| |
National and local media testify to the fact that the youth of America face violence, bias, bullying and alienation every day. Council for Unity has taken a leadership role in helping communities create broader safety nets for our children. All the programs and activities of the Council for Unity confront the following very complex and challenging issues:
Violence
When a community is faced with violence, Council for Unity provides its anti-gang, violence reduction models to schools and community centers. The child's need for family, safety, self-esteem and responsibility are met through the application of our customized curriculum, obviating the tendency to join anti-social peer groups. By empowering alienated youth to address the problems that plague them, by teaching them values and democratic approaches to solving problems, their sense of impotency dissipates. They become part of the solutions to the issues that beset them and, in turn, become productive citizens.
Racial Tensions
When a community is confronted with racial or ethnic tension, Council for Unity applies its unity model to bring conflicting groups together. Agendas are established that focus on attacking problems rather than individuals. Participants are then directed to seek a common good that benefits all parties. In addition, the Council's Bridges program reaches out to recently arrived immigrant youth helping them to feel safe and included in their new communities.
Isolation
Many youth feel helpless, alone and alienated. Council for Unity provides a support system for life that gives much needed predictability to youngsters who feel lost. By providing social, cultural and educational opportunities, by including parents, educators and mentors as care givers, these children become confident and reconnected to society.
We have taken our best practices, those proven most successful during our 30 years, and created curricula that is implemented in schools and communities nationwide. This curriculum includes workshops and interactive lesson plans that train young people to become creative problem solvers. The problems that our programs address depend on the needs of the community. Our adaptability is only a part of what makes us so unique.
- We offer a support program that is without closure, where members enter as early as the third grade and have the option to remain for life.
- Our safety strategies go beyond mediation. We proactively address the causes of violence.
- Council for Unity fosters articulation between and among schools and communities. This serves to break barriers of race, ethnicity and religion.
- We provide network-wide social, educational, and cultural activities that extend beyond the school day.
- Council For Unity also continues to forge partnerships with other community based organizations to achieve the mission of safety and unity.
- Finally, we extend into the homes of our members by offering strategies for parent/guardian involvement and programs that offer other types of family support.
In schools, in the community, or at home, Council For Unity is always there for its members. The effectiveness and versatility of our programs makes Council For Unity the premier organization of its kind.
|
