In 2012-2013, we will teach The Respect Basics to advocates reaching 30,000 youth in institutions, foster-care and those who are at-risk for teen pregnancy and high-school dropout. Youth problems including the above and all forms of violence, bullying, poor health, intolerance and oppression impede their ability to thrive. They are also symptoms of an underlying fundamental problem: A lack of respect for one's self and others.

Our solution redefines what respect means for youth. Those with true self-respect believe they have equal value to others and behave as if, "I matter, you matter." We provide the critical tools necessary to practice this type of self-respect daily. With a strong sense of self-respect, youth are enabled to create respect in their relationships and to positively impact their communities as leaders of social change. We call these tools The Respect Basics.

Our research shows that having a foundation of The Respect Basics is the key determining factor in ending cycles of disrespect that stifle potential. Our research also demonstrates that once a foundation of self-respect is laid, it does not waiver like self-esteem may falter. So building self-respect is a more permanent solution to the problems that ail all youth. So why focus on building self-respect in at-risk youth? Those under age 25 have the highest highest brain plasticity -- they can change and quickly. With true respect on the inside, anyone can shift from surviving to thriving.

Problema

Youth ages 11-18 are increasingly excluding, bullying, harassing, verbally or violently assaulting each other (or the adults around them). Someone can be targeted because of social status, race, gender, sexuality or other “-isms.” The root-case problem: Our youths’ muscles for self-respect and mutual respect are not being systematically developed at home, school, in media. Youth don’t even have a healthy, universal definition of “respect.” Many believe respect can be "won" through force or humiliation. The result: Their capacity to spread respect and recover from disrespect is diminished. And this decreases their abilities to have empathy for others, value all people as equals, be leaders of social change and thrive. They must learn: respect is baseline right we all deserve and can spread.

Solución

We give youth and their influencers, life-long tools to build respect—inside and out. No matter your circumstances or past hurts, youth learn that self-respect is something you can control and invest in on you own. Our Respect Rally, 12+ week program (Respect: Keep It Going! Kit), and respect coaching model, marinate youth with respect. Daily practices and tools are taught to a school once, and then used year-after-year by all: staff, teachers, parents and students. They learn: The Respect Basics (Tell Your TRUTH, Know You’re VALUABLE, Follow Your PASSIONS, Trust Your GUT, Set BOUNDARIES-Speak up!, Be Compassionate: LISTEN, Get HELP, and Spread RESPECT). They get our root-meaning definition of respect ("to look again"). These tools are integrated through a simple-to-learn model within a an existiing youth program/facility, after-school activities, teacher/staff training and operations.

Ejemplo

First we hold staff retreats to train teachers/staff/advocates how to use our tools in their own lives--they experience and use the program tools firsthand. Then we enroll youth through the day-long, experiential summit, The Respect Rally, where they break down stereotypes or boxes they’ve put each other in, and practice the new definition of respect along with The Respect Basics. Next, the entire school/organization/facility keeps practicing together though our Respect: Keep It Going! Kit, which includes weekly sessions, games and peer coaching tools to use at any time in the face of disrespect. Our model helps youth and their influencers re-wire their brains for respect and break habits of disrespect. It gives them a common language and “Respect Pact” to live by together. Our model is to train 5 adult champions to implement and maintain the tools on their own year-after-year, making respect for all the foundation of their school/facility's culture for years to come. This is not about mottos or posters. It’s an entire community committing to practice self-respect and mutual respect daily together at every level. We are the respect piece of anyone's youth development puzzle: Our programs are designed to become their program through training and a sustainability plan that guides them through easily integrating them your organization or school’s overall culture, curriculum, online and offline spaces, and key youth development methods.

Mercado

Programs like Challenge Day, Character Counts, and 30+ others we reviewed often don’t have a self-respect-building component beyond “civility.” Or they aren't available in jails/the foster care system or they're “done in a day”--inspiring but shifting only some youth. Our tools require just one training to use long-term and to impact all youth systematically throughout the program year without interfering with precious instruction time: Respect increases productivity. We’re open source. We train “competing” program providers and leverage their brand notoriety (some have more than us at this stage) to integrate our respect remedy into their better-known youth development solution. We're a powerful plugin for other programs that want to build respect as a root-cause solution to issues like bullying or develop it as a character asset for all youth.