We seek to improve lives and the leadership of youth through our heartprints project. Our focus currently is mentoring & tutoring at the YWCA's Battered Women's Shelter, as well as other shelters and schools. We seek to get involved before they repeat the vision cycle they have been involved with, and the environments they're subjected to in order to eliminate violence against women & children, and create opportunities of positive impact for youth, and families.
While mentoring and tutoring, we often encounter an individual that we discover needs more than tutoring. Perhaps they need health products, clothes, and or school supplies. We stay connected and find other ways to be of value and service by assisting with these items and materials.
Actions we take are related to working on energizing an enhanced connection between mentors, donors, and volunteers to provide support/resources/meaningful impact to schools ('Adopt A Class' & 'donations') specific to certain kids needs that are reasonable and necessary such as clean clothes, uniforms, school supplies, health care products, and other resources to catalyze a kids efforts related to education, opportunities, and health.
We are realistic enough & not trying to be the 'save all for everyone', but if we can make positive impact with as many youth as possible to provide them with the leadership skills, educational tools, and other resources to improve their present & future goals (showing them they can achieve, learn, connect with opportunities, don't have to be from the negative or vicious cycles/oppression/environment/culture they may be from) and inspire a 'winning attitude' through our efforts, we have succeeded!
We have mentored over 1000 youth through the YWCA, other shelters, and schools in the Greater Cincinnati area. As it is challenging to track each child, their grades, and improvements, on average the youth we have worked with improve their performance by 10% (or one letter grade) at a minimum. Byproducts of mentoring & tutoring also allow youth to improve their knowledge economy, awareness of opportunities related to jobs/careers/school/higher education, builds confidence, leadership, and passion for life. Our outcome measures are not always measured via quantitative statistics, but also the qualitative (positive) side effects via relationship building and communication from mentor to mentee. Planting these types of "seeds" and involvement betters the lives of youth, the mentor experience as well, and our communities holistically as education, leadership, and service affect other areas of life & society. Statistics show having a mentor & tutoring improves youth's journey while in school, in the job market, and life which affects items such as labor stats, income levels, economy, innovation, GDP, health, and standars of living. It may be one child being mentored, but as a society/community, we're more interconnected as a whole if you study more on these subjects.
We seek to be an additional resource, not duplicating, but being a value added entity for things directly related to a specific need of a specific kid either related to education, tutoring, clothes, health, etc. and build a connection that resonates positively. heartprints won't buy 'Wii's, expensive watches, etc.' or things that are 'unaffordable or unnecessary', but things they really need to improve their opportunities and lives.
To have contacts and awareness through a facilitated connection such as a teacher or shelter leader allows us to know what a kid would really need (ex. a kid goes to school during winter with a T shirt and dirty clothes, what could they use, a kid can't afford school supplies and the teacher can't keep buying his or herself...) and can provide tools for success 'anonymously' and without embarrassment, yet with something the kid needs, wants, and will appreciate.
We seek to discover ways to connect professionals that are inspired to build into our communities, youth, and families by mentoring to schools, shelters, and other channels where the opportunity to make impact resides. A project to utilize and leverage small to large resources and capabilities is the 'Adopt A Classroom' Campaign. This allows flexibility, functionality, and capability to close the gap between the schools needs and a volunteers abilities. You can donate, coordinate, and mentor per the schedule and needs that collaborate between the school system and or teacher, and the volunteer who seeks to make positive impact in our education system, with youth, and improve opportunities through involvement.
One of our partners, Vision CareTakers, implemented a program, Think!! Campaign. This program focuses on 'at risk youth', and invests in them to improve their decision making and leadership for a more positive future.It started as a program to mentor in prisons, but we seek to collaborate to eliminate the continuous cycle of youth (& others in the shelter/school systems) being 'customers' in the prison system. Over 55% of the patrons in the YWCA shelter have or will see a jail cell. We want them to see classrooms, colleges, jobs, and other positive & productive opportunities instead! We seek to proactively get involved, make youth aware & accountable, inspire positive decision making, & bring awareness to the consequences of harmful decision making.
As a "community & volunteer driven" organization for change, we would like to recognize the people & organizations that have helped us improve lives & our communities. Without them, we would not exist & couldn't make positive impact. We thank the volunteers, partners, donors, & organizations that have helped be catalysts for change, and facilitate opportunities:
Coffee with a Cause
heartprints DVD
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