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The students that participate in RISE seem to show a sense of pride that they are a part of a group/club. They look forward to the days they are scheduled to attend. I believe having a support group is effective in improving self-control and appropriate social behavior. Students building a trusting relationship with the men that promote RISE and are able to share personal information. I especially like that RISE staff reinforce that teachers care about student academic and social success. I am thankful that our school is able to offer this program and recommend its continuation. It is important that students, especially at the middle school level, know that there are consistent adults that hold students accountable by checking in with them regularly.
-- Mrs. Lewis, Lange Middle School (Columbia Missouri)
Kellie C. Johnson: East Tennessee State University, James H. Lampley: East Tennessee State University
Mentoring as an Intervention Strategy Research supports the implementation of mentoring programs as potentially successful approaches to meeting the individual needs of at-risk students (Johnson, 2006; Lampley, 2010). Researchers in this area also found that students achieved better grades, established obtainable goals, and enhanced their self-esteem when partnered with caring, supportive adults (Clasen & Clasen, 1997; Flaxman, 1998; 2001; Smink, 2000). Daloz (2004) also found that adult mentors provided at-risk students with a positive and influential person in their lives and also positively impacted academic achievement. According to mentor advocate Riley (1998), effective mentoring programs steered teenagers away from trouble, gave extra encouragement to students, and provided a role model for more positive types of behaviors. Riley also found that students who had mentors, such as Big Brothers/ Big Sisters, experienced an increase in GPAs by an average of .37 points and improved attendance by 5%. The most common characteristic of a mentoring program was a one-on-one relationship between an older adult and a younger person. According to Lund (2002), the purpose of a mentoring relationship was to provide guidance, pass on knowledge, share experience, provide a background for more sound judgment, and establish friendship. The research has consistently shown mentoring to be a beneficial and cost effective approach to assisting at-risk students (McPartland & Nettles, 1991). |
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “INVEST” IN EARLY CHILDHOOD PREVENTION?
Every day that we are blessed to wake up we take preventive measures to ensure that tomorrow comes. We seek out safety, security, and peace throughout our waking hours in the form of doctors, family, and friends. No matter what station or position in life that we may find ourselves, those principles are the same. As a part of our mentorship program, Destiny of H.O.P.E., Inc., and P.E.A.C.E. is teaming up with the R.I.S.E. Initiative, who is on a mission to change the course of our children's future.
Nearly 100% of our work is facilitated in marginalized communities where hope is to many a fairy tale, and struggle is a prerequisite. Or, to paraphrase Tupac, "... They see the trouble but don't know the struggle."
Did you know that 1 in 6 Americans live below the poverty line? Poverty is more than just making less than $24,300 annually; poverty is the stress of being "food insecure" or not knowing if you will have a roof over your head tomorrow. Poverty is realizing that you are one emergency away from being homeless. But to the children living in such conditions, poverty is much more. Material deprivation is a fundamental aspect of a child's realized experience with poverty, where they feel the stigma of its shadow. This stigma of poverty often translates into bullying, joning, fights, joining gangs, etc., which often concludes in pain, depression, and trauma.
Nearly 100% of our work is facilitated in marginalized communities where hope is to many a fairy tale, and struggle is a prerequisite. Or, to paraphrase Tupac, "... They see the trouble but don't know the struggle."
Did you know that 1 in 6 Americans live below the poverty line? Poverty is more than just making less than $24,300 annually; poverty is the stress of being "food insecure" or not knowing if you will have a roof over your head tomorrow. Poverty is realizing that you are one emergency away from being homeless. But to the children living in such conditions, poverty is much more. Material deprivation is a fundamental aspect of a child's realized experience with poverty, where they feel the stigma of its shadow. This stigma of poverty often translates into bullying, joning, fights, joining gangs, etc., which often concludes in pain, depression, and trauma.
In addition to children having to ingest the residual traces of their parents' trauma, from the fighting and arguing, alcohol and drug use, empty promises, and much more, they also have to be faced with a broken education system. Our overarching aim here with R.I.S.E. is to end the "School-to-Prison Pipeline." Many have tried to challenge the notion that there even exist such a thing as a “school-to-prison' pipeline." Despite that debate, the facts bare themselves out!
There is a heated debate concerning whether or not it is true that: "Prisons are built based on third grade literacy rates." Those who are in a position of power will dispute this fact, but what they cannot dispute are the following:
- 85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally low-literate.
- Juvenile incarceration reduces the probability of high school completion and increases the probability of incarceration later in life.
- High school dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested in their lifetime.
- High school dropouts are 63% more likely to be incarcerated than their peers with four-year college degrees.
- Mississippi has the second highest incarceration rate in the nation. The average adult inmate reads on a sixth-grade level when admitted. Half of the state’s inmates never finished high school.
First and foremost, this "Pipeline" has evolved through systematic impoverishment of the American caste system for centuries. The wealthiest and most powerful have always had the pick of the liter, while the poor and deprived received what the compassions of a few are willing to bare. Ultimately, the traumas imposed on the poorest and marginalized people in the country is not the lot of those who can afford to do more. Children who are sent to school from these marginalized communities have an uphill battle which commences with drama from the night before school.
Tell me, have you ever gone to bed hungry and showed up at school starving? Have you ever tried to cover your ears as your parents yelled at each other and physically fought like strangers? Have you ever lost someone close to you at an early age to the streets, death, or prison? Have you ever heard the frustration in your mother's voice when you were compared to someone worthless in her eyes? What are these youth "At-Risk" of? Certainly not a prosperous life!
Often the phrase "At-Risk" is coined to mean "Troubled." Close, but not exact! Here at DOH, troubled youth are those who are dealing with things beneath the surface that may be addressed with time and patience. Those who are "At-Risk" are those who are well on their way through the "School-to- Prison Pipeline", headed towards the Prison Industrial Complex. These are adolescents who have developed behaviors that are anti-community, that have learned to solve their problems without any regards for others, do the forbidden, and try to hide it. With our programs we are seeking to address the mindset of criminality before it sprouts into crime.
Through our preventive measures and rehabilitation programs here at DOH, in collaboration with P.E.A.C.E., through the R.I.S.E. Initiative, we are seeking to stop the corrosion process of those youth who have lost trust in Community Holism.
WHAT ARE THE PROGRAMS OFFERED BY THE COLLABORATION OF DESTINY OF H.O.P.E. AND P.E.A.C.E THROUGH THE R.I.S.E. INITIATIVE?
We empower our youth through education! The word "education" derives from the Latin homonym "Educo", meaning to "lead forth; take out." This means in essence that when you educate someone, you are bringing something forth or out of them that is already within them. Many of our young men and women have been beat down by their traumatic experiences and made to believe that they have no value. Two of the major principles surrounding recovery is having self-value and high self-esteem.
R.I.S.E. programs shall consist of the following:
Parental Rejuvenation
The parents of our youth are just as important. The R.I.S.E. Initiative focuses on the parents’ parenting style to identify behaviors that may be affecting their child, and at the same time encouraging them to continue in their self-education. And not the least of all things, pushing them to play a significant role in the child’s evolution. We hear at R.I.S.E. understand that “Home” is the first line of encouragement for our youth, and that the best mentor in essence is a parent.
Prison Up Close
Mentors will give a personal look inside the mind of a criminal and why criminals share many of the same characteristics. There will be realistic conversations about the dangers of prison and stress of living within the Prison Industrial Complex. There is also a need to understand that criminality is a mindset, not a condition.
Pull Up
We often uses the phrase, that "we are Boots on the ground.” Daily we are seeking to forge bonds with our neighbors, neighborhoods, and communities with our outreach and mobilization around issues of great concern. So when we say, "We pull up", we really do pull up with an open mind and humbled heart to hear the pains of murmurs with patience and empathy, and collectively strategizing to address the issues at hand.
Once again, in our attempt to address the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”, there is a question that comes to bare: If you are one of those unfortunate souls that does not learn prior to exiting prison, what happens on the other side of that release from prison?
As Trauma Informed Community and Prevention Specialist, our mission is two-fold: prevent our youth from falling prey to socio-economic impoverished norms that leads to prison, and for those who are existing, end the 43.9% recidivism rate currently resonating in the state of Missouri. We shall connect them to educational opportunities, resources and housing, rehabilitation programs for substance use disorders and more. With our staff having been trained in Post-Incarceration Syndrome, we believe that we are equip to assist men and women post-incarceration.
What are the Benefits of this Initiative?
(MENTEE)
(MENTOR)
R.I.S.E. programs shall consist of the following:
- The Dangers of Criminal Thinking
- Building Self-Esteem and Goal Setting
- The Critical Change Gang Prevention Program (Sponsored by Boyz2Men Consulting, LLC)
- Victims Awareness Class (VAC)(Sponsored by Agents of Change, LLC)
- Mending Fences (Sponsored by Agents of Change, LLC)
- Communications 101
- Oasis Book Club (Sponsored by Destiny of H.O.P.E., Inc. and P.E.A.C.E.)
- Conflict Resolution Skills Class
- Workforce Development/Life Skills Class
- Coping w/Substance Use Class
Parental Rejuvenation
The parents of our youth are just as important. The R.I.S.E. Initiative focuses on the parents’ parenting style to identify behaviors that may be affecting their child, and at the same time encouraging them to continue in their self-education. And not the least of all things, pushing them to play a significant role in the child’s evolution. We hear at R.I.S.E. understand that “Home” is the first line of encouragement for our youth, and that the best mentor in essence is a parent.
Prison Up Close
Mentors will give a personal look inside the mind of a criminal and why criminals share many of the same characteristics. There will be realistic conversations about the dangers of prison and stress of living within the Prison Industrial Complex. There is also a need to understand that criminality is a mindset, not a condition.
Pull Up
We often uses the phrase, that "we are Boots on the ground.” Daily we are seeking to forge bonds with our neighbors, neighborhoods, and communities with our outreach and mobilization around issues of great concern. So when we say, "We pull up", we really do pull up with an open mind and humbled heart to hear the pains of murmurs with patience and empathy, and collectively strategizing to address the issues at hand.
Once again, in our attempt to address the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”, there is a question that comes to bare: If you are one of those unfortunate souls that does not learn prior to exiting prison, what happens on the other side of that release from prison?
As Trauma Informed Community and Prevention Specialist, our mission is two-fold: prevent our youth from falling prey to socio-economic impoverished norms that leads to prison, and for those who are existing, end the 43.9% recidivism rate currently resonating in the state of Missouri. We shall connect them to educational opportunities, resources and housing, rehabilitation programs for substance use disorders and more. With our staff having been trained in Post-Incarceration Syndrome, we believe that we are equip to assist men and women post-incarceration.
What are the Benefits of this Initiative?
(MENTEE)
- Knowledge concerning self
- Reduce stress and depression
- Help cure the disease of alcohol and drug misuse
- Improved relationship and social skills
- Resources
- A Safe-Space
- Improved Self-esteem
(MENTOR)
- Build leadership and management skills
- Expand professional network
- Further empowerment to give back to those in need
- Sharpen active listening skills
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