ARISE Announces the Update and Expansion of Its One-of-a-Kind Dropout Prevention Material
Through exciting interactive activities and group discussions, teens will learn the crucial skills they need to stay in school and lead productive, successful lives.
Every 29 seconds, a student gives up on school. In an effort to turn the tide, ARISE created a riveting series on dropout prevention. Book 1 is titled “So You’re Thinking of Dropping Out of School,” and it outlines just how difficult life can be for young people who cut their education short. Book 2, “So You’re Thinking of Staying in School,” gives underachieving teens solid reasons they can relate to for staying in school and the knowledge they need to communicate effectively, build meaningful relationships and make healthy decisions. The Dropout Prevention series is not just an instantly usable prevention tool—it is a resource-packed source of valuable information teens can lean on for advice and priceless tips to help them avoid the hard-knock life most dropouts face.
The Dropout Prevention series is one of the cornerstones of the huge ARISE life management skills library, which is in the process of a thorough update with new photographs and formatting and updated statistics. For almost 25 years, ARISE, a nonprofit foundation, has developed and published life management skills curricula and staff training programs. Designed to reach at-risk, incarcerated youth in detention centers and secure juvenile facilities, ARISE is also utilized as a powerful prevention tool for teenagers and young adults before they end up behind bars. ARISE programs consist of interactive group discussions and activities designed to break the ice quickly and grab the attention of even the most introverted participants. ARISE is particularly appropriate for youth with special requirements such as limited reading and/or writing ability and behavioral problems. ARISE attributes its success to its three innovative staff training programs. ARISE Drop It at the Door shows juvenile justice staff how to drop work-related stress and anger at the door when they get home, and how to drop the personal issues at the door when they come to work. The Life Skills Group Facilitator training teaches staff how to conduct ARISE interactive group discussions and activities with the troubled youth in their care. The Master Training certifies participants to train others as ARISE Life Skills Group Facilitators at their respective facilities.
ARISE programs have been 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. These dynamic programs are being taught in over 100 DJJ facilities across the state, as well as alternative schools and organizations such as the Salvation Army and Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs.
ARISE programs are also used in over 100 organizations in the District of Columbia, including Washington, D.C. 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.
Because ARISE is a nonprofit, it is able to provide a wide array of training opportunities and an ever-evolving life skills curricula for at-risk youth at affordable rates. Profit is not a motivating factor. Its nonprofit status gives ARISE Foundation the ability to get out into the community, speak to incarcerated youth and adults, and turn their cautionary tales into lessons meant to help at-risk youth become law-abiding citizens by learning from others’ mistakes.
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 child 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 5,760 Group Facilitators who have taught over 4,055,708 documented hours of ARISE life-skills lessons in almost all 50 states. ARISE has been used successfully in Canada, Jamaica, England, Australia, Bahamas, Bermuda, New Zealand, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bosnia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Botswana and the Kingdom of Bahrain. Requests for translation have also come in from as far away as Pakistan, South Africa, Cambodia, Singapore and China.
For more information, please call ARISE Founder Edmund Benson at ARISE toll-free: 1 (888) 680-6100 or visit http://at-riskyouth.org.
