Teen Drivers: Rules of The Road by the ARISE Foundation can help you buy, maintain and safely operate a car.

• Kyle Grayden, 17, of Shorewood, Minnesota, glanced at her iPod while driving with her cousin and a friend, both 17. When she veered off the road and flipped her car into a ditch, she and her friend were killed.
• Heading home from practice, Jonathan Chapman, a 16-year-old high school basketball player from La Plata, Maryland, was reportedly speeding when his car rammed an SUV. He and three friends, ages 14 to 16, were killed.
• Five days after graduating from high school, Bailey Goodman, 17, of Fairport, New York, and four classmates were on their way to her family’s cottage. Moments after text messages were exchanged on Bailey’s cell phone, she slammed into an oncoming truck. All five teens were killed.

These three tragic stories from Reader’s Digest  illustrate the need to educate teen drivers about safety behind the wheel. Car crashes are the number one killer of teens in the United States.

At the ARISE Foundation, protecting and nurturing teens is a big part of our life skills curricula. Rules of the Road is a manual just for teen drivers. This detailed, informative book covers all of the following and much more:

• Defensive Driving
• Road Rage
• Automobile Maintenance
• What to do if you are pulled over
• What to do if you have an accident
• Drunk Driving
• How to Insure a Car

…and more!

Most teens can’t WAIT to get their license…and most parents dread the day their child gets behind the wheel. Help ease the stress and educate teens on the huge responsibility of owning and operating a vehicle with the Rules of the Road book.

To order ARISE Rules of the Road or any of our other fantastic Life Skills books and materials, visit the ARISE website or call us at 1 (888) 680-6100.

Jobs for At-Risk Youth

Read About This Remarkable 18 Year Old High School Student Who is The Inspiration for This Job Creation Concept Targeting At-Risk Youth.

“Finding work that is a true calling is as mysterious a process as falling in love”

One of the biggest problems facing those whose aim it is to reclaim and redirect at-risk youth is finding them meaningful jobs. In the old days, kids who were not going to complete high school or go on to college would be coached by their parents to learn a trade. For most troubled youth, “learning a trade” is as old-school as reading a newspaper, or playing Pac-Man video games. Today the teen unemployment rate has reached close to 50% in our nation’s capitol and is almost that bad across the country. When you factor in high risk youth accustomed to expressing themselves with their fists, 90% unemployment and above could be the norm.

One solution for teen unemployment we at ARISE stumbled on is training youth as graphic designers using Adobe software, such as Indesign and Photoshop. Once youth are shown how much fun it is to lay out graphics and create colorful, funky designs, they are sold. Next, we merged the layout skills with the wonders of our high speed color copier where youth can actually print and display the images they create. It’s wonderful to observe creativity in bloom.

ARISE develops and publishes educational manuals, workbooks and motivational posters. The next step is introducing youth to the low tech book binding machine and paper cutter. Once youth help create a product and see it take shape, they are imbued with a pride of purpose and ownership that’s absorbing and inspirational.

Since ARISE ships its curricula and staff training materials nationwide, orders for its manuals, workbooks, Positivity Cards and motivational posters need to be carefully assembled and weighed for shipment. FedEx labels are printed and affixed to boxes, calls are made for delivery pick up – all part of this wonderful learning experience.

Here’s how non-profits not in the publishing field can offer undeserved youth, both male and female, opportunities for education, personal fulfillment, real jobs and the opportunity to become creative entrepreneurs. Just about every organization has a need to raise funds. This can be done by your group offering to design and deliver to other non-profits, local businesses, government agencies etc., flyers, brochures, booklets etc. all produced in house by the youth in your Graphic Design training program. In addition, attractive holiday greeting cards can also be created by your team, printed, packaged then sold.

Some of the costs involved in setting up a program similar to what I have explained will depend on the size and resources of the organizations. The cost of our first binding machine was about $750. The paper cutter was $49 and the color copier approximately $8000 (copiers can easily be leased, and reconditioned copiers are also available). Various sized copy paper and cover stock runs about $150. Adobe software purchased at a discounted price for use by non profits $500-$700. Graphic Designer (instructor) about $15-20 hourly depending on skill levels. There are jobs waiting. Check out Craig’s list in your city and see for yourself. Our next undertaking at ARISE is a web developer and search engine optimizer internships for troubled youth.

When we treat youth as if they were what they ought to be, we help them grow into what they are capable of becoming.
ARISE is a nonprofit foundation established in 1986 and located in North Palm Beach. Those interested in learning more about the ARISE Graphic Designer program for at-risk youth should contact Edmund Benson – ARISE Foundation, ebenson@arisefoundation.org or Phone 1-561-630-2021.Web – at-riskyouth.org

ARISE Production

Book Content

1. Make sure you have adobe InDesign installed on your workstation.
2. Open Adobe InDesign and create a new document.
3. The dimensions should be 51p0 picas by 66p0 picas
4. Insert the amount of pages needed.
5. Create a master page with the copyright and date information
6. Apply that master page to the entire document
7. Fill in the pages with content of your choice (This includes a title page and table of contents).
8. Make sure all images are in there respective folder and properly linked.
9. Add pages as needed.
10. Export final document to a PDF.
11. Send PDF to printer.

Book Covers

1. Make sure you have adobe InDesign installed on your workstation.
2. Open Adobe InDesign and create a new document.
3. The dimensions should be 66p0 picas by 108p0 picas.
4. Add a second page.
5. Create a background layer with a fill of our color of choice on the first page.
6. Create a spine of about a ¼ inch in the center of the document (This will distinguish between the front cover and back cover.
7. Fill the spine with text of your choice.
8. Choose an image and text for the front cover (Right side) and back cover (Left Side).
9. Make sure all images are in there respective folder and properly linked.
10. On the second page, put a line through the center of the page.
11. Export final to PDF (Choose to show crop marks)
12. Send PDF to be printed.

Cutting Covers

1. Cut cover by the crop marks

Book Binding

1. Turn on the book binding machine
2. Once the machine has warmed up, put the book contents horizontally in the page holder.
3. Line up the cover to the line that you put on the backside of the page.
4. Press the “start button” and the machine will bind the book.

Posters

1. Make sure you have adobe InDesign installed on your workstation.
2. Open Adobe InDesign and create a new document.
3. The dimensions should be 72p0 picas by 108p0 picas.
4. Choose a border of your choice.
5. Put image and text of your choice onto the poster.
6. Export to PDF.
7. Send to printer to be printed.

Laminating

1. Once you have printed your poster, cut the white edges off all four sides.
2. Put the poster into a laminating pouch.
3. Put the poster and pouch into the protective cover.
4. Turn on the laminating machine.
5. Once the laminating machine is warm, turn on the motor and put the poster into the machine.
6. When the poster has gone through the machine, take off the protective cover.

Shrink Wrapping

1. Gather the material that needs to be shrink wrapped.
2. Plug in the shrink wrap machine and heat gun.
3. Draw a generous amount of shrink wrap plastic out and insert the material.
4. Press down the machines arm until the plastic seals
5. Do the perpendicular side.

Packaging

1. Find a box that suits the amount of material you wish to package.
2. Tape the bottom of the box once horizontally and another vertically.
3. Put the shrink wrapped material into the box.
4. If there is any empty area at the top of the box, fill it in with bubble wrap.
5. Seal the top of the box.
6. Put a packaging slip on the top of the box and insert a label.

Supplies

1. Keep an eye out for supplies that are running low. This includes printer supplies (toner), paper, shrink wrap plastic, laminating pouches, glue, and boxes.

Five Quotes About Friendship & Peer Pressure, brought to you by ARISE Life Skills

No man is an island—we are influenced heavily by the people in our lives. True friends, those that lift us up when life knocks us down, are rare and valuable things. Especially during the turmoil and confusion of adolescence, friends can mean the difference between failure and success. Succumbing to peer pressure and picking the wrong friends can destroy your future. How is someone a friend when they seek to see you fail? Real friends share in your triumphs as if they are their own.

1.  ”The only pressure I’m under is the pressure I’ve put on myself.” —Mark Messier
2. “True friends are like diamonds, precious and rare. False friends are like leaves, found everywhere.”  —proverb
3. “A true friend advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously and continues to be a friend unchangeably.”  —William Penn
4. “Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend but it requires a very fine nature; it requires, in fact, that nature of a true individualist with a friend’s success.”  —Oscar Wilde
5. “I can trust my friends. These people force me to examine, encourage me to grow.”  —Cher

Peer pressure and harmful friendships are often big factors in someone’s decision to stay in school or drop out.  For more information on resisting peer pressure and choosing the right friends, check out So You’re Thinking of Dropping Out of School, which will soon have a companion volume entitled “So You’re Thinking of Staying in School,” a valuable handbook for how to communicate effectively, build healthier, closer relationships, become a better listener and manage negative emotions. Dropping Out book one gives you the reasons why you should stay in school; book two gives you all the tools you need to follow through and get your diploma.

Advice from Mom: 10 Pearls of Wisdom Brought to you by ARISE Life Skills & Training

Being a mother is hard work. You dispense hard-learned advice just to have it ignored most of the time. Only once your children have grown, made their own mistakes and had their own triumphs, do they realize exactly how valuable your advice was.

These are 10 “pearls of wisdom” collected by the ARISE Foundation over their 20 years of life skills training. The contributors are of all different ages, races and socioeconomic levels. Everyone has one thing in common: they all learned something from their mothers. For more, please visit http://www.ariselife-skills.org

ARISE as a Gang Prevention Program

The ARISE Gang Prevention Program was featured on West Palm Beach’s FOX-29 News in their “Making a Difference in the Community” segment.

PLAY NOW (18.3MB)

Download ARISE Gang Prevention Media Kit (PDF)

There are a variety of reasons that teens join gangs. Some are looking for prestige and excitement. Others are looking for income, protection, or a sense of belonging.[1] There are also factors that help protect youth from joining gangs. Youth that use their free time in positive ways are more resistant to joining gangs. After-school programs, sports, and the like give youth a sense of purpose, relieve boredom, and give them connections with others.[2]

Given the trends in gang violence and youth gangs today, ARISE approaches gang prevention in multiple ways. First, ARISE has developed life skill curricula with over 260 practical life skill lessons, such as anger and conflict management, the importance of a staying in school, finding and keeping a job, self-esteem, healthy living, graffiti avoidance and more.

These lessons contain vital information youth need to make healthy choices in their lives. Armed with this practical knowledge, youth will be better able to resist recruitment into gangs. Youth will learn how to find legitimate employment and how to resist drugs, guns, and conflict. Each lesson contains all the needed background information on the topic as well as multiple engaging, fun activities.

ARISE recognizes that it is important to help youth before gangs solicit them. ARISE has a number of materials available to reach youth of all ages. The curricula have been specifically designed to be age appropriate. We have many different materials available for pre-K, K-grade 1, grades 2-3, grades 4-5, middle school, and teen/young adult. It is never too early or too late to start a gang prevention program.

ARISE not only provides valuable life-skill lessons, but we train instructors to effectively teach the material and serve as mentors to troubled youth. ARISE provides staff training for those working directly with at-risk youth in various settings (after school programs, secure facilities, churches, etc.). We offer on-site instruction to the staff in how to use the ARISE curriculum and instructional ARISE formula in order to receive the maximum benefits from the curriculum.

The intensive Life-Management Skills Instructor Training will instruct your staff on how to use the ARISE curriculum to the fullest. Among other things, trainees will learn how to manage difficult students, effectively run group activities, and successfully lead group discussions and brainstorming techniques.

The ARISE groups resulting from the combination of ARISE lessons and certified instructors provides the most powerful prevention to gang involvement. It is within these groups with the facilitation of the instructor that the magic happens. Not only are the youth exposed to vital information in an interesting and interactive way, but they also get to bond with instructors and other youth in the group. Youth are given the opportunity to share their feelings and experiences, as well as learn from their peers. The groups form a connection of caring and respect. The youth feel valued, understood, and listened to in ways that are often lacking at school and at home. They are given the sense of belonging they need to avoid gang involvement.

ARISE is one of a kind. It is the only known program designed to reach at-risk youth and juvenile offenders with reading difficulties at all ages and provide a comprehensive set of necessary life-skills. The ARISE program is perfect for people looking for a structured program to implement in a gang prevention program. The lessons are also easily added to after school programs, church programs, or any other organization that would like to prevent gang recruitment.

In addition to the ARISE curricula and training, ARISE also offers another program for gang prevention that can be implemented in any community called Grab a Future. For more information on this program, check out the Grab a Future page.

Please take a minute to view our powerful gang prevention short story entitled “Diamond in the Rough.”

ARISE Curricula that Address Gang Risk and Protection Factors

ARISE offers life skills curricula for those specifically looking to establish a gang prevention program. Please view our selection of Gang Prevention and Intervention materials in the ARISE Online Store.

Footnotes
[1] Howell. J.C. (1998). Youth Gangs: An Overview. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

[2] The National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center website, “Youth Gangs,” retrieved March 7, 2007, from http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/teens/gangs.asp

10 Tips for Teenage Parents, brought to you by ARISE Life Skills & Training, North Palm Beach, FL

Teenage parents have one foot in childhood and the other in adulthood. Being a parent at such a young age often leads to anger, stress and resentment. Educating yourself about parenting and learning all you can about how to be an effective mom or dad are the best things you can do to ensure that your child grows up happy, healthy and well-adjusted. Here are 10 simple things you can do to be a better teenage parent.

1. Realize that carefree days spent at the beach or the mall are over. Your child is your first priority, and child care is a full-time job.
2. Note that the period between conception and birth brings tough decisions, mixed emotions and a self-evaluation for the future.
3. Realize that your parents may be mourning the dreams they had for your future. Know that anger will pass, especially if you and your partner can prove that you can deal responsibly with the situation.
4. Sit down with a piece of paper and list your goals in life as well as your current resources. Identify the needs of a child and how your goals and resources will have to be adapted to meet them.
5. Be assured that no matter what others tell you, your life is not over; it is just taking a different direction.
6. Know that family stability is necessary for the growth and development of a child.
7. Budget your income before your child is born. Babies tend to be expensive, and the more savings you have in reserve, the better.
8. Realize that babies cry because it’s the only way they can communicate their feelings to you.
9. Be aware that statistics suggest that teenage parents are more likely than older parents to strike their children. They tend to have less experience with children, are less patient with their child’s development and have a strong belief in physical punishment.
10. Respond to the needs of your child. He wants, and often needs, his needs to be met NOW, no matter how exhausted you feel.