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.

Homeless Children: How to Help the Economy’s Most Vulnerable Victims

One of the risk factors for ending up homeless is if your parents are homeless. In a crumbling economy, rife with job loss and foreclosures, the number of homeless people has started climbing again after experiencing a downturn from 2004-2007.

“‘I’ve never seen it like this before, and I have 30 years of experience working with the homeless,’ said Darlene Newsom, head of the UMOM Day Centers emergency housing project in Phoenix, Arizona, where the number of homeless families seeking services has doubled in the past three months.”

The Sun Sentinel ran a piece, entitled “Economy takes toll on kids” about the South Florida’s growing population of homeless children. Schools are often left to cope with the effects of families that lose their homes. Homeless kids struggle to stay focused, are often stressed, and act out to get attention. Many are teased by their classmates.

Broward County, FL has about 1,600 homeless children enrolled in the school system, according to the article. Palm Beach County has 953. Most of them are living “in shelters, motels and cars, or doubling up with friends or relatives.”

Being homeless puts kids at risk of foregoing their education and turning into homeless adults. “Fewer than one in four graduate from high school, and homeless children worry more and get sick more often than other kids.” (Sun Sentinel)

In addition to the high toll homelessness takes on their own lives, these at-risk kids, should they decide to drop out of school, cost taxpayers millions of dollars as they grow up and become dependent on the state.

So what can be done to give homeless children the tools they need to survive these hard times?  It is possible for homeless and at-risk youth to remain strong and resilient through their families’ struggles. Being homeless as a child does not have to automatically equate to a wasted life.

ARISE Foundation’s vast library of life skills material can help homeless kids build their self esteem, stay in school, handle bullies, manage their anger and experience an outlet for their emotions. ARISE lessons offer kids and teens practical advice, tips and tools to help them make the right decisions. The lessons are best taught in a group environment, where learners can share their experiences, get things off their chests and feel validated and appreciated in spite of their economic situations.

The following ARISE books are ideal for a homelessness prevention program, a support program for youth that are already homeless, a dropout prevention program or a life skills workshop:

1.  Anger Management
2. Self Esteem
3. So You’re Thinking of Dropping Out?
4. Networking, Jobs and Money
5. Learning Strategies and Time Management
6. Violence and Conflict
7. Substance Abuse and Guns

All ARISE material is best taught by certified ARISE Life Skills Facilitators. When you go through the ARISE Life Skills Group Facilitator training, you learn how to bring the learners out of their shells, how to engage and interest them, how to conduct the lessons in a productive way and how to make sure that you get the most out of each book.

To learn more about training or purchase ARISE materials, visit the ARISE Website or call TOLL FREE (888) 680-6100.

Drop it at the Door: ARISE gives teachers the skills they need to reject negative emotions.

Drop it at the Door: ARISE gives teachers the skills they need to reject negative emotions.

Continuing its effort to bring anger management and stress prevention to those that work with at-risk youth, ARISE Foundation will conduct its CHOICES: Drop it at the Door workshop at ATT in Albuquerque, New Mexico August 11 and 12. The Academy of Trades and Technologies is a vocational-technical high school for at-risk teens. The Academy offers students design and construction classes as well as assistance with mental health, housing and healthcare. The mission of the Academy is to not only give their students a viable career, but to steer them away from the at-risk lifestyles many of them were living before they enrolled in the Academy. Intervention Coordinator Colleen Chavez uses much of the ARISE life skills curricula and conducts group discussions with the teens about gang prevention, anger management, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, job search and interview skills and more.

Drop it at the Door is an innovative training that gives participants working with difficult populations the tools to handle anger and stress through making better choices in their work and personal lives. Drop it at the Door is a perk provided by employers who want their staff to be successful both on the job and at home.

The training will gives staff a solid understanding of how they can make the choice to drop home- and work-related anger, stress and frustration “at the door.” This training effectively stops the boomerang effect of stress and negativity, relieving the tension and harmful emotions that can shuttle between the workplace and home. This powerful anger and stress management workshop prepares participants to deal with difficult populations. Troubled youth are often so angry that they lash out at everyone around them. ARISE trains staff and others that work with at-risk youth how to avoid confrontation by using proven techniques and strategies demonstrated and practiced in this unique training.

The ARISE Drop It At The Door training program has been extremely successful in the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, where it has been conducted in various residential facilities. ARISE has also expanded its program to include other government agencies such as police, corrections and probation’s departments that require employees to confront difficult and often dangerous situations on a daily basis.

For over 25 years, ARISE has operated as a developer and publisher of Life Management Skills curricula and staff training programs. Designed to reach at-risk, incarcerated youth in detention centers and secure facilities and on probation, ARISE is also utilized as a powerful prevention tool for teenagers and young adults. ARISE programs consist of interactive group discussions and activities designed to break the ice quickly and grab the attention of even the most turned-off participants.

In its home state of Florida, ARISE was utilized for decades in the Miami-Dade School system. ARISE has forged a strong partnership with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). ARISE programs have been changing the lives of juvenile offenders in the Florida juvenile justice system since 1996. Its dynamic programs are currently being taught in 74 DJJ facilities across the state, as well as the Salvation Army, Boys and Girls Clubs and alternative schools.

ARISE programs are also used in over 100 organizations in the District of Columbia, including public and charter schools, the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, the Metropolitan Police, the District of Columbia jail and the D.C. Superior Court Probation Department.

For more information, or to schedule a training, please call Yasmin Isaacs toll free: 1 (888) 680-6100 or visit http://www.ariselife-skills.org

 

Great Things in Store for You at ARISE

Greetings from ARISE!

• The remarkable, life-changing ARISE Drop It at the Door training has been expanded to five days. Each day covers a different topic related to building healthy personal and professional relationships and controlling your emotions at home and at work. ARISE has taken each concept and built entire days of training around each one. Day one focuses exclusively on anger management. Day two is all about improving your life through paying attention to the way you conduct yourself, from your thoughts, emotions and body language to the way you deal with difficult people. Day three is about managing stress. Day three provides participants with an array of useful tips, tools and strategies for getting a grip on stress, including time management and meditation techniques. Day four is all about communication. Using the skills learned in the previous three days, participants will learn how to negotiate and communicate effectively with those around them. Day five closes the week by tying all the concepts together in order to be happier at home and at work. Spending more time on these important topics allows participants to truly learn and absorb them. Your staff comes away from training with a new mindset that will hopefully radiate out to everyone they come in contact with.
• You can subscribe to 365 Good Vibe emails and receive insightful quotes delivered to your inbox each day. Think of it has a burst of positive thoughts to focus on throughout your day.
• The new ARISE website has a host of new features, including a brand-new downloadable book section, featuring digital versions of the ARISE life skills curricula at half the prices of the hardcover books, and a sleeker interface.
• ARISE has two new anthologies rolling off the printing presses. Gangs: 50+ Stories of Fractured Lives is a powerful gang prevention tool filled with original fiction written by people from all over the country, as well as firsthand accounts from incarcerated gang members sharing the wreckage their lives have become as a result of gangs. This book is a perfect addition to any gang prevention program, because a memorable story resonates with everyone. The stories teach valuable lessons about the perils of life in a gang.

Once again, ARISE would like to thank its champions in congress. Through the support of the ARISE champions, the ARISE Intervention and Reentry program for incarcerated juvenile offenders provides public safety for communities across the state of Florida.

ARISE helps Florida’s Juvenile Justice staff master their staff training skills.

ARISE Master Life Skills Certification gives participants the knowledge and confidence they need to become leaders and teach others how to conduct the ARISE two-day life skills group facilitator training.

ARISE Foundation will conduct its Master Life Skills Training workshop August 3rd through the 7th at Seacoast National Bank, 3001 PGA Boulevard, Palm Beach Gardens, FL. The exciting five-day course will run from 8:30 to 4:30 each day.

As ARISE Certified Master Life Skills Trainers, participants of this comprehensive workshop will be able to take what they have learned and train others at their organization on how to conduct riveting group discussions and activities with the troubled youth and young adults in their charge. The point of the group activities is to draw troubled youth out of their shells, get them talking and make them feel validated and listened to. ARISE Life Skills lessons have been specifically created for learners with substantial reading and learning deficiencies in addition to serious behavioral issues. The Master Life Skills trainers will teach others how to steer youth in the right direction by providing new trainers with the know-how to use the ARISE breakthrough curricula to help disadvantaged youth grasp life’s unwritten rules. Among the 260 life lessons ARISE has created are anger and conflict management, self esteem, parenting and job search skills.

For over 20 years, ARISE has operated as a developer and publisher of Life Management Skills curricula and staff training programs. Designed to reach at-risk, incarcerated youth in detention centers and secure facilities and on probation, ARISE is also utilized as a powerful prevention tool for teenagers and young adults.  ARISE programs consist of interactive group discussions and activities designed to break the ice quickly and grab the attention of even the most turned-off participants.

In its home state of Florida, ARISE was utilized for decades in the Miami-Dade School system. ARISE has forged a strong partnership with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). ARISE programs have been changing the lives of juvenile offenders in the Florida juvenile justice system since 1996. Its dynamic programs are currently being taught in 74 DJJ facilities across the state, as well as the Salvation Army, Boys and Girls Clubs and alternative schools.

ARISE programs are also used in over 100 organizations in the District of Columbia, including public and charter schools, the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, the Metropolitan Police, the District of Columbia jail and the D.C. Superior Court Probation Department.

A recent study by Vanderbilt University and the University of Maryland showed that the cost of one offender with at least six police contacts from childhood to age 32 is $3,172,998. In other words, rescuing one youth from a life of crime saves taxpayers more than $3 million dollars.

Since ARISE was established over two decades ago, it has trained and certified  5,284 Group Facilitators who have taught over 4,011,242 documented hours of ARISE life-skills lessons across the United States. ARISE is also being used in Canada, Jamaica, England, Australia, Bahamas, Bermuda, New Zealand, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bosnia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the Kingdom of Bahrain. ARISE curricula are presently being translated into Kazakh, Russian. Requests for translations have also come in from as far away as Pakistan and South Africa.

For more information, or to schedule a training, please call Yasmin Isaacs toll free:  1 (888) 680-6100 or visit ariselife-skills.org.

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Why ARISE Life Skills Lessons Work for At-Risk Youth With ADHD & Learning Disabilities

Many kids and teens in the juvenile justice system have problems with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Learning Disabilities.

• 1 out of 5 Youths in the Florida Juvenile Justice System has a mental health disorder.
• 90% of the youth in detention reported having at least one traumatic incident.
• The prevalence of PTSD is 8 times higher for youth in the Juvenile Justice System than for youth in general.
• As many as 50% of all teenagers in juvenile facilities have ADHD.
• An estimated 75% of children in the Texas Juvenile Justice System have behavioral health issues.
• According to a 2005 study by Harvard Medical School, the University of Michigan and Casey Family Programs, former foster children are twice as likely to suffer from PTSD as Iraq War Veterans.

The ARISE Foundation’s Life Skills curricula offers much-needed structure and short lessons meant to stir creativity, encourage conversation and let learners absorb information without being judged on grammar, handwriting and spelling. Catching the attention of at-risk and learning disabled youth is a challenge.  Lessons must be entertaining and the trainers must be positive and nonjudgmental. The ARISE Foundation trains juvenile justice staff members how to be mentors to the youth under their care, building relationships and breaking the cycle of mistrust.

A few facts about the ARISE Curricula:

In ARISE Group Activities:

• Instructors give learners simple one-step directions.
• Both verbal and written instructions are given.
• Learners are encouraged rather than criticized.
• Each lesson offers a high degree of interactivity and supportive participation.

Just a few of the subjects ARISE lessons cover:

• Anger Management
• Communication Skills
• Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention
• Gun Violence Prevention
• Domestic Abuse Prevention
• Gang Violence Prevention
• Health & Hygiene
• Owning, Operating & Maintaining a Vehicle
• Finding & Keeping a Job
• Managing your Money
• STD & Teen Pregnancy Prevention
• and much more.

To schedule a staff training, get more information, download free materials and learn more about the ARISE Foundation, please visit the ARISE Website.

Keeping Kids Off The Streets: How ARISE Helps Prevent Homelessness

What causes people to become homeless? Dr. Carl Cohen, a professor of psychiatry at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, suggests that a number of risk factors accumulate over time to create homelessness. Some of those risk factors include:

• age, race, ethnicity
• low income
• disruptive events in youth, such as the death of a parent
• prior imprisonment
• chemical abuse
• psychiatric disorders
• victimization
• poor social support

Many of these risk factors occur during youth. ARISE life skills lessons are a valuable tool for any homelessness prevention program because they attack the problem on multiple fronts. ARISE believes that it’s never too early or too late to help keep these kids off the streets, which is why the ARISE curricula offers life skills material for children from pre-k through the teen years. The ARISE life skills library teaches young people how to manage their anger, build their self esteem, communicate effectively, understand the importance of getting an education, avoid abusing drugs and alcohol, stay out of a gang, get and keep a job and reach their highest potential.

But it’s not just the material itself that does the trick. ARISE programs provide structure to any homeless prevention program. They get youth to open up and express themselves through group discussions and activities. Most of the time, young people just want to be heard. A lack of self-worth, a sense of belonging and the feeling that someone cares about them often drive youth to look for that attention and validation in dangerous ways. ARISE also trains people to use its curricula, turning instructors into mentors, always ready to listen, understand and value the opinions of the youth they interact with.

If you arm kids and teens with these basic life skills, you give them the foundation they need to stay off the streets. A person with an education, high self esteem, great communication skills, strong social connections and a body free of drug and alcohol addiction is unlikely to end up as a statistic.

For more information on how ARISE can help your homelessness prevention program, visit the ARISE website.

The Fall and ARISE of Violent Teens

Teen Violence

One out of every ten arrested teens has committed a violent act (National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center).  Homicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24. Teens are bombarded with images of violence, not just in video games and movies, but in their own neighborhoods. Many teens experience fear and violence at home before they even step out onto the street. Each day is a battle to survive in a frightening and dangerous world. Many teens walk through metal detectors to get to class. They are a reminder that violence can shatter their lives at any moment.   

When a teen is involved in a violent crime and sent to a juvenile justice facility, he is often delivered from one hostile environment to another. The gang loyalties and disputes that plagued his neighborhood in the outside world still exist behind razor-wire fences and thick steel doors.

Teen Violence Prevention Through ARISE Life Skills Group Lessons

That’s where ARISE life-management skills and group sessions come into play. ARISE approaches the situation from many different angles. First, ARISE provides training to the staff of the juvenile justice facility. Some of the staff members are certified as ARISE Life Skills Group Facilitators. During their training, they learn how to interact with the troubled teens and get them interested and involved in ARISE groups.  As the teens participate in the group, they begin to trust each other and the facilitator. They slowly open up. As they get more comfortable, they listen. Once the ARISE Group Facilitator has their attention, the teens learn and appreciate the life skills lessons packed into the ARISE curriculum. The ARISE curriculum is a critical part of “softening” these often-violent offenders. A major component of the ARISE curriculum is anger management. Teaching these angry teens how to control their emotions and defuse conflict is the most effective way to keep them from ending up back in the system—or worse—six feet under.  Anger management is just the beginning of the ARISE curriculum. As the lessons progress, the youth learn about self- esteem, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, job search skills, money management, and nutrition and health. ARISE has an extensive library of over 260 easily understood life lessons. 

Why the ARISE Formula Works

Knowledge is the key to preventing teen violence. If you teach young people how to manage their anger, communicate effectively and avoid peer pressure, you give them the tools they need to succeed in life and stay out of the adult prison system. Even more than knowledge, these vulnerable teens need the opportunity to express themselves in an environment where they feel listened to and respected. Respect, or lack thereof, is a major part of an urban teen’s life. When ARISE Life Skills Group Facilitators use their training to create an atmosphere of respect and openness, these lessons will last a lifetime.

Conversations Behind Razor Wire—ARISE Interviews Incarcerated Gang Members.

For its upcoming book, filled with stories about the dangers of gang life, ARISE Foundation interviewed several incarcerated young gang members about their experiences.

As part of its mission to write life skills curricula that is authentic and realistic, ARISE founder Edmund Benson went to a juvenile correctional facility August 7 and sat down with several young gang members in an effort to hear their stories and give them a chance to warn at-risk young people about the perils of gang life.

Teens may not listen to authority figures, but they do listen to each other. Firsthand stories of the constant fear, danger and violence of life inside a gang are a way to reach young people on the cusp of making the life-destroying decision to join a gang. Quotes from the interviewed gang members will be included in ARISE Foundation’s new upcoming collection of stories about gangs, written by people from all over the country. Each story was handpicked to illustrate a critical point. Topics range from the disastrous effects gang life has on someone’s family members to how easy it is to lose your life to gang violence. The stories illustrate, using plaintive, stark language, how easy it is to get caught up in the endless cycle of revenge that gang members live in every day.

The three interviewed gang members spoke candidly about the actions that led them to their incarceration. One 17 year-old, who joined a gang at age 12, spoke of the constant nightmares that plague him.

“The worst part of being in a gang,” he said, “is every night when you go to bed, you see the faces of the people you hurt, and your friends that got killed. That’s the hardest part, the nightmares.”

ARISE hopes to duplicate the success of one of their most popular books, “31 of Taneka’s Urban Tales,” with this new anthology of captivating stories.

For more information please call ARISE Founder Edmund Benson at ARISE toll free: 1 (888) 680-6100 or visit ariselife-skills.org.

ARISE Programs Help Struggling Juvenile Justice Facility Achieve “Deemed Status.”

MEDIA RELEASE
ARISE Foundation
824 US HWY 1 Suite #240
North Palm Beach, FL 33408
Phone: (561) 630-2021

Fax: (561) 630-2790
 
Contact: Edmund Benson
Office 561-630-2021

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISE programs help struggling juvenile justice facility achieve “deemed status.”

Eleven months ago, ARISE began training the staff of Thompson Academy in Pembroke Pines, Florida. The staff’s hard work and dedication have resulted in the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice awarding Thompson with an 86% “commendable” rating, qualifying them for “deemed status,” a title that only four other facilities in Florida earned this year.

Nearly a year ago, ARISE Foundation began an intensive series of training programs at Thompson Academy, a 154-bed residential facility for moderate-risk juvenile offenders. Before ARISE came to Thompson, the facility struggled with low staff morale and below-average quality assurance ratings.

ARISE launched a comprehensive approach at Thompson, not only training the staff to conduct lively ARISE group discussions and activities with the incarcerated youth, but to work with the staff themselves to help them better cope with their stress. ARISE trained 111 staff members in its one-of-a-kind ARISE Drop it at the Door workshop. They certified 49 staff members as ARISE Life Skills Group Facilitators, giving those individuals the knowledge and confidence to engage the youth and lead them through the ARISE life skills curricula. ARISE also put one staff member through its comprehensive Master Life Skills Training. Having a Master Trainer on staff at Thompson allows that person to continue to train additional staff members as ARISE Life Skills Group Facilitators, keeping the program going indefinitely and helping thousands of young men learn vital life skills.

The extensive ARISE training programs at Thompson Academy, along with the enthusiasm and determination of the staff itself, led to widespread change throughout the facility. The staff is better able to handle their emotions, leading to less stress and higher job satisfaction. Morale improved and the facility achieved “deemed status” after years of below-average ratings.

For almost 25 years, ARISE, a nonprofit foundation, has functioned as a developer and publisher of unique life-management skills curricula and staff training programs. Created to reach at-risk, incarcerated youth in detention centers and secure facilities as well as other troubled youth. ARISE is also utilized as a powerful prevention tool for at-risk teenagers and young adults and the people who care for them.  ARISE programs consist of interactive group discussions and activities designed to break the ice quickly and capture the attention of even the most introverted participants. ARISE gives structure to well-meaning but disorganized programs, moving away from lectures and into dynamic group conversations where the youth are involved and talking about their own experiences.

For more information, please call Edmund Benson at ARISE toll free: 1 (888) 680-6100 or visit http://www.ariselife-skills.org.