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Empowering Youth for Success (EYS) seeks grant money to provide hands-on intervention, academic, and job training services for youth ages 8-18 of Smithville, GA so they may succeed in school, turn away from juvenile delinquency, & position themselves to secure gainful employment. The organization was formed to empower youth to take initiative so they may realize their social, economic, & personal potential. Services will be provided for youth of Smithville who would not otherwise have access to such programs. EYS is a 501(c)(3) organization. The grass-roots organization provides community-based intervention & education activities that address the root cause of problems that result in youth falling into the cycle of poverty, crime, & selflessness.
In 2005 more than half of the residents of Smithville had a household income of less than $10,000. The percentage of men and women over 25 who had obtained a high school diploma was 40% versus the 3% that were college graduates. Violent crime on a scale from 1 (low crime) to 10, is 5 and property crime is 7. The US average is 3. EYS hopes to address those statistics through a 3-fold service component that will consist of academic tutorial provided in the form of homework assistance after school & during weekend hours; juvenile delinquency intervention designed to reduce youth crime rates, & pre-employment and job skills training to address economic development. If this project is implemented, it will promote long term POSITIVE change because it will serve a large number of youth. These youth will grow up and have a positive influence on the community and youth that follow them.

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Our Venture is called STOP – Students Talking Out Problems. This name was developed by a team of students who need for a change was accommodated by creating a forum were students can stop negative problems and talk out their issues.

Students Talking Out Problems plans to raise local awareness and
financial support for youth giving the a safe harbor to openly express their feelings on any subject matter that affects their life and identity. Our focus is to break the chain that have oppressed youth and that’s why our motto is “Breaking the Chain”. It has come to our attention that behaviors in teens are at risk. Juvenile and adolescent crime has increased as well as the suicide rate. In order to combat these rising rates we have developed Students Talking Out Problems.
Our vision is to:

• ENCOURAGE TEENS TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS

• HELP OTHERS DEAL WITH NEGATIVE SITUATIONS

• PROMOTE THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION

• INFLUENCE POSITIVE LEADERSHIP

The purpose for S.T.O.P. is to alleviate the hardships students face on a daily basis by allowing forums where students can have open dialog in regards to cultural/ self awareness, educational and career goals, and political and social issues that effect teens.

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Our 2008 Summer Program will help students of a low income community.
We will have education programs, GED prep., and youth talent programs all instructed by teens.

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The Employment/Learning/Mentoring (ELM) Support Program is a grass-roots high school youth employment program that is in the Phase I stage of development. The ELM Program would like to hire 2-4 high school urban youth during the 2007-2008 school year for the purpose of training high school youth in job readiness skills, monitoring their school progress in academics, attendance and college preparation and mentoring these individuals through character development, civic leadership and their personal integrity. ELM Project youth are selected from the ongoing relationship from neighborhood networking, Earthen Vessels Outreach (EVO) basketball team, and EVO's summer camp.

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Mission

Coaching Core Success is a program designed to serve as a significant resource to develop the positive assets in today's youth, enabling them to achieve their full potential and to contribute to the improvement of their communities.
We do this through…
One-on-one mentoring

Providing a memorable experience, challenging our youth with rigorous indoor and outdoor activity where they will learn life skills, develop greater self-awareness and improve self-confidence.
Community Service

Under the guidance and support of our staff, we encourage our youth to become involved in their communities by giving back in meaningful ways through leadership roles.
Continuing Education

We encouraging our young people to graduate from high school and examine a variety of positive options and interests in their lives. For example, 2 year colleges, 4 year universities, technical schools, vocational schools, and entrepreneurship.
Experiences

- 2 years of teaching in Miami-Dade County
- Uses the curriculum from “Go to High School, Go to College” to instruct
- Initiated the Gentlemen’s Club for young men at Boca Raton Senior High in Fall 2004
- In control of the largest cultural organization from Colleges and Universities in the state of Florida from the years of 2005 to 2007 (Konbit Kreyol) which reached out to many Haitian Americans in the community through a college outreach program
- 3 years of tutoring Physics
- 2 years of Hospitality and Gracious Professionalism

Resources and Facilities

- Florida International University (Biscayne Bay Campus)
o We use FIU’s facilities for our sessions with the students
o 2 regular sized classrooms (30 students per room)
- The Princeton Review South Florida (SAT and ACT preparation)
o Students take practice exams every month
- Supporting Faculties in following schools (receive student referrals from faculty)
o North Miami Beach Senior High
o North Miami Senior High
o Michael Krop Senior High
o Turner Tech Senior High
o Miami Norland Senior High
o Miami Edison Senior High
o John F. Kennedy Middle School
o North Miami Middle School

Participants

Professionals: Staff and Volunteers working together
- Leslie Marcelin- Coaching Core Success Director
- Dabel Isidor- Coaching Core Success Director
- Reginal Jean-Gilles – Associate Director
- Ancel Pratt- Communications Specialist/CCS Advisor
- Katiana Saint-Able- Reading Comprehension/ Literacy Specialist
- Lorance Jules- Scholarship Advisor
- Karine Vanessa Taylor- Guidance/Academic Counselor
- Fabienne Pierre- Social Relations/Community Service
- Rachelle Accius - Event Coordinator
- Patricia Jameson – Young Women Counselor
- Tonika Accius – Instructor SAT reading

Youth: Boys and girls from Miami-Dade County range between the ages of 13 and 18 years old.
- 35-40 students enrolled for spring 2007 project
- 64 students currently enrolled for summer project
- Ethnicity (from majority to minority in program)
o Haitian American
o African-American
o Jamaican-American
o Latin-American
- Students lack consistent mentoring
o Motivation
o Role Models
o Positive Environments
o Exposure to opportunities
- Students are at risk
o Street violence
o Lack of education
o Preparation for reality
- What brings the students to CCS
o Positive environment
o One on one interactions w/ mentors
o Fun activities, field trips
o Exposure to opportunities

Demographics: include the Northern Miami-Dade County area
- North Dade
- North Miami
- North Miami Beach
- Northwest Miami
- Miami
- Opalocka
- Miami Gardens
Goals
- Graduate from high school and pursue a college education or meaningful employment,
- Make a positive contribution to his/her community,
- Form and maintain positive relationships with other youth and adults,
- Respect human diversity and be capable of working and living in a diverse community,
- Explore a variety of positive options and interests in their lives,
- Students will increase the amount of community service activities,
- Students will become professionals in their perspective fields,
- Increase minority college acceptance rate,
o Increase SAT/ACT scores
o Increase GPA
o Provide more scholarship opportunities
- More Leaders in the community,
- We want to become positive influences and help students become positive influences amongst their family, friends, and community.

Frequency: 3 days a week, 4 to 5 hours
Intensity: 4 to 5 hours
Duration: Year round
Description of Activities

- Weekly Sessions incorporating sessions that will emphasize Motivation, College Preparation, the Importance of Reading, Studying Skills, Business Strategies, Financial Literacy, and Management Skills.
- 4 (30 minute) monthly one on one mentor/student phone calls that are used to sustain constant motivation and that will address any individual concerns for future success.
- College Tours
- Monthly Scholarship searches
- Community Service Projects
- Business Fairs
- Conferences
- Test preparation

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I have lived and worked in East Oakland for the past six years. I work with youth primarily in high school. My idea for a project arises after some of the students I work with have chosen anorexia as a topic to study. My project addresses the decisions and options low-income, inner-city high school students have when it comes to choosing healthy food and self image. The East Oakland community does not have a variety of accessible healthy food, but it is filled with fast food places. Youth have to see images of skinny models on television and media in general, but have to live in a community that values such images and does not offer any healthy food options to maintain such a thin image. Students have their school gym to work out and live a healthy life, because walking and jogging at the park and in the neighborhood is not the safest idea. Therefore, the youth have to maintain a body image by having unhealthy food as the main option and no safe space to carry out physical education.
After thinking about a realistic idea for a project, I decided I would like to work with the student club we are beginning to start at an Oakland high school. The students want to get involved in the community and are part of the health academy, however, we have not made health conscious decisions thus far. I provide the students with lunch/snacks during our weekly meetings. My personal budget does not allow me to spend more than $10 a week, so the majority of the time I offer them candies, cookies, and chips, or pizza. The students have just adopted a class of elementary students and want to serve as role models and carry out activities with the elementary students. If we receive this grant, I can use the money to: increase the healthy options of food I offer during the meetings, begin a garden in our high school that has fruits and vegetables, and educate the students in the club about healthy lifestyles and the positive effect it has on their health as well as on body image. Although we will not be able to change the safety and food options of the neighborhood, we can educate ourselves and the younger generation of students to make health conscious decisions. Thus improving our health and our image.

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TBI Raiders was originally set up to not only help but also see that students who had sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury, also known as a TBI, succeeded in both school and life.  In 2004 after representing Oklahoma youth with disabilities in Washington Dc at the National Youth with Disabilities Leadership Conference, I decided to turn TBI Raiders into a volunteer service.  This is a volunteer service for students living with and without disabilities.  By becoming involved in this they would be able to gain not just job skills but leadership skills, interact with leaders, make a difference in their community and so much more.A couple of years ago Survived to Vote was created.  Initially it was created to get issues important to the Traumatic Brain Injury community out to candidates in an election.  But as time passed and after speaking to more individuals not only with TBI but with other disabilities, I,the director, and the online members for TBI Raiders decided to open Survived to Vote to all disabilities and get disability issues out to candidates in an election and to those presently in office. Traumatic Brain Injury affects 1.4 million Americans every year.  This is more than what Breast Cancer, HIV/AID, Spinal Cord Injuries, and Multiple Sclerosis will affect COMBINED.  There are over 12 types of the disability and too many people are dying or living with life long disabilities as a result of it.  There needs to be more awareness made and the capabilities of survivors needs to be shown.  If you'd like more knowledge on the disability, check out www.biausa.org out.Check out these links to see more about what TBI Raiders is about:

• http://www.angelfire.com/ok5/survivorok
• http://www.angelfire.com/ok5/tbiraidersok
• http://planet.angelfire.com/ok5/tbiraidersok
• http://raidersleader.tripod.com
• http://tbiraiders.tooum.net

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Wild and Water is a nonprofit dedicated to fighting poverty through the sport of swimming. We hold free swim lessons for economically disadvantaged kids, teaching them not only how to swim, but how to be safe around the water. The inspiration for Wild and Water came while I was on a camping trip with a group of economically disadvantaged children from Atlanta, GA. I was asked to accompany the kids on a swimming excursion at the lake, and was horrified at what I saw. Kids who did not know how to swim were just jumping into the water, having no idea that they would sink once they were in. I ended up rescuing five different kids at once. Being a former year round swimmer, I knew that there was something I, and all of my swimmer friends, could do about the problem.Wild and Water's first lesson was implemented on April 21, 2006 at Dynamo swim club, and was attended by the kids from the camping trip. The amount of success we saw was amazing! In just four hours, our experienced swim team volunteer swim instructors were able to teach these children how to float and swim freestyle (the crawl). Some even learned how to tread water and swim backstroke, and one girl even learned to do all of the strokes and flip turns! The children also had a half hour seminar on the importance of water safety, and learned how to behave around lakes, pools, and any other aquatic location. Wild and Water has since held numerous swim lessons with Dekalb Aquatics Swim Team, who heard from Dynamo how much fun and how rewarding the experience was, and wanted to help out. With the help of Dynamo and Dekalb Aquatics, Wild and Water has successfully taught over 70 Atlanta area economically disadvantaged kids how to swim. We have also made a partnership with Dekalb Aquatics, where we send our most passionate new swimmers to swim on the swim team for free. Wild and Water is unique in the way we engage the community in service as well. All of our volunteers are swimmers from Atlanta area swim teams, and they love that Wild and Water gives them the opportunity to share what they love with those less fortunate. We combat poverty in an innovative way; we give our kids a healthy activity to engage in and the opportunity to develop a skill, while we open the eyes of our volunteers to something that (between the many practices and swim meets), they might not have otherwise seen.Wild and Water has been honored by the Atlanta Falcons with the their Junior Community Quarterback Award, by Prudential Financial with the title of Prudential Spirit of Community Award Distinguished Finalist, and by Build a Bear Workshop with a Huggable Hero Honorable Mention. We have also been honored by the Women's Sports Foundation, Youth Service America, Cathy Cox, Tom Price and the Georgia House of Representatives, and have been featured in North Fulton Living, Neighborhood Newspaper, The Johns Creek Herald, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I'm very happy that Wild and Water has accomplished all of this in just one year, and I look forward to making our next year even better. The ground work has been laid to expand the program to Savannah, GA and New Orleans, LA, both places with children that will definitely benefit from the program. In New Orleans, a place obviously susceptible to flooding and hurricanes, we plan to better prepare the children we work with to face any sort of dangerous water situation with a little less panic and a little more confidence, and offer them the same fun escape from a tough lifestyle that we've been offering our kids here in Atlanta. In Savannah, a city much smaller than Atlanta but with the same crime rate, we are excited to be one of the few programs offering an enriching activity to the economically disadvantaged children in the city.

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In grade school, my most important lessons were not from textbooks. The Magnet programs I attended were housed in schools predominately representing socioeconomically disadvantaged districts. Through sports, I got to know people from very diverse backgrounds. Broken homes and incarcerated father-figures went from being stories in the news to reality. Through their eyes, I saw the unseen hardships, unfair labeling, and lack of opportunities many of these “underprivileged” kids face. They were just as intelligent and hardworking, but faced bleak futures, unable to relate what they learned in school with their lives. Moreover, I was keenly aware that the country is on a collision course with a major shortfall of STEM-trained youth, which congressional leaders are calling a national crisis. Not only are disadvantaged groups underrepresented in STEM, but this whole population segment that could be contributing cannot because of a lack of opportunities. While organizing high school things my freshman year in college, a yearbook note from a close track teammate caught my eye. He was one of the most hard-working and genuine persons I knew, but because he hung out with the wrong crowd, he was held back several years and was on parole throughout high school. He had few role models and even fewer opportunities; thinking of him suddenly sparked in me a burning desire to do something—something to help others like him. Education is the key to the future. Extracurricular educational programs have changed, reshaped, and motivated me in amazing ways, helping me focus and see new and exciting possibilities. These programs are often out of reach for the underprivileged children that need them the most. I wanted to change that. I wanted to help them overcome their obstacles and share my passion for learning with them. InnoWorks (www.innoworks.org) was born. InnoWorks is an innovative science and engineering initiative “By Students, For Students,” designed by volunteer college undergraduates for grade-school students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The flagship program of the non-profit United InnoWorks Academy (UIA), it is intended to inspire lifelong enthusiasm towards learning in general and science in particular. InnoWorks is organized to leverage the grass-roots energy of university students to benefit local communities. It is unique among extracurricular educational programs for several reasons. First, InnoWorks programs are offered entirely free of charge for all underprivileged students nominated by local school systems, including program materials, books, transportation, food, and awards. Second, InnoWorks programs are developed and conducted by passionate college volunteers from around the country. Students bond well with their mentors and staff, looking up to them as older brothers and sisters.

The mentors also felt InnoWorks helped them develop significantly as leaders, mentors, and communicators. Third, InnoWorks curricula are created and tested by the volunteer leaders to “turn-on” middle-school students to learning and the “scientific” mindset. They are exceptionally modular, scalable, portable, and interdisciplinary, enabling students to understand connections among different scientific fields and how they relate to their own lives. We have captured these curricula in two sets of books (separate mentor and student versions) and are developing a third. Finally, to optimize and personalize pedagogical methods, InnoWorks develops and evaluates novel adaptations of cutting-edge research by cognitive neuroscientists and educational psychologists as the foundation for creating versatile curricula and mentoring techniques that allow mentors to accommodate and challenge the specific learning preferences of each and every student. By helping students harness their learning strengths to overcome difficulties, learning becomes more profound and enjoyable. In the low-stress, collaborative InnoWorks environment, students are very willing to take intellectual risks and open their minds.

The exciting experience of being on a college campus with their mentors and the can-do learning attitude generated by InnoWorks inspired many to enthusiastically express a new desire to go to college—remarkable considering their family backgrounds. Our vision is for InnoWorks to provide exciting educational opportunities for all students across the world. We intend to maintain relationships with InnoWorkers for life, inviting them to join as junior and then full mentors.

If our mission is achieved, InnoWorks communities everywhere will be self-perpetuating, with each generation nurturing the next, connected by a common goal to improve society. The year 2007 marks the fourth year of InnoWorks. We have successfully conducted five summer programs for over 200 students and benefited from the contributions of over 250 volunteers. We currently have seven chapters: Duke University, University of Maryland College Park, University of Arizona, University of Pennsylvania, University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, Univerisity of Michigan, and College of the Bahamas (Nassau, Bahamas). We anticipate having well over 200 students at our programs in the summer of 2007. We are constantly receiving inquiries from people interested in starting new chapters from as far away as Effat College, Saudi Arabia. InnoWorks has been profiled by CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, Duke News & Communication, The Herald Sun, Duke Chronicle, UANews, Duke Dialogue, Maryland Gazette, Arizona Daily Star, DukEngineer Magazine, and was featured on the 2005-2006 Duke Basketball Halftime TV Spot.