New Directions Youth Program

HISTORY:

New Direction Youth Program began in 1991, when the Flint Board of Education Recreation Department gave volunteers the opportunity to teach youth basketball skills. In the process of working with in-school youth in the Greater Flint Community. NDYP's founder realized the need for a more advanced and expanded program. Therefore, classes were added that would increase the promotion of positive moral values and development in the areas of basic skills, motivation and attitude. Accordingly, the program was expanded to include educational field trips, motivational speakers, sports tournaments, parent meetingsand activities, citywide youth rallies, counseling, and job opportunities for youth ages 8 – 16. Activities became available three days a week, free of charge to all participants. Of the children living in the City of Flint, 42% are living at or below poverty level. Less than 20% of the children enrolled in the Flint School District passed the most recent MEAP Test. Crimes committed by juveniles are on the rise, as is youth violence. At the state level, educational programs for youth continue to be cut back or cut out all together. The Flint community cannot afford to sit back and wait for a solution to magically appear. The Flint community must act now to put an end to many of the problems - a rise in gang violence, high school drop-outs, teen pregnancy, and drug use. New Direction believes that the community must try to understand our youth, guide them, respect them as individuals, and educate them. New Direction Youth Program curriculum focuses on the needs of each individual and provides the necessary tools needed to develop the whole youth. Activities are designed to help the youth acquire an education, respect others as they are to be respected, and learn how to take charge of their future so that they can lead happy, productive lives. The youth participating in the New Direction Youth Program are between the ages of 8 and 16 years. They are all from the Flint community. The more opportunities New Direction can provide youth to explore and build their skills and talents, the better off the Flint community will be.
A child cannot flourish in an unhealthy environment. For many of the Flint youth, the community itself serves as an unhealthy and unstable environment. A large majority of families are living at or below poverty level, juvenile crime is on the rise, as is youth violence. The schools, once believed to be a safe haven for our children, are riddled with crime, violence, and gang related activity. Children are not safe walking on the streets for fear of walking into "gang territory." Every person has the right to feel safe in their own home and in their neighborhood. Every child has the right to a quality education. Every child has the right to be happy. We must put a stop to this senseless violence and once again make the Flint community a safe place to live and a prosperous place to raise a family. Through our youth, we can make the necessary changes occur. We can break the cycle of poverty, violence, and turmoil. The youth are our future, and only by teaching them now -before the future arrives -can we make a lasting impression.
The New Direction Youth Program was established to increase the moral standards and quality of life for Flint youth through enjoyable and positive activities, motivational dialogue, and group counseling. The Program was also designed to foster positive communication skills between the youth participants and their parents, educators, mentors, business leaders, and the community as a whole. By developing effective communication skills, the youth are joined in a collaborative effort to create a healthy, positive atmosphere.
Active participation in the New Direction Youth Program can lead to many accomplishments. The curriculum of New Direction stresses the importance of education, developing self-esteem and a good system of values, preventing drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, gang violence, and keeping kids in school. In guiding youth through such a crucial phase of their personal growth, we are helping to create future educators, leaders, and role models for the Flint community. Stressing these important life skills while at the same time serving as a role model is the key to getting many troubled and at-risk youth on the right track guiding them in a new direction.
Today, New Direction Youth Program is one of the fastest growing youth organizations in the Flint community. Youth enrollment continues to grow every day (after 22 years, enrollment is in excess of 1,500 participants and growing). New Direction Youth Program continues to provide activities for the participants, free of charge, three days a week.

PROGRAMS:

Leadership Training:

The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow. Encouraging our youth to use their potential to make a positive difference is a primary objective in the New Direction Leadership Training. It is designed to help train youth participants to become leaders within the program and to conduct themselves in a respected manner in their homes, schools, and community, helping to create a positive atmosphere that will stimulate personal growth. Mutual respect is the foundation on which all human relationships are fostered. When serving as a leadership role model, rather than a critic, it is important to treat youth with respect. The youth participants are at a crucial phase in their life. Many of them come from homes where there is little support and interaction with their parents and siblings. Many youth lack the stability necessary to guide them through this critical time. They have no one they can open up to or turn to in a time of need. The New Direction staff looks at each of the participants as a part of their extended family. There is a genuine caring for each participant of the program at \\Jew Direction. Helping youth participants realize how to effectively solve problems and training them to take charge of their lives and to go forward in a positive direction are integral parts of developing the whole youth. 
Central United Methodist Church has graciously allowed New Direction to conduct leadership training in the church facility. Each leadership training session consists of 15 20 youth participants. Open communication is encouraged. The youth frequently participate in round table discussions on issues that affect them everyday. These sessions give the youth an opportunity to discover various ways of handling different situations in a mature and peaceful manner. These sessions help to develop critical thinking skills. A true leader must be diplomatic in their way of thinking and must be able to take a look at the whole picture before voicing an opinion. Group discussions give the youth the opportunity to do just that listen to all sides of an issue and draw a rational conclusion. Developing these skills will make the youth better leaders and peacemakers. 
They are expected to act responsibly and with respect. They are given an opportunity to voice their opinions and address their fears about their future and world around them. 
Motivational speakers are also used in an effort to help the youth participants realize their true potential and to help guide them in decision making. The speakers talk to the  participants about teen pregnancy, gang violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and the importance of getting an education. They use real-life stories in their lessons. They give the participants advice on how to make a bad situation better and they help them to discover how to become effective problem solvers.

Recreational Activities:

The recreational activities arranged by the staff of New Direction Youth Program are crucial to developing camaraderie among peers. Activities such as basketball training skills, basketball games and tournaments, weightlifting, bicycling, watching videos, jogging, and music lessons are all arranged in an effort to bring the youth participants together to learn good sportsmanlike behavior and teamwork. Through these activities, New Direction is able to provide the youth with a "neutral" place where they can come together and leave their differences at the door. The Flint community has many gang-related incidents and many of the youth are either involved with gangs or somehow affected by gang activities. New Direction emphasizes "neutrality" because it is important for all of the youth in the community to come together without fear. New direction has been very successful in helping the participants to realize that their common interests far outweigh their differences. By keeping youth off the streets and involved in a positive activity, New direction is helping to lessen the crime and violence that occurs so often. 
After-school and Saturday Activities at New Direction are regularly scheduled and held at the Flint Schools. In addition, New Direction uses Baker College for sports activities and Kettering University for Spring Break Basketball camps and sports activities. 
The University of Michigan has also offered the use of their I recreational facilities to the New Direction Youth Program. This unique opportunity gives the youth participants a chance to leave their own neighborhoods, where they are fighting to survive every day, and go to a facility where they are engulfed in the positive atmosphere of an institute of higher education. This not only gives the youth the opportunity to use such a wonderful 
facility, it shows them what awaits for them in the future.

Stop the Violence Traveling Youth Choir:

Educational Awareness:

New Direction cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good education. Stressing this importance and offering assistance and support to youth participants goes hand-in-hand with the leadership training program and the team-building activities offered. The educational awareness project is designed to help youth develop their social skills as well as their study skills. This program is conducted at the University of Michigan -Flint campus every Tuesday night. The University of Michigan has been very supportive of the New Direction Youth Program, and through a partnership, the youth participants of New Direction are able to use U of M's facilities not only for their educational awareness sessions, but also for their recreational activities. It is important / to take the youth out of their everyday environment and put them in a safe place where they are surrounded -1 by a positive, academic-based atmosphere. Using the University of Michigan facilities has had a profound impact on the youth participants. They feel motivated to learn and proud to be a part of it all. 
From helping with homework to tutoring, the staff of New Direction Youth Program strives to help students develop effective study habits and better understand the subject matter they are learning. These very basic skills often go undeveloped -while they are a cornerstone to the joy of learning. It is the goal of New Direction Youth Program to assist in providing a well-rounded educational experience to all of the youth participating in the program. While stressing the importance of education, New Direction also teaches the students that effectively interacting with their parents, school officials, and counselors will serve to enhance their educational experience. The staff of New Direction Youth Program works with the local schools to help find scholarships for the youth participants. Educational field trips and exposure to tl1e Upward Bound program are also a part of the educational awareness program. 
Recently, the staff of New Direction successfully assisted one of the youth participants in the New Direction Youth Program in obtaining a four Year scholarship to Western Michigan University. This was a very exciting time for the entire New Direction family. To share in this young person's successful journey to college was very motivational to the other participants in the program. They got the chance to see first hand that there is a future out there waiting for them -they simply must strive for it.

Computer Training:

Job Placement:

Many of the youth participants in the New Direction Youth Program come from low-income families. Many local businesses have been working with the New Direction Youth Program by providing employment opportunities for the youth participants. The youth are working in a variety of businesses like restaurants, automobile dealerships, and paint stores. The staff of New Direction Youth Program helps the youth in securing a position by introducing them to the employers, helping them with the job application, and teaching them how they should present themselves during interviews and while working. Many of these ideas seem very basic, but often times the youth have not had the proper guidance to develop these basics. By helping the youth find employment, New Direction is not only helping to meet a financial need, but helping to enhance the personal growth of the young person and further developing their self-esteem. By giving them the responsibility of a job, New Direction is doing their part in keeping young people from turning to the streets as a means to survive.

New Direction Peer Mentor Project:

New Direction Youth Program continues to grow with the demands of the youth in the Flint community. As part of this growth, New Direction has implemented an activity for the older youth who have participated in the New Direction Youth Program that display the leadership qualities and the positive behavior changes sought. It is called the New Direction Peer Mentor Project. These young people are trained by the staff as youth counselors working within the New Direction program. They assist at all activities and playa crucial role in the management of an expanding program. New Direction believes that the peer counselors are often times better able to relate to many of the problems and issues that our youth are confronted with. Teenagers communicate more openly with their peers than they do adults. They feel comfortable that they are on the same level and feel free to express their ideas and opinions more openly. This open communication between the youth leads to effective problem solving and self discovery. The peer counselors are trained to handle a variety of situations, but at the same time they must realize when it is necessary to call on adult staff to intervene. 
The teens selected to participate in the New Direction Peer Mentor Project need to meet certain criteria before they will be considered for a position. First, they will need to have  participated in the New Direction Youth Program Leadership training for the last two consecutive years. Second, they will need to display the leadership qualities and the positive behavior changes the New Direction Youth Program seeks to instill in their youth participants. To become a peer counselor is a positive reward for the youth participants. While participating in the activities offered at New Direction, the youth have been told that they can become a leader and a role model for others. The Peer Mentor Project gives them a chance to prove to themselves that they have what it takes to help other young people coming into the program. As a peer counselor, they will be motivated to succeed -a quality that they will realize they had all along. This is their "graduation" from New Direction youth Program. They will continue learning with each new day and grow with each new experience. In getting to this point, they have proven that they have learned many valuable life lessons. 
The Peer Mentor Project began in November 1997. The hands-on training is conducted and supervised by New Direction staff. To be eligible for consideration in this project, each teen must have participated in the Leadership Training Program for two consecutive years. They must also show the characteristics necessary to become a leader and be a positive role model. They begin their training by working directly with the I\lew Direction staff at various activities. 
They learn how to lead each activity, rather than just participate as they have in the past. The peer counselors will not lead activities on their own until the staff feels they are ready to do so and the youth participating in the activities are ready to have their peer counselor leading the group. Peer counselors will not lead off-site activities, educational awareness sessions, or leadership training. They will assist the staff in these specialized activities. The peer counselors will handle many of the recreational activities without the direct supervision of the staff, but only once it has been determined that they are ready. 
It is important to make children feel good about themselves. By rewarding their positive behavior, New Direction encourages them to continue good behavior styles. The reward gives them a sense of accomplishment and selfworth; it makes them happy. The peer counselors will be rewarded both in their personal growth and financially. Each peer counselor receives $125.00 every two weeks as a stipend. This helps them in meeting their personal needs and gives them the responsibility of a job. New Direction feels that a stipend is necessary in making sure that the youth continue in their personal growth within the program and later take their experiences with them into the world. Of the $125.00 stipend that each peer counselor receives, approximately $60.00 is put into a bank account so the youth can actually begin saving some of their money. Each peer counselor is taught how to read their bank statement and efficiently balance their account. In time, they will see how the interest they receive on their money can grow motivation to keep putting more money in the bank. Of the remaining $65.00, approximately $30.00 is given to the youth to purchase personal items that they may need or to spend as they desire. However, they are responsible for reporting on their spending. The last $35.00 is invested into their own business, the New Direction youth Entrepreneur Project.

New Direction Youth Entrepreneur Project:

The Youth Entrepreneur Project is an important component of the New Direction Peer Mentor Project. The goal of the Entrepreneur Project is to teach money and small business management to the peer counselors. Since many of these young people live at or below poverty level, they have never been given the opportunity to learn how to manage money. In the real world, money management is essential. Some of the youth that participate in the New Direction Youth Program may never go to college. With the Entrepreneur Project, New Direction can instill basic business skills into the youth to give them a starting point. Whether they go to college or not, New Direction wants them to be successful and happy adults. 
One Saturday a month, the staff of New Direction takes the peer counselors to various wholesale markets throughout the area. The youth are able to purchase whatever items they would like to start building tlleir own inventory. Once an adequate supply of items has been accumulated by each person, they go into business. The Flint Farmers Market agreed to let the New Direction Youth Program set up a booth one Saturday each month. At this booth, the young people who have worked hard at building an inventory of products sell their products in the hope of making a profit. Any and all profits from the sales are put back into their own entrepreneur project. This is an attempt to teach them how • business works and how people make money in business.
To ensure successful implementation of the Youth Entrepreneur Project, the staff of New Direction has asked local leaders involved in Junior Achievement to provide instruction and guidance throughout this project. New Direction has also looked to local business owners and mangers for practical guidance in business management. This entrepreneur project is a big step in the overall personal development of the peer counselors. New Direction has been teaching them that they have the ability within themselves to make a difference -now giving them a chance to prove to themselves that they really can. New Direction is giving them the opportunity to make money and build a savings for themselves. This is something that the majority of them have never had. They can do this and they will be guided every step of the way. This project takes them one step closer to becoming a leader, educator, and positive role model. It also moves these soon-to-be adults one step closer to independence.

MISSION STATEMENT: