The Ultimate Question

Fred Reichheld wrote a business book entitled The Ultimate Question.  In this book he says the ultimate question is “would you recommend this (product, service) to others?”  He’s right!  It really doesn’t matter what you are talking about—restaurant to vacation spot, doctor or attorney, a firsthand experience or a cause, if you would unequivocally recommend it to others, then you had a good experience. 

So it is fair to ask, why are we at Entrusted Legacy wanting to share our very gratifying experience in supporting youth workers with you? 

Is it because of the words of Margaret Mead when she says:  "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  The answer is YES! We believe we can make a difference.  But that’s only part of the reason. 

Maybe it is the words of Arne Duncan who tell us, "If we are serious about having more students be productive citizens, if we are serious about having more students prepared to be successful in college, dramatically improving the quality and the quantity of after-school programming is going to be at the heart of our work as a country."  Again the answer is YES!  We believe that afterschool programs can provide a much-needed difference in a child’s life.   But it too is only part of the reason. 

The words of Mead and Duncan have certainly propelled us forward, but it is the words of people who have actually benefitted from the training and staff development that most resonate with us.  Here are the words that matter most to us. 

 “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t reflect on the training I received to help me with a management situation or improve my lesson presentation. The training has helped me feel more confident in my ability to support students, interact with the staff on campus and build positive relationships with the families.”

 “I can’t tell you how important it is for me to have access to training 24/7.  I can go back and review information when I get confused and this empowers me to offer stronger learning opportunities for kids.”

“In addition to benefiting professionally, my training has helped me in my personal life as well. When you are dealing with people it’s all about communication, communication, communication and I feel I have improved the way I communicate with my husband, family, friends, and even my own children. I think back to the countless hours of youth development training each time my four year old “creatively” dresses herself for school or my two year old wants to “help” feed the dogs. The training I received was invaluable and I am often reminded of how lucky I was to have been able to be a part of it.”

"I began working in after-school programming when I was 16. It was my first job and I really did not know what to expect working with kids.  I was able to learn various classroom management techniques and gain valuable experience in the classroom. As I became more confident in my abilities and gained program experience I moved up the after-school ladder and became a Site Coordinator. As a Site Coordinator I learned a lot about doing things for others and truly enjoyed creating a safe, fun environment for kids. I feel my time in after school has helped me be a better person and a better parent."

Please join with Entrusted Legacy in promoting high-quality training for role models and mentors who work with youth in afterschool programs.  If you are not able to work directly with youth to support them as a role model and mentor, then support someone who is.  Invest in the future by investing with Entrusted Legacy.  Contact us at support@entrustedlegacy.org or by going to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org  

Best Year Yet

Here’s wishing us all the Best Year Yet in 2014.  Who could possibly object to this sentiment?  Yet to be the best year yet, there are some things you and Entrusted Legacy needs to do to be successful.  So taking the guidance of Jinny Ditzler who wrote the book, Best Year Yet, here is what we plan to do.  Check it out and see if there is anything you can apply to yourself.

Step one is to set goals:  Of course we all know that setting goals, actually writing them down, and referring to them regularly, helps to make those goals real and something you are focused on.  Setting goals allows us to “live our lives in a way that will show what really matter to us and that we are serious about accomplishing our goals.”  For 2014, Entrusted Legacy has goals to serve 30 new afterschool clients and connect them with online training 24/7/365 and 90 hours of face-to-face training spread across these 30 programs.  To accomplish this goal we have fund development and fundraising plans to ensure our success.

Once the goals are set, Ditzler says that to be successful you need to “prepare the space for the goals to flourish.”  This makes sense, so Entrusted Legacy is beginning that process by reminding ourselves of our cause, the work we do and why that work is so important for the future of youth and ultimately our country.  We believe that youth need positive role models and mentors. We believe that educating adults who work with youth will make a difference, and we believe that we can magnify that difference through the work we do to bring them training and staff development.  We believe everyone can be or support a positive role model and mentor who works with youth.  To that end, Entrusted Legacy has committed to work closely with sixteen new funders and investors who are willing to support the Entrusted Legacy Mission and Vision.

Ditzler also reminds us, ““Don’t let the weeds grow around your dreams.  Find the courage to act and face the big challenges and make your dreams come true.  Rely on your inner strength, step back from the busyness of life and pay attention to what really matters.”  She goes on to say we should all take responsibility for accomplishing our goals and simply step up and like Nike, “Just do it!”  So are taking that advice and stepping up our game.

At Entrusted Legacy we’re eager to make a difference.  Please join us and help us change the lives of youth for the better.  We can all remember that key person in our life that believed in us and helped us to be our best selves.  We are looking to support those adults.  Entrust your legacy with us and invest with us.  Contact us at www.entrustedlegacy.org or if you need more information, send your contact information to support@entrustedlegacy.org.  

Rediscovering Hope—Our Greatest Teaching Strategy

Richard Curwin wrote the book, Rediscovering Hope—Our Greatest Teaching Strategy, over two decades ago, but the message is still relevant.  While I agree that “hope is not a strategy,” I do believe that it is an essential ingredient for people to move from where they currently are into a brighter and more meaningful future. 

In his book, Curwin spends some time discussing the meaning of “at risk.”  We all have our definition for this, but it boils down to youth being “at risk” of dropping out of school and not achieving their full potential.  Instead of spending time on what “at risk” is, Curwin devoted space to what causes youth to be “at risk” beyond the typical things we identify.  He begins by sharing that youth begin to be “at risk” the first time they feel unwelcome at school or in an afterschool program.  They begin to be “at risk” when they feel that there has been an attack on their dignity. They sense other youth are valued and appreciated while they are not.  They start to be “at risk” when they are labeled and cynicism sets in when youth believes, “What’s the use?  No matter how hard I try, I’m not good enough.”  Once the seed has been planted, the feelings and actions that become synonymous with “at risk” begin to manifest, the spiral down speeds up.

What can we do to mitigate this spiral and transport youth from “at risk” to “in opportunity?”  We have to believe that afterschool programs are for kids, all kids, and that when we support them it begins first by building a relationship with them.  We must let youth know that we value them for who they are and that we believe they have something important to contribute.  We must help them begin to HOPE again.

Hope is not one of those “one size fits all” things.  There are different kinds of hope.  Hope can mean dreaming or wishing for something to happen that is beyond our control.  This kind of hope is like passive perseverance.  In other words, I hope this happens but I’m not really doing anything about it to make it so.  When we cling to this type of hope if something concrete and wonderful happens, then we can consider ourselves fortunate or maybe even lucky.  A second kind of hope is based on faith, the deep down inside you feeling that things will turn out all right.  This kind of hope too, is beyond our control with the exception that we believe it can be so.

The third kind of hope involves taking some sort of action—or being proactively perseverant  I think of the story of former astronaut Jose Hernandez who applied 12 times to be an astronaut----the first 6 times with passive persistence and the last six with proactive persistence.  When hope resembles this, it becomes actionable, and with actionable hope we have great possibilities.  One person commented, “People with hope chase rainbows and sometimes catch them.  Those without hope see little reason to try.  They do not believe that rainbows can be caught and that even if a rainbow could be caught, it would be nothing more than colored mist.”  Positive role models and mentors give substance to rainbows. Hope gives youth the courage to be a rainbow chaser. 

Please join with Entrusted Legacy in promoting hope; hope that is about forming a positive future.  It is proactive when we begin to orient ourselves to this future we have imagined.  It is the beginning of our future self and of being convinced we have the capacity to become so much more than we are.  If you are not able to work directly with youth to support them as a role model and mentor, then support someone who is.  Invest in the future by investing with Entrusted Legacy.  Contact us at support@entrustedlegacy.org or by going to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org  

5 Ways Poverty Harms Children

In a blog post on January 8, 2014 David Murphey and Zakia Redd contributed to the post on 5 Ways Poverty Harms Children.  This article could not be more appropriate since it is the fiftieth anniversary of the War on Poverty proclaimed by President Johnson in mid 1960s.  At that time approximately 23% of children in the United States were living in poverty.  Fifty years later, the figures are almost identical, with the exception of an increase for black and Hispanic children of 5%, from 34% to 39%.  So in 2014, fifty years after war was declared on poverty, 1 in 4 youngsters lives in conditions of poverty, and if those youth are of color, it is 1 in 2-3.  The damage caused by living in poverty continues.  Here are five ways that poverty can harm a child.

First, poverty harms the brain and other body systems—Children of poverty are more likely to have chronic illness, shortened life expectancy and the actual development of the brain architecture is sometimes damaged.  Whether this is from the stress of not knowing about where you will live or what you will eat, or the fact that what you do eat is not nutritionally sound, the results are the same.  Children of poverty struggle with issues of health. 

Secondly, poverty widens and creates achievement gaps—One needs to look no further than the evidence surrounding summer learning loss to see this in action.  Research has demonstrated that youth of poverty are less likely to attend summer learning programs than middle class youth, and as a result, by the time they are in fifth grade can be two-three years behind others in their class.  Youth from poverty also tend to have poor self-monitoring skills, and low or poor school attendance, which exacerbates the achievement gap.

Third, poverty leads to poor physical, emotional, and behavioral health.  Children in poverty do not have the luxury of a sense of security around the basics.  If we look at Maslow’s Hierarchy, the lowest level of need is for the basics—food, clothing, shelter, which are often erratic and feel very much like “hit or miss” to youth in poverty.  This causes anxiety and stress and an inordinate amount of energy to be focused on survival.  These youth often have untreated chronic health issues such as asthma, causing even more stress and tension.  If you saw the movie, As Good As It Gets with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, you remember how her child went from one emergency room visit to another, with no real progress being made until the Nicholson character saw to it that she and her child had a private pediatrician to look after her son.   

Fourth, poverty leads children to live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty.  The challenge in this is that not only is the child poor, but the neighborhood does not have what it needs to support youth.  These youth are more likely to witness and experience violence and more likely to attend a school that has fewer resources.  Poverty seems “normal” and just the way things are for youth who are surrounded by it.

Fifth, poverty can cause harm through the negative effects it has on families and home environment.  While it is certainly true that everything a child needs can’t be purchased, there are certain basics that are needed and that poverty holds at bay.  Parents report higher stress, aggravation, depressive symptoms and say they are challenged to plan, prepare, and provide for the children’s material needs.  They have fewer books and resources than in homes where poverty is not an issue. They are often challenged with temporary homelessness and housing instability.   

Building resiliency in youth of poverty is essential. One of the tried and true ways of doing this is through role models and mentors.  Many afterschool programs are in neighborhoods with high-poverty rates.  The training and staff development for the people who work with youth in these programs can make all the difference in the world.  Entrusted Legacy is working hard to find people, such as you, to invest in the training necessary for young people to succeed.  Support these youth today.  Go to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and invest in the future of these youth today.