is excessive violence and the celebration of it among our youth self-perpetuates and amplifies those risks, we teach them how to advocate for themselves and become conscious of the impact of being lost in a culture of excessive violence. We have been partnering directly with SAPD for program participation.

Phase Five:
Effective communication is key to de-escalation, creating better relationships, getting jobs, and getting their point across without resorting to violence and anger. Role-playing in real-life events in this next phase teaches empathy and helps our youth think more broadly in challenging situations.

Phase Six:

Role Play of Real-life Events is the next step. It is vital because it allows our children to role-play the real-life experiences they are dealing with right now in their life and will deal with in the future. The purpose of the phase is to show the value of empathy and appropriate behaviors. Role-playing the situation will allow the children to understand each other’s feelings and concerns. They will have the opportunity to learn about death and the grieving process and gain insight from watching and discussing relevant videos in small group settings.

Phase Seven:

We teach our youth how to fill out applications, record them doing mock interviews, and coach them in body language and other presentation skills necessary to maintain themselves on the job and explore what to expect from different careers. We couple this experiential learning opportunity with mentorship, job-shadowing and the development of opportunity networks so our participants can gain access to the relationships necessary to support and grow their eventual careers.