Youth Development
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One of Phoenix Family’s key priorities for the Youth Development Program is to help youth in our communities gain the skills necessary to break the cycle of poverty. We know that with an education, good health and job skills every child can accomplish their dreams. Helping youth in Phoenix Family-supported communities gain these skills requires a set of activities geared specifically toward the challenges they face every day. Most will struggle to overcome a family history of poverty, dysfunction, substance abuse, criminal activity, and physical abuse; to graduate from high school; and to build necessary social support networks. Because financial insecurity usually relates to housing insecurity, these children traditionally move frequently in order to stave off homelessness. The frequent moves in turn exacerbate an already below average academic progress. School for them is a frustrating struggle where they never completely catch up and fall further behind each year. In addition, housing and financial insecurity increases the risk of family disintegration and foster care placement, and the likelihood of physical and mental trauma. These factors combined can lead to higher than normal instances of teenagers who drop out of school before completing their high school education. Moreover, once they have dropped out of school, it is less likely that they will return to get their GED. Without adequate job skills or training, they are likely to continue the cycle of poverty of their childhood into their adulthood. Phoenix Family’s Youth Development Program supports the youth on our properties by helping them to stay in school and avoid high-risk behavior, and get the skill they need to break the cycle.
After School Program
The core of our Youth Development Program is our After-School/Out-of-School program. Offered at each of these six sites alone almost 140 children (ages 6 to 17) participate daily (530 children per week). The program runs in the afternoons Monday through Thursday during the school year and throughout the day during school breaks and in the summer. Many of our children will typically be unsupervised during these hours, which studies show lead to an increase in youth delinquency rates. The majority of activities take place on-site, ensuring that they are available to every child residing in our communities.
Centered on offering comprehensive homework help and tutoring, the After-School/Out-of-School program focuses on raising the academic proficiency of participating school-aged children. Here participants have access to personalized tutoring and computer labs to complete their homework. In addition, secondary program activities are designed to reinforce and enhance the skills and knowledge that they learn at school through activities that are both fun and academically, socially and physically beneficial.
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