ENACT School Partnerships
ENACT helps NYC public school students learn social, emotional, and behavioral skills through creative drama & drama therapy techniques.
About You
About You
About Your Organization
Organization Name
ENACT, Inc.
Organization Website
Organization Country
United States, NY, New York, New York County
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States, NY, New York, New York County
Is your organization a
Non‐profit / NGO / Citizen sector organization
Your role in Education
Other.
The type of school(s) your solution is affiliated with
Public (tuition-free)
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
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Innovation
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Scaling (the next step will be growing impact on a regional or even global scale)
How long has your solution been in operation?
Operating for more than 5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
In a school environment that revolves around standardized test scores, students often feel that their everyday lives and personal feelings are not taken seriously. But what happens when these issues become obstacles to learning? Students act out, drop out, and become apathetic or hopeless. Studies show that many cases of “behavioral problems” are expressions of unmet needs that have not been addressed. These needs drive negative behaviors, such as violence, terrible incidences of bullying, drug abuse, lying, and more. Well-meaning teachers and other adults often exacerbate these behaviors by punishing students for emotionally-driven behavior. As a result of this lack of understanding/empathy, students' behaviors get worse, and both students and teachers feel a sense of helplessness.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
ENACT addresses the issues that block youth from success by bringing our unique creative drama program into public schools in economically depressed neighborhoods throughout NYC. Our program is delivered by professional actors, our Teaching Artists (TAs), who are trained in the ENACT method and overseen by social workers. TAs address daily struggles and unmet needs through a customized approach to role-play and facilitation that teaches the social-emotional skill of empathy as one in a powerful toolbox of vital life skills. Our unique, time-tested approach enables students to develop self-awareness, and the ability to understand others. This leads to positive communication and meaningful behavior change. Also, parent & school staff workshops help adults invested in the education of our students to understand these ideas and improve communication. In this way, we intercept the cycle of negative behavior from several angles to make an impact on the students and schools we serve.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
2 ENACT TAs enter a classroom prepared with a needs assessment customized in advance with the school, ENACT techniques and lesson plans, acting skills and passion. They introduce themselves and invite the students into a circle. The TAs walk around and invite each student in; the personal attention pulls in a few initially resistant students. Others are told that they can sit out or join in any time, but are asked to respect those who have joined. They start with a warm-up game to create a feeling of fun and get the students engaged. As the workshop progresses an environment of belonging develops.
The actors then perform a scene, which is a dramatization of a topic similar to something identified in the needs assessment. Students giggle at first, but soon move forward their seats and "shush" each other to hear every word. At the end of the performance, the TAs ask, "Was this realistic?" Students begin to validate the scene by saying "Yes, something like this happened to me..." TAs then help participants safely express their feelings without over-sharing, and offer tools to manage those feelings. Students then replay the scenario, learning skills such as empathy and positive communication. In the replays, the audience claps and nods, but most importantly, they emotionally connect.
To wrap up the day, the circle is re-formed. Students are asked to name one thing they will take away from the workshop: "Thinking about other's feelings"..."Listening..." To cap off the day, the TAs set up a unison game. They repeat after the TAs: "I respect myself and I respect others."
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
There are various social service organizations and even theatre arts organizations that teach social emotional skills, such as the Creative Arts Team and Partnership for Children. However, they do not deliver the same magic of engagement that ENACT does. ENACT gets through to students quickly because the signature ENACT Method employs specially trained actors who can forge an empathetic connection with even the most resistant students. The art of drama is built on empathy, and so ENACT's work.
In addition, other organizations do not customize their work to the individual classrooms the way that ENACT does.
However some competitors may have more money for marketing, which poses challenge as we are not able to create visibility or attract the same amount of funding as some others.
Now that you have thought out your entry, help us pitch it.
Define your company, program, service, or product in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
ENACT helps NYC public school students learn social, emotional, and behavioral skills through creative drama & drama therapy techniques.
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
Talented actors and social workers engage the most resistant students forging a powerful empathetic connection to transform behavior.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
Recently ENACT completed an extensive program evaluation with researchers from Columbia University funded by the Ford Foundation. The project provides factual evidence of ENACT's impact on students, classroom and school climate. The research found that students in ENACT Partnership Programs demonstrate statistically significant gains in SEL. Highlights include: -“Some students particularly valued ENACT because it motivated them to participate in school and helped them avoid some of the negative behavior of their peers.” -“ENACT helped students to develop their ability to articulate feelings, especially difficult or troubling ones. The process encouraged reflection about making constructive choices in everyday behavior.” -“Students demonstrated gains in social and emotional development.” -“Students demonstrated development of self-confidence, positive risk-taking, identifying and managing emotions and challenging relationships.” The peer-reviewed report is available on request.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
In the next 1-3 years, ENACT plans to reach even more students, teachers and parents with our unique solution to a universal problem. Through a gift from the William T. Grant Foundation, ENACT has fulfilled a long-term goal of developing a formalized, custom curriculum for internal training. The curriculum was molded based on the findings of the Ford Foundation program evaluation. ENACT is in the process of developing a new 3-year strategic plan using the curriculum as a platform for organizational growth by offering ENACT training institutes to outside institutions. We are also exploring potentially expanding nationally, starting with New Jersey and moving forward from there.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Complete roll-out and dissemination of new curriculum.
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Complete training of all existing and new teaching artists in the new customized curriculum.
Task 2
Offer training to selected teachers and partners using new curriculum.
Task 3
Develop new website with interactive features to enable participants to learn from one another.
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Celebrate ENACT's 25th Anniversary.
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
Prepare and build board to enagage and empower them for an enhanced fundraising initiatives.
Task 2
Attract a celebrity spokesperson for 25th Anniversary Celebration.
Task 3
Build marketing plan to promote event and create name recognition for the organization.
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world [125 words]
Riding home from a college graduation party, ENACT Founder Diana Feldman was in a traumatic crash. She was trapped in the back seat of a car after being hit by a drunk driver, resulting in 2 broken legs, a life changing near-death experience & a year of recovery. The “aha” moment occurred that night in the back seat, unable to move & terrified that she was paralyzed permanently. This thought may have been unbearable, but in the same moment she realized that while she may be immobile physically, she was still a creative soul that could sing and write. She knew then that her creative spirit would get her over any hurdle to become whole again. For the next year, she used song-writing as a creative outlet to set her free. Once fully recovered, she founded ENACT based on the principal that people overcome obstacles through creative expression. She spent the next 25 years developing the ENACT method that now has helped > 135,000 people reach their potential by tapping the creative spirit.
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
ENACT’s success stems from a reputation for strong field work and our ability to maintain relationships with people up and down the ladder of the NYC Department of Education. ENACT has secured extensive partnerships at Alternative Learning Centers & ReStart facilities throughout NYC. There, ENACT works with students on the fringe of the educational system. ENACT conducts long-term full school partnerships, 4-30 week workshop residencies, and 6 auditorium performances to spark empathy and social emotional learning to students in grades K-12. We reach over 10,000 students in 100 schools yearly.
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section? [75 words]
ENACT has a staff of 55 teaching artists trained in the signature ENACT method. This corps of pro actors are supervised by in-house social workers and drama therapists. Our long-term partnerships include on-site staff that work in the schools every day to become a part of the fabric of the school community. ENACT has a small but dedicated FT program staff that works in our headquarters to implement school programming, including a Sr Director of Partnership Programs, Director of Short-Term Programs, Program Manager and a Program Associate. The admin staff includes the CEO, CFO and development.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
ENACT's budget does not allow for a large full time staff to manage all of our needs in the specified areas. We are open to collaboration in any of the selected areas. We are also happy to offer training on using role-play to help individuals develop self-awareness and empathy.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ENACT Students rehearsing for showcase | 267.38 KB |
| Students at "Show Up!" Year-End Showcase | 241.74 KB |
