Success Stories
Belmont Youth Council
Douglas liked to fight. He fought with boys and girls, even those older and bigger than him. His fighting ways got him in trouble in school, at home and in the community. His grades were low and the school labeled him ADHD and wanted to put him on Ritalin. He did not like school. At 7 years of age, his goal in life was to be a football player but he had no plan to get there.
Through the Belmont Youth Council, Douglas attended Capoeira classes. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art, appealing to African American boys for it’s rhythms and dance-like form. Capoeira served to instill in all youth discipline, self control, and non-violent conflict resolution as well as balance, agility and overall fitness. Classes began with meditation to calm the youth, and each “game” began and ended with a show of respect for one another.
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Youth Leadership Academy
The Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) is an imaginative, multi-dimensional
cognitive behavior change approach to dropout and gang violence prevention,
literacy enhancement and empowering youth to become change agents in their
communities.
YLA differs from most other conflict resolution and life skills programs by using technology to engage youth. The program targets youth who face many “at-risk” conditions to provide them with innovative methods of life skills and character development, computer literacy training, career development, music/video production, and web/graphic design. Instructors with a variety of professional and faith backgrounds work with youth participants in the program.
The Youth Leadership Academy contains twelve (12) Internet-based life skills modules that total approximately 120 hours of classroom time. The modules provide an interactive learning environment for youth to learn basic Life Skills that will allow them to function as contributing members of society.
Learn more about Youth Leadership Academy