YTS Strategic Plan

YTS: A Historical Perspective2010 - 2014

MissionYouth Transformation Services (YTS) is committed to reducing at-risk behavior in youth by teaching them to make better lifestyle choices.

VisionYouth Transformation Services (YTS) will help youth to value education, live with integrity, lead by example, mentor others, and create positive change.

Why YTS? Violence Intervention/PreventionYTS was founded as an empowerment, training and development group targeting violence intervention and prevention among at-risk youth in response to the City of Chicagos National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention Report (Released in 2011).

According to report, violent crime in Chicago is at a 30-year low, yet in 2010, 1,109 school-aged youth were shot and nearly half of Chicagos homicide victims were young people between the ages of 10 and 25. As a result, the City of Chicago anti-violence efforts seek to address violence using a multidisciplinary approach that utilizes combinations of Prevention, Intervention, and Response strategies.

Why YTS? A Citywide Call to ActionAs part of his plan to reduce youth violence in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel partnered with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and launched a collaborative effort to reduce violence that includes civic, faith-based, community, and business leaders in a plan to cut violence in half by the year 2020, under the tenant that youth violence is preventable.Youth violence is a serious but preventable problem.Violence intervention/prevention efforts should:Build skills & competencies that reduce violence, Enhance problem-solving and communication skills, and model proper conflict resolution,Engage youth in community volunteerism & civic engagement,Reduce factors that encourage at-risk youth to perpetrate violence, Promote protective factors that prevent volatile encounters.YTS provides effective violence prevention strategies that curb violence and foster positive lifestyle change. Task Force for Community Preventive Services

City of Chicago youth anti-violence cross-sector

Why YTS? Violence is PreventableChicagos public health approach to violence prevention integrates the cognitive behavioral therapy(CBT) model and social emotional learning (SEL), which recognizes that good mental health, social skills, and the ability of youth to control their own behavior as key factors to preventing and/or reducing youth violence.YTS developed its programs based on the State of Illinois SEL goals and standards:Goal 1 - Develop self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve school and life success.Goal 2 - Use social-awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships.Goal 3 - Demonstrate decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school, and community contexts.

State of Illinois Social /Emotional Learning skillshttp://www.isbe.net/ils/social_emotional/standards.htm

The Interrupters: Chicago Project for Violence Prevention

YTS S.E.L.F. Program:Reduce negative and volatile behaviors among youth at-risk.Improve self-awareness, self-esteem and self-worth among at-risk risk.Provide strategies for goal attainment, academic achievement, and personal success.Promote collaboration and networking amongst service providers and organizations.Provide ongoing training to increase the capacity of community partners and their service to at-risk youth.

How? S.E.L.F. Program

S.E.L.F. A Conceptual Framework SpiritualityEducationLifestyleFamily

S.E.L.F ModulesSpirituality Education Lifestyle Family

Know YourSELF helps identify and reduce negative and volatile behaviors among youth, by exploring emotional triggers that both influence and result in poor choices. YTS provide many strategies that are designed to prevent and reduce risk factors that impede safety, positive decision making processing and the involvement and exposure to volatile emotional triggers.

Youth Meditation Group introduce youth to such techniques as affirmations, visualization, yoga and meditation, designed to reduce emotional anxieties of anger and stress, and demonstrate how to overcome negativity while developing positive beliefs and attitudes of self.

Youth Empowered2Succeed introduces goal setting strategies as frameworks, helping youth in the achievement of their personal and academic goals. This learning experience helps youth examine their relationships between academic courses, career goals, and how it impacts their personal and professional success in life.SpiritualityOur spirituality model develops interpersonal skills designed to promote self-awareness, self-management of emotional anger and stress, as well as demonstrate how spiritual values can help change emotions of fear, uncertainty, and anxieties that can result in negative behaviors. EducationOur education model serves as an ancillary to student learning. Youth can will build skills, develop strategies and competencies designed to reduce the risk factors of violence, by creating SMART goals and objectives for successful achievement.LifestyleOur lifestyle management model uses social-awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships within their family and peer structures by teaching youth how to recognize the feelings and perspectives of others. Activities include individual and group similarities and differences, learning new decision-making skills to improve ones academic and prosocial behaviors. FamilyEstablish positive peer family relationships by cooperating and communicating respectfully and constructively within the family unit. Strengthen families in their role of guiding, disciplining, and instilling sound values within the family unit.

Program Goals & ObjectivesObjective 1: Teach at-youth how to Reduce volatile risk factors and how to improve social interactions with others through the development of improved decision-making, problem-solving skills, personal abilities, and spiritual values.

Objective 2: Increase at-risk youths awareness regarding academic achievement and personal success, through the development of demonstrated career pathways.

Objective 3: Establish positive family interactions and unifications among at-risk youth and their families, in effort to reduce negative exchanges and feelings towards each other.

Goal: To demonstrate how violence among youth is preventable

Know YourSELFGoal: To assist at-risk youth overcome adversities and identify any barriers that prevent them from achieving success in four targeted areas: Spirituality, Education, Lifestyle, & Family (S.E.L.F.); and then equip them to achieve measurable success in each area.

Objectives: Explore the triggers that result in high-risk behaviors; Deepen youths understanding of the cause and effect of their high-risk behavior choices; Providing solutions that help to reduce and/or eliminate the behavioral, emotional and volatile triggers; Demonstrate how youth can develop and maintain positive lifestyle choices.

Module 1: Help! Module 2: OptionsModule 3: ProceedModule 4: Evolves

Make a difference Education is power Right choices lead to victory Integrity breeds honor Teach by example

Youth Meditation GroupMake a difference Education is power Right choices lead to victory Integrity breeds honor Teach by exampleGoal: To Introduce at-risk youth to alternative methods designed to reduce emotional risk factors i.e., anger, stress, and negative attitudes.

Objective: Conduct affirmations, visualization, yoga, and meditation workshops to transform individual negative emotions, anxieties and behaviors into cultures of calmness, inner peace, and self-esteem.

Module 1: The Power of AffirmationModule 2: The Power of VisualizationModule 3: Yoga 4 YouthModule 4: The Power of Meditation

Youth Empowered 2 SucceedMake a difference Education is power Right choices lead to victory Integrity breeds honor Teach by exampleGoal: To Introduce goal setting strategies to at-risk youth, to examine their academic courses, career goals, and academic success.

Objectives: To Engage at-risk youth in course lessons and preparation plans, designed to improve critical thinking and decision-making processes relevant to goal attainment, academic achievement, and personal success.

Module 1: Journey 2 SuccessModule 2: Write the VisionModule 3: B-SMARTModule 4: Ready! Set! YES!

Mission Accomplished Things Done Well

Partnership with Metropolitan Family Services Upward Bound Program and Jazzin @ the Met Annual fundraiser training youth for successYTS 1st Annual FundraiserPartnership with Phalanx Family Services and Fenger High School for Youth Meditation GroupProfessional Development Alliance for Cook, Grundy and Will County School AdministratorsVictims Impact training for Joliet Police Dept.25th National Youth-At-Risk Conference presentation on How to Transform Student Behavior

Organization Impact

Resources.

Centers for Disease Control: Youth Violence Preventionhttp://www.cdc.gov/Violenceprevention/youthviolence/index.html

City of Chicago- National Forum on Youth Violence Preventionhttp://www.cityofchicago.org/dam/city/depts/mayor/supp_info/ylpFINAL.pdf

Illinois Common Core Standardshttp://commoncoreil.org/

Illinois State Board of Education Social /Emotional Learninghttp://www.isbe.net/ils/social_emotional/standards.htm

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