Changing the World—One Child at a Time

Who made a difference in your life?  Was it your parent, a teacher, a youth worker, a minister, your neighbor?  Did they help you through the rough patches?  Did they listen while you talked about your hopes and dreams?  Did they encourage you to run a mile, enter the science fair, sing a solo at the spring concert, or learn how to plan a completely nutritious meal?  Did they help you navigate a world that you found confusing and concerning?  If the answer to any of these questions is “yes” then you benefited from having a positive role model and mentor in your life. 

You have the opportunity to pay that forward.  Join with others who profited from this sort of support and are investing money in the staff development and training of youth workers who act as this essential piece of the puzzle.  At Entrusted Legacy your monthly contribution of $10.00, $15.00 or $25.00 can make a difference in the life of a child.  And the impact is exponential as helping the adults will help both directly and indirectly every youth he/she comes in contact with.  Go to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.com

Building Capacity

Building capacity is an approach to development that “focuses on understanding the obstacles that inhibit people, from realizing their developmental goals while enhancing the abilities that will allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results.”  "BUILDING CAPACITY"  Capacity building is not just about today it is also about the future.  Building capacity empowers people to reach their potential.  Building capacity impacts the lives of individuals, and also impacts families and communities as well.

Each of us has possibilities within us that are not yet recognized.  As we grow and learn we strengthen our capacity to “become”.  To help youth unleash the power within them, it is essential that they have a positive role model and mentor to help guide the way.  A role model is someone to emulate, a person to guide you on your way as you learn how to navigate the world.

 

We know that grit and resiliency are results of having a positive role model and mentor.  At Entrusted Legacy we are championing the people who work with other people’s children in out-of-school time programs.  While everyone can’t be the person who works with youth, everyone can support those who work with youth.  Entrust Your Legacy with us as we support the development of role models and mentors.  Go to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and invest today.

Being a Role Model for a Group of Youth

A positive role model is someone who others look up to and admire.  A role model is someone that others want to emulate.  Simply through “being”, a role model is inspirational and motivational.  Others can see the possibilities of themselves in the role model.  A role model demonstrates self-confidence but is not overbearing and arrogant.  A role model is humble and grateful for the opportunities he/she has had. 

It is challenging enough to be a positive role model one on one, but for afterschool professionals, being a role model to a group of young people—maybe 15-20 of them, is not unheard of.  So what are some things that a positive role model can consider when working with a group of youth? 

Remember that there are always eyes and ears paying attention.  How you respond to youth when they are the least deserving will speak volumes to those who are watching.

Learn to take a few minutes each day to connect personally with each youth.  Whether this is during check in when you are initially greeting students for the day or as you make your rounds during homework, look each youth in the eye and ask a question that is relevant to that youth. 

Celebrate the successes of your youth.  Chart your praises so you can be sure to include everyone during the course of several weeks.

Walk your talk.  Nothing is as important that what you do rings true and authentic to the words you say.  Young people do research to see if adults say what they mean and mean what they say.  As a positive role model, you need to “pass this test”.  If you make a mistake, own it and apologize-- youth understand that no one is perfect!

Finally, share with youth the thinking you do when making decisions.  This will help them to understand that good choices aren’t necessarily easy for anyone plus they will begin to understand how to think critically.

Entrusted Legacy’s work is to provide the staff development that role models who work with groups of youth need to be successful.  Help us to help those who are changing the future.  Invest now!  Check out our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and contribute to our work.

The Little Red Hen

There is a children’s story entitled The Little Red Hen.  In this story, a folk tale of probable Russian origin,  the Little Red Hen finds a grain of wheat and asks all of the farmyard animals to help her plant the grain, and none of them are willing to do that.  After the wheat has grown it is time to harvest the grain, and again the Little Red Hen asks for volunteers to help her with this task, and again there is no willingness to help.  After the harvest the grain must be threshed to separate the chaff from the wheat and then of course the process of milling the wheat into flour.  An again at each phase no volunteers are forthcoming.  Finally the Red Hen is ready to bake the bread and one last time she invites the other farmyard animals to help and once again they say ‘No”. 

Finally, the Little Red Hen has finished baking the bread and asks, “Who will help me eat the bread?”  Unlike all of the other times, the farmyard animals are all willing to be eager volunteers.  But this time she declines the help and says that since they were not willing to help on the front end they wouldn’t be able to benefit in the end.  So she and her chicks ate all of the bread, leaving nothing for anyone else. 

As is mentioned in the wiki about this story, “the moral of this story is that those who show no willingness to contribute to a product do not deserve to enjoy the product.”  You have an opportunity to get in on the front end of the process of helping youth leaders to develop the skills they need to be a positive and effective role model and mentor for youth.  Join us at Entrusted Legacy by logging onto our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and making an investment in the future.  

Donate, Change Today!

The difference between yesterday and today’s youth is that today, many youths lack the positive role models to help them recognize their unique potential. I’m sure sometime in your life, you have had a mentor of some sort guide you to the successful adult that you are today. Why not continue this trend of guidance with today’s youth?

Entrusted Legacy, a non-profit dedicated to finding the necessary resources to help adults become mentor’s to today’s youth, wants to ensure that every youth has someone they can look up to. And not just someone who makes a brief appearance in their lives, but rather, somebody who will invest in today’s youth by helping them recognize their potential and guiding them so they can grow into successful adults.

There are many ways that you, a reader of this article, can help Entrusted Legacy fulfill our commitment to today’s youth. Some of the ways that you can help might be to just share this article with colleagues. You can also inform somebody about the cause by directing them to our Facebook Page and help us raise 250 likes, follow us on Twitter and help us gain 200 followers, volunteer your time, OR you can donate on our Indiegogo's Donor Page or our Website's Donor Page.

Because there are so many different ways to get involved, you are in no way obliged to donate any monetary items to our non-profit organization. But, I feel motivated to tell you that the monetary donation we ask from you will neither bankrupt nor burden you. Rather, the donation we ask for is just this, a donation. If you feel inspired, motivated, interested, or driven to donate, let it be from your own volition. If you are drawing blanks as to what is “appropriate” for a donation, allow me to help you by informing you how your donation invests in the success of youths.

·         $50 donation allows 1 staff member a full year’s worth of curriculum. This is the equivalent to $4.57/month OR 1 Venti Starbuck’s Latte/month!

·         $200 provides a staff member with access to the staff development training program for the year

·         $500 provides an entire school site staff with the staff development program and curriculum for the year.  

During these past few years alone, education across the nation has experienced many drawbacks. The decline in funding for education has come with many disadvantages such as: fewer staff members, 

cutting after-school programs, getting rid of art programs, an inability to offer necessary school supplies, and even forcing some schools to shut down completely. While your donation to Entrusted Legacy will not solve the education crisis in America, it will help.

Entrusted Legacy, as previously stated, has a commitment to make a positive impact on the youth in California and programs across the nation. Your donation, therefore, would help Entrusted Legacy by funding training and supporting the adults who work with today’s youths in these programs. If you are not convinced of our purpose yet, think of this—local after-school programs provide youth with a safe place to be after they have been released from school.

When a school experiences a budget cut, the first programs to go are usually after-school programs. In order to operate at a high capacity and have a strong sustainable program, staff development implementation is paramount to making an after-school program into a long lasting, thriving, legacy.We can't do it alone. With your help, you can support this mission to provide youth with well-equipped, positive adult role model.

Entrusted Legacy-IRS Tax #27-2049633