Biography and History

Edmund and Susan Benson, Founders

Edmund F. Benson was born in Boston in 1929 and attended school there. Impatient to do his part during World War II, at age 14 he joined the Massachusetts State Guard. One month after his 16th birthday, he joined the U.S. Merchant Marine. Three years later, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At age 21, he established a sales organization which grew into a chain of 18 furniture rental showrooms with locations stretching from Boston to Austin, TX. In 1972, he moved his business headquarters and family to South Florida. Since his retirement in 1982, he has devoted 100 percent of his time and energy to making the world safe for children. Susan Benson, M.S. Ed., was born in New York in 1942 and attended school there. She has been an educator with over 30 years of experience teaching learning challenged children and young adults.

In 1986, the Bensons established a non-profit foundation, ARISE Foundation, which through its Anti-Pollution Committee, alerted, educated and badgered residents and government representatives of the severe environmental problems being caused by Dade County’s garbage incinerator. The facility, built without serious health considerations, was emitting unacceptable levels of toxic pollutants.

The primary focus of ARISE Foundation at that time was environmental education. Edmund and Susan Benson directed many of their activities toward our schools in Dade County, throughout the nation, and the world to reach the maximum number of people who can achieve short and long-term impact on the threats to life and health of our throw-away, chemically-oriented society.

Edmund became to South Florida what Rachel Carson became to America: an endearing workaholic who spent every waking hour committed to protecting our beautiful and delicate environment, and to ensure that today’s children and their children inherit a healthy community. “This truly motivated man made a fundamental commitment, through his personal convictions and intellectual integrity, from which everyone benefits.” — The Miami Herald Spirit of Excellence Award, Sept. 11, 1990.

The “Miami Monster”

Benson was shocked into action due to health-damaging concerns created by Dade County’s solid waste incinerator. After alerting the public and officials of environmental perils caused by fallout from one of the largest municipal waste incinerators in the world, local media lauded him for his “bulldog tenacity”. Benson has received the enthusiastic endorsement of his neighbors, Senators and Members of Congress, as well as the Mayor and Board of Dade County Commissioners.

Describing the incinerator as “working toward our own extinction”, Benson battled on and off for 10 years to get the County to clean up its act. First, he convinced officials to terminate its contract with the builder-operator of this waste-burning plant. He led parents and children on protest marches, and collected 10,000 signatures on petitions demanding change. Using vivid aerial photographs, he fixed the public eye on the disease-laden facility where garbage rotted in the outdoor sun and airborne ash containing heavy metals, with the potential for causing serious illness, spewed from superheated incinerator stacks. He designed and executed hard-hitting mail campaigns, and conducted surveys demonstrating that, tragically, his neighbors felt better and their health dramatically improved once they distanced themselves from their homes to breathe cleaner air.

His “Gruesome Times” newsletter, contains “All the garbage that’s fit to print”. Its screaming environmental graphics demand attention, as he speaks and writes in word pictures: “What has become an urban rite–the thoughtless incineration of society’s castoffs…A foul acid rain falls constantly over South Florida while mysterious maladies send the sick searching aimlessly for healers as we continue breathing untrustworthy air…The County was slowly contaminating our health and environment. What’s worse, they declined responsibility for it.”

Politicians hemmed and hawed, saying they didn’t know where the problem required attention – local, federal or state. Residents, however, knew that dangerous toxic substances mixed with nauseating odors, filled homes with foul air. Ring-around-the-collar was no joke, suspended ash particles, smoke and soot caused it. Following Benson’s investigations in Washington, Tallahassee and Dade County, Florida’s Department of Environmental Regulation directed Dade County to eliminate the problem.

When County officials ran up the white flag in February, 1986, and were ready to act, Benson gave them his list of improvements to be made:

1. Drain the leachate ponds, containing millions of gallons of contaminated water used in the incineration process, (mixed and muddied with garbage ash and health-destroying bacteria, plus discarded toxic chemicals, killer biological pollutants and powerful industrial waste);
2. Remove hundreds of thousands of discarded auto and truck tires behind the incinerator plant (a fire hazard plus breeding ground for a year-round crop of mosquitoes);
3. Test for dioxin, the deadly part of Agent Orange which is emitted into the air as garbage is burned and is considered 10,000 times more deadly than strychnine, therefore, preventing even short-term exposure is essential.

It was agreed that testing for dioxins would commence after new boilers were installed. Benson himself tossed the last remaining junk tire onto a dump truck in 1988. A new sewer system was laid, the poisonous leachate ponds drained and contamination of his neighborhood’s drinking water from this source ended. Next, air cleaning devices and the Best Available Control Technology acid-gas scrubbers and filters were installed to stop poison emissions from the Miami Monster’s stacks, a testimony to Benson’s now-renowned patience and perseverance.

A Smashing Victory…and Then Some

In tandem with the improvements to the incinerator, Benson gained the creation of three Metro-Dade County task forces:

1. To monitor operations and improvements so the incinerator could, “Never again be allowed to run out of control”, and keep tabs on the millions of dollars being spent rebuilding and refurbishing the plant;
2. A countywide Recycling Task Force to educate municipalities and residents to “Stop the throw-away lifestyle we are hooked on” (7-1/2 pounds of trash per person daily). As an outgrowth of Benson’s task force, Dade County now has the largest curbside recycling program in the United States – 265,000 homes.
3. Subsequently, the Metro-Dade Environmental Awareness Advisory Task Force was created with the help of County Commissioner (Sen.) Sherman S. Winn. Chaired by Benson since its inception, it emphasizes improving indoor air quality. Its major recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners have been to eliminate smoking in all county vehicles and facilities (including the air and sea ports), establish an Integrated Pest Management program, conduct lead testing in all county facilities and the creation of an annual Lead Awareness Week to alert citizens of steps to eliminate exposure to this toxin; abolish use of legal size paper, procure two-sided copiers, and establish a “Buy recycled products” policy.

As a member of a Citizens’ Advisory Committee to the County Hospital Trust Board, Benson got a similar “Environmental Awareness Task Force” working there with corresponding results at Jackson Memorial Hospital, the largest hospital in the Southeast.

ENVIRO-COPS

With a goal of enlisting every elementary school student across America (and around the globe), Susan saw Dade County Public Schools, 4th largest school district in the nation, as the logical climate for this innovative program to bloom and flourish. ENVIRO-COPS were 225,000 strong; the largest green police force on the Planet! On Earth Day 1992, a special cable television presentation of the Dade County School Board swore in 173,000 youngsters in their classrooms.

ENVIRO-COPS were mostly elementary school youngsters who pledge to protect their own En-vironment and nature’s environment by arresting waste and policing pollution. ENVIRO-COPS were dedicated to saving our world and their future by conserving our limited resources.

How do you get kids excited about this? By developing their awareness of the importance of self-esteem. By presenting strong messages of “Great Expectations” in two-hour entertainment spectaculars featuring clever, original songs, clowns, skits and successful role models delivering esteem-building messages the kids can relate to.

Success of the program is obvious. With its first effort in a hotel ballroom (500 youngsters), ENVIRO-COPS extravaganzas subsequently have rocked the walls of Miami Arena (with 14,000 Dade County Public School students) and the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami, where 5,000 second-through-sixth graders, in the process of becoming leaders, took the ENVIRO-COPS Oath. ARISE Foundation provided membership and pledge cards, “Environmental Alerts”, flyers, posters and ongoing educational programs at absolutely no charge to students.

The ENVIRO-COPS’ stunning success also can be attributed to partnerships the Bensons have developed with school system administrators, principals, teachers, students and every aspect of the Metro-Dade government. Metro-Dade Police Department’s Law Enforcement Trust Fund awarded ARISE Foundation/ENVIRO-COPS $15,000 in 1991 to further its work, followed by a $60,000 grant for an ENVIRO-COPS comic book to teach 100,000 children that “Drugs and crime are a waste of time”. In addition, County Commissioners authorized $75,000 for a school system coordinator of the growing project and for the 3rd Annual Great Expectations Awards presentations. ENVIRO-COPS also have the complete support of the County’s Department of Environmental Resources Management. DERM’s Director, John Renfrow is the top ENVIRO-COP. Even Vice President Al Gore put on an ENVIRO-COPS badge during a 1992 visit to Miami.

From the birth of the ENVIRO-COP concept, Attorney General Janet Reno (then Dade County’s State Attorney) played the role of mentor. Without the help of this exceptional woman, ENVIRO-COPS would have been just another good idea.

We’re Not Quitting

ENVIRO-COPS promise is to reduce excess consumption by re-using and recycling; purchase ecologically-safe products (not harmful or over-packaged ones), track down booby traps at home where little brothers and sisters could poison, drown, burn or otherwise harm themselves; check batteries in smoke alarms, etc. (with an adult, of course), consume “Friendly Foods” (not junk foods), say “NO” to drugs, guns, alcohol, tobacco and other harmful activities that threaten their future, continue their environmental education and share their knowledge with friends and family.

At the Bensons’ urging, Dade County Public Schools established an ENVIRO-COPS Hotline, (995-COPS) for students to get answers to recycling and environmental questions. ENVIRO-COPS also has its own inter-school mail code (9999-ENVIRO-COPS), making it easy for kids to communicate.

ENVIRO-COPS spearheaded an “Assault on Batteries”. In five days, students collected 6,194 pounds of household batteries. Some were sent to manufacturers with letters pleading for a toxin-free environment.

ENVIRO-COPS Clubs and ENVIRO-MENTORS

In 1992, Edmund and Susan Benson developed the exciting, new ENVIRO-COPS Guidebook and Lesson Plans, a 250-page, illustrated comprehensive teaching tool suitable for use in every school system in the United States. With it, select high school and college volunteers, ENVIRO-MENTORS from Florida International University and the University of Miami guide Dade County’s more than 225,000 ENVIRO-COPS through a detailed environmental education course at weekly ENVIRO-COPS Club meetings.

With the Metro-Dade grant, the ENVIRO-MENTORS concept is training these young adults to teach ENVIRO-COPS about everything from “Friendly Foods” (high-fiber, low in fat, salt and sugar), good health habits and personal safety, to “Looking For Trouble” that could cause harm to younger brothers and sisters at home, and conducting “Environmental Audits” in their neighborhood to pinpoint potential sources of danger. Actually, they’re teaching the environmental facts of life for the ’90s and beyond.

An exciting project for 1993: A 16-page, full-color comic book featuring the exploits of Marvel Comics’ superheroine Namorita and Dade County’s own superheroes, ENVIRO-COPS, helping teach all elementary school kids the dangers of guns, drugs, tobacco and alcohol in a medium they enjoy. With a $60,000 grant from Metro-Dade Police Department’s Law Enforcement Trust Fund, the text will encourage youngsters to recognize police as the kid-friendly people ENVIRO-COPS can approach for support when needed.

One of Edmund and Susan Bensons’ maxims is “We’re doing what you’d be doing if you had the time.” ENVIRO-MENTORS become the role models kids can easily relate to as they learn their way through the minefield of dangers they face every day.

“Our message is empowerment – that elementary school students can change things and have an impact on their world.” ENVIRO-COPS is a living, breathing multitude of young people (starting in 2nd grade when minds are eager to learn) who are littering less, saving more and, most importantly, developing the “I can make a difference” feeling!

“The Facts of Life” on Cable TV

In 1991, Benson initiated a 24-episode, weekly, hour-long, call-in television series promoting the ENVIRO-COPS message and answering youngsters’ (and their parents’) safety, health and environmental questions on Cable-TAP Channel 35, the Dade County Schools’ educational network which reaches 320,000 homes. “The Facts of Life for the 90s and Beyond”, provided opportunity to enhance viewers’ understanding of the critical need to protect their own well-being and the environment.

The Bensons co-hosted the program with a different student each week, plus experts in such fields as recycling, food irradiation, cosmetics, pesticides, AIDS, sun dangers, violent toys, alcoholism, poison prevention, recycling, thrift as a viable alternative lifestyle, etc.

The program broke station records every week for call-in response, encouraged by Benson’s outlines to principals and teachers at participating schools earlier in the week. Teachers used the show for classroom discussion and homework assignments on the important topics. Benson even brought in an interpreter so the hearing impaired could enjoy and participate in the program via telephone.

Enviro Cops Bus

In 1996, Miami Dade Transit Authority dedicated a bus painted in Enviro-Cops colors and logo. This alerted 2 million plus residents on ARISE’s goal of making the world safe for children.

The Dade County School Board Nutrition Task Force

Marveling at the poor quality and makeup of school food Susan Benson saw in the Dade County Public Schools (she teaches the hearing impaired), the Bensons convinced the Dade Parent-Teacher Association and the Dade County School Board to establish this entity to look at all aspects of school food: quality, preparation, service, and ambience. Both have been members of the task Force since its inception in 1986, and Edmund F. Benson currently chairs it.

Largely through contacts with the American Cancer Society, Florida Division, and the National Cancer Institute, Dade County Schools were chosen to participate in a pilot study, “to alert children at an early age of the importance of wise food choices, and to motivate them to adopt health-promoting eating patterns that will serve them throughout their lives.” Only eight schools in America were given this honor.

Food Service Worker Awards

In the process of working with this group, another area of the schools’ food program caught their attention, the dedicated, untiring efforts of cafeteria personnel. The majority of these workers (middle-aged women, often the sole support for their families) were doing difficult work with no real benefits or acknowledgement. “If food service workers are happy, mealtime can be fun in the public schools,” he thought, and in 1989, established the annual Dade County Schools Food Service Worker Awards. Benson arranged it all, including $5,000 in cash awards to those selected for their outstanding contribution to improving quality and service in their school lunchrooms.

1989-90 Recycling Awards

It took over two years but ARISE Foundation, working with Dade County School personnel, put together the largest recycling program of any school system in America, culminated by presentation of the McAliley-Ruvin Environmental Awards (named in honor of School Board Chair Janet McAliley and then-Dade County Commissioner Harvey Ruvin): $10,000 for students and schools collecting the most recyclables. In addition to cash awards, ARISE arranged for expense-paid, spectacular day trips to Disney World for six busloads of students from the winning senior, middle and elementary schools.

Friendsday/Friendship Games

Friendsday/Friendship Games have been held annually since 1985. Between 1,500 and 2,000 Dade County residents take part with celebrities in fun, games, food and drink – a day of acceptance for individuals with mental health problems. “What better way to show that we as a community care?” That was Edmund F. Benson’s question in proposing the creation of Friendsday to the Board on which he served at the Northwest Dade Center, one of the largest community mental health centers in Dade County. Mario Jardon, executive director of the Center, says the special day “has become the single most important event in the history of Dade County’s mental health community.”

Police Departments Teach ARISE’s Law Enforcement Curricula

Since 1994, the following police departments have used the ARISE Law Enforcement curricula: Miami-Dade County, City of Miami, Key Biscayne, Florida City, Coral Gables, and Hialeah. Children learn who’s your friend when there’s trouble.

Countywide Safety Event Weeks

Every year since 1993, ARISE has conducted countywide annual events dealing with crucial issues that affect the safety and well being of our youngsters. In 1993, we began with Lead Awareness week and as of the year 2,000, ARISE has developed 12 different safety events. In 1998 they reached 191,298 kids with their weekly events. Events cover the following topics: poison prevention, anti-graffiti, success, stranger safety, violence reduction, electrical safety, substance abuse and guns, burn awareness, health awareness and lead awareness. These events were supported by the following entities: Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Jackson Memorial Hospital Poison Prevention Center, Florida Power and Light, Miami-Dade Fire Department and Miami-Dade Police Department.

Just Rappin’

This is a non-judgmental listening program for at-risk and incarcerated juveniles. In 1995, this program began by recruiting volunteers from psychology classes, social work programs in Colleges and Universities. The volunteers were trained and placed as listeners in Department of Juvenile Justice facilities.

Holiday Card Recycling Program

In 1995, ARISE created a holiday greeting card program in partnership with Miami-Dade County Government. Over a million Christmas cards were collected. They were sorted, cut and reassembled by handicapped people and incarcerated youths at Metro-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation facilities. These cards were given to those in nursing homes, school children and indigent families in Miami Dade County that otherwise would not be able to afford to get cards.

Videos produced

Six videos were produced to be used with ARISE elementary life lessons. The topics were guns, poison look-a-likes, stranger safety, drugs, graffiti, and where the waste goes. These videos were produced in cooperation with Miami-Dade county public schools and Miami Dade County government.

Kids Need to Know TV Show

In 1997, ARISE produced a total of 12 one hour TV shows on channel 17 directed to middle school populations. It was a live audience show discussing life issues such as drugs, guns, safety smarts, staying in school and much more.

Metro-Dade Parks Use the ARISE Life Skills Programs

Beginning in 1995, the Metro-Dade Parks taught life skills in their summer parks programs.

ARISE Life Skills

Since 1986, ARISE Foundation has developed over 40 different social skill curricula teaching over 260 different life skill topics to children from ages 0 (through parenting programs) through high school. In the beginning, lessons stressed environmental issues. Topics such as anger management, conflict resolution, skills for finding and keeping a job, health and hygiene, gangs, importance of staying in school and self esteem are just some of the life skills offered.

ARISE has written the programs, administered it to all ages, monitored the progress and had the programs independently evaluated. These life lessons have been utilized in day school, after school programs, alternative schools, secure Juvenile justice facilities, halfway houses, day treatment programs, probation programs, parks, recreation departments, and summer camps.

Nursing Students Volunteer Program at Department of Juvenile Justice facilities

Volunteer nursing students have taught the ARISE health curriculum evenings and weekends.

STD video produced

In 1977, ARISE staff was trained by specialists from the University of Miami’s School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology on STD’s and HIV. Using very graphic slides and the expertise of May Goins, a nurse from the Black Nurses Association, ARISE produced a lesson plan and video that has been used throughout Department of Juvenile Justice facilities.

Inner City Games uses ARISE Life Skills

To keep middle school children busy after school and during the summer, Inner City Games, a recreational program, began using ARISE social skills lessons in their summer camp in1998. Other Inner City Games in other states are using ARISE’s Secrets of Success life skills programs dealing with anger management, violence and conflict and self-esteem.

Missionary Program

After a youngster has completed the ARISE Life Skills Program, they take the information to go. They teach the same life lessons they learned to others in their neighborhoods.

Partnering with the Faith Network

Starting in 1998, ARISE Foundation trained groups from local churches to administer the ARISE Life Skills Programs to their young parishioners.

ARISE On Stage Playlets

ARISE wrote and produced plays that were incorporated into the life skills curriculum at the Department of Juvenile Justice facilities. The entire facility was invited to watch these productions. This was learning in a fun way.

ARISE Begins work with Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

Beginning in 1995-6, when the department was first created and continuing uninterrupted through 2011, the Department of Juvenile Justice has been utilizing the ARISE Life Skills programs in DJJ facilities state wide. Incarcerated at-risk youth in Florida receive approximately 13,000 hours of ARISE life skill instruction monthly. ARISE groups are conducted by ARISE Certified Group Facilitators. What began in one cell block at the Miami Dade detention center now encompasses the entire state. ARISE programs have been operational in 119 Detention and Residential facilities from the Everglades to the Panhandle.

ARISE Training Program

ARISE provides staff training that has been proven to create a more positive work environment for the adults (guards) tasked with overseeing these high risk youth. Research has shown that once empathy and caring are demonstrated, these troubled youth mirror this positive behavior. Retooling the negative thinking and attitudes of angry, aggressive and combative children empowers them to make better life choices.

ARISE offers a two day Life Skills training, a five day “Drop it at the Door” training, a five day Master Life Skills Training, and gender awareness training. In addition, ARISE conducts monthly on-line webinars to reinforce its training programs.

ARISE Goes Digital

• ARISE Life Skills are now available as eBooks. People can access them instantly from our website at www.at-riskyouth.org
• ARISE can be found on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the ARISE Blog
• ARISE 365 Good Vibes – A beautiful sunrise and a positive quote to start off every day on the right track. Available on the ARISE web site: at-riskyouth.org

ARISE In The District of Columbia

Since 2004 and continuing today, ARISE provides Life Skills Training to over 130 facilities in Washington DC and has certified over 1,000 ARISE Life-Skills Group facilitators. ARISE received funding from the Justice Grants Administration to conduct a pilot project called ARISE for Change. This project combined the concepts of Motivational Interviewing (MI) with the ARISE Drop it at the Door Training and was used with staff and youth.

ARISE Internationally

ARISE Life Skills curricular and training is being utilized around the world. The ministry of education in Bermuda has used ARISE life skills and has trained 20 ARISE master trainers so that the program can continue without an ARISE trainer actually being there. We are presently working with an organization in Vietnam where they are translating ARISE material into Vietnamese. ARISE provides its curricula and expertise to an organization in Uganda. We are working with a woman in Cambodia to bring ARISE Life Skill lessons to young girls involved in sex trafficking. From Kazakhstan to Pakistan, from South Africa to the Persian Gulf, ARISE is being used successfully.

Today, ARISE Foundation is a thriving organization with a small but dynamic team of trainers, a web and graphic designer, an instructional designer, proof readers, an accounting team, and finally, the Bensons, the tireless founders of ARISE who continue to create and move the organization forward.

Because we recognize the value of the Internet, ARISE designed a web store (www.at-riskyouth.org) that provides descriptions, tables of content, and graphics on our books. In addition, the website provides in-depth background information on ARISE, including our mission, and evidence based research reports etc.

We realize the importance of on-line training so ARISE is moving forward. By 12-31-2011, the ARISE two day Life Skills training will be available on-line.

ARISE has recently completed two new curriculums: “Are You Living an Upside Down Life?” book five in the “Sprouts” series. This series outlines the immense responsibilities one accepts as a parent. Also new is our “Gangs: 50 + Stories of Fractured Lives”. This book is packed with information to aid any life skills or gang prevention program in saving young lives. Another new curriculum is “Anger Danger 50 +ANGER Stories with Real-Life Consequences.” This book contains stories that will help youth hit the stop button on their anger by outthinking, not outfighting. Also “Enough’s Enough”; firsthand stories detailing the constant fear, danger and violence that occupies every waking moment of those lawless individuals who choose to break laws and fight the system. 9/07/11

SPECIAL HONORS

– Sept. 1, 1988: In recognition of his spirit and environmental concerns, Dade County Commissioners designated N.W. 97th Avenue in Miami “Edmund F. Benson Boulevard”. The same day, Mayor Steven Clark proclaimed the observance of Edmund F. Benson Day in Dade County. Benson received a Proclamation which was read into the Congressional Record, extolling the manner in which this dedicated man serves his county and his country.

–Jan. 29, 1989, Washington, D.C.: Elected to the Executive Board of the Committee for a National Recycling Policy.

–Feb. 6, 1989: Invited to serve on the Dade County School District’s new Environmental Awareness Advisory Committee, charged with reviewing all construction material specifications to reduce the amounts of formaldehydes, trichloro-ethylenes and benzenes in materials, furnishings and other school equipment. He is now its Chair.

–April, 1989: Concerned Residents of Kendall (Miami) presented Edmund F. Benson with its Community Achievement Award for “providing significant leadership and excellence improving the quality of life in Kendall.”

–April/May, 1989: Modern Maturity Magazine, a publication of 24 million subscribers, featured Benson on its “Spotlight” page for “Taming the Miami Monster”, Dade County’s infamous garbage incinerator.

–May 11, 1989: Voted an honorary member of the Dade County Food Service Workers Association, the first such distinction.

–Nov. 3, 1989: Elected Chairperson, Dade County Public Schools Pesticide Committee.

–Nov. 29, 1989: The Giraffe Project, Langley, WA, honored Benson with its award for men and women who risk their comfort and serenity to do the unconventional with creativity and spirit.

–April, 1990: Appointed by Dade County Commissioners to the blue-ribbon Citizens Advisory Committee looking into the Public Health Trust and Jackson Memorial Hospital.

–April, 1990: Nominated to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Integrated Pest Management Peer Review Committee created to establish IPM programs in public schools across the country.

–May 27, 1990: Re-elected Chairman of the Environmental Committee of the Dade County Council, PTA/PTSA.

–May 31, 1990: Elected Commissioner of the Citizens Commission on School Food Nutrition, affiliated with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, D.C.

–June 1, 1990: ARISE Foundation is awarded a National Achievement Award by the National Environmental Awards Council “Searching For Success” campaign.

–Sept. 11, 1990: The Miami Herald presented Edmund F. Benson with its prestigious “Spirit of Excellence Award” acknowledging his contributions in “making South Florida a better place to live.”

–Oct. 17, 1990: Elected Chairperson of the new Dade County Environmental Advisory Task Force established to provide the Board of County Commissioners with recommendations on environmental aspects of the 1,200 County-owned and managed buildings, including the airport, seaport and the 760,000-sq.ft. Metro-Dade Center.

–Oct. 9, 1991: ARISE Foundation, the Hospital Consortium, and MedX, a medical waste disposal service, held a one-day seminar, “Environmental Enhancement Programs for the Health Care Waste Industry”, informing hospitals from all of South Florida on waste reduction, recycling, indoor clean air, Integrated Pest Management, how to create their own environmental task force. Subsequently, it has been repeated with continuing success.

–Oct. 24, 1991: Miami Arena was packed with 14,000 students for ARISE Foundation’s “Great Expectations” seminar featuring esteem-building role models in a half-day verbal and graphic demonstration of the “I can make a difference” attitude. Attorney General Janet Reno, then Dade’s State Attorney, swore in 5,000 Safety Patrol members as ENVIRO-COPS.

–1992: President George Bush, through the National Association of County Organizations, cites ARISE Foundation as one of his “Thousand Points of Light” for its exemplary ENVIRO-COPS program.

–Feb. 24, 1992: Joined Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet in its Washington, D.C. meetings with members of Congress to emphasize concerns that current environmental policies fail to take into account the special needs of children, urging support for the Circle of Poison Prevention Act.

–Mar. 19, 1992: Elected Chairperson of Dade County Public Schools’ Environmental Awareness Advisory Committee.

–April, 1992: ENVIRO-COPS and “The Facts of Life” television series were regional finalists for the 1992 Environmental Protection Agency Administrator’s Award Program, selected from among numerous projects in eight states furthering the effort to “prevent pollution in all its forms to achieve and maintain a clean environment for the future.”

–Apr. 2, 1992: Received the 1991-92 Dade County Public Schools’ “Exemplary Dade Partners Award”, for outstanding activities by a non-profit foundation (County-wide) in partnership with the schools–primarily ENVIRO-COPS and “The Facts of Life” television series this year.

–Apr. 22, 1992: 173,000 children pledged to protect the environment as ENVIRO-COPS in a County-wide televised “swearing in” ceremony during a Dade County Public Schools Board meeting.

–May 14, 1992: Metro-Dade Mayor Steve Clark declared May 19 ENVIRO-COPS Day in Dade County, saluting these youngsters who are working with Metro-Police, Metro Department of Environmental Resources Management and the County’s Fire Department, learning all about conservation, waste reduction and home safety.

–May 14, 1992: 5,000 youngsters in grades 2 through 6 enjoy a “Great Expectations” seminar of entertainment and education at Miami’s James L. Knight Convention Center and are sworn in as ENVIRO-COPS, enviro-smart kids pledged to protect their environment.

–May 19, 1992: Metro-Dade’s Commission votes unanimously to install (Benson’s) scrubbers and filters retro-fitting the incinerator–the end of a 10-year battle!

–June 22, 1992: Construction begins as a crane lifts the roof at MedX, Florida’s largest hospital waste incinerator to install anti-pollution devices.

–June 24, 1992: ENVIRO-COPS received a Certificate of Environmental Achievement from Renew America, a Washington, D.C. based national environmental organization, for its success in protecting the environment and setting “a positive example that can help other communities meet environmental challenges.” The program is listed in Renew America’s 1992 Environmental Success Index, the most comprehensive guide to the nation’s environmental programs.

–September, 1992: Metro-Dade County votes $75,000 to fund ARISE Foundation’s expansion of the ENVIRO-COPS program with ENVIRO-COPS Clubs in every elementary school, to be led by ENVIRO-MENTORS under the guidance of a full-time Dade County Public Schools coordinator.

–Oct. 13, 1992: Benson’s Environmental Awareness Advisory Task Force requested a Proclamation be passed by Metro-Dade’s Board of County Commissioners establishing Oct. 19-23 as Lead Awareness Week.

–Oct. 19, 1992: Major press conference in the Mayor’s conference room on lead. The Skyway Elementary School’s ENVIRO-COPS Chorale performed.

–Nov. 6, 1992: 600 new ENVIRO-COPS sworn in at Nova University Elementary School.

–December, 1992: $60,000 grant from the Metro-Dade Police Department’s Law Enforcement Trust Fund will finance publication of 100,000 copies of a Superhero comic book, combining the exploits of Marvel Comics’ Namorita and ENVIRO-COPS, to reach at-risk children in a medium they relate to with environmental, safety and health messages they can understand.

–Feb. 17, 1993: Dade County School Board, following the recommendation of its Environmental Awareness Advisory Committee, voted to drastically reduce carpeting in classrooms and throughout the entire system.

–May 1993: Choice Champion Award for adults who embody the phrase “Winner Never Gets Older”

–1995: 1995 National Poison Prevention Award presented by Jackson Memorial Poison Prevention Center for developing a program to teach kids about the poisons in their homes.

–October 1996: Miami Dade Community College Partners in Action and Learning Award- For the best agency working with the schools service learning center.

–October 1998: Dade partners Hall of Fame Award-Winner for three years in a row for the best partner in a non-profit category working with Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

–October 14, 1998: Allstate Leadership Award for State of Florida-Highest award for a program teaching inner city children safety guidelines.

–November 4, 1998: Providers Appreciation Award-from Cove Halfway House providing service above and beyond.

–March 18, 1999: Proclamation from Board of Commissioners Miami-Dade County- For educating youth on the poisons in their home. There are 5 million children poisoned a year in the United States.

–April 11, 1999: Proclamation from Board of County Commissioners Miami-Dade County- for assisting youth in developing life skills, character and ethics and safety smarts.

– 2004 – NOVO Award Finalist, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce

­­-­-2005 – NOVO Award Finalist, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce

 

MARKETS

Public and Private Schools
Until now we have focused on identified at-risk populations, namely juvenile detention centers. However, this material is appropriate for all youth, in all settings. Why? Because ARISE Life Skills lessons are an education in common sense. Life skills and youth are not being taught this information in the conventional setting, at home, anymore. It has become the burden of institutions outside the home to teach youth what they need to know in order to become successful adults. Public and private school settings are a prime place to introduce youth to our materials, especially at a time when stories of school violence, teen pregnancy, and teen drug use headline newspapers and nightly news programs.

Juvenile Detention Centers
The Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) throughout South Florida is currently using this material. As pre- and post- tests of DJJ inmates indicate, after going through one of our SOS programs, there has been a significant shift in the way young criminal offenders view the relationship between morality and action.

Alternative Schools
Schools that specialize in educating “problem” students have the same challenge public and private schools have. They must provide an academic education while teaching youth how to deal with life’s difficulties in positive, constructive ways. The ARISE programs help meet the needs of students who could not function in conventional classroom settings. Since ARISE Life Skills material is written on a fourth grade reading level, even youth who cannot function in public schools can work ARISE lessons with relative ease. ARISE books also aid teachers who are on the front line in carrying out this task. Lesson planning is already done, and there is nothing new to write, research, or buy.

Clergy
Churches and other houses of worship often use enrichment programs to keep their youth involved in constructive activities, with adults from the membership volunteering to facilitate or oversee the program. Because ARISE Life Skills lessons teach the same basic concepts of responsibility, respect, and awareness, religious outlets are a perfect market to use ARISE Life Skills material.

National Youth Enrichment Programs
There are dozens of national organizations that provide enrichment education for the youth they serve, such as: Inner City Games, Head Start, Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America. Inner City Games of South Florida already use ARISES as well as the Salvation Army Corps around the country. The target of our program is teaching youth respect for self and society in direct alignment with the initiatives set forth by virtually all of these programs.

Police Departments
The ARISE Law Enforcement program is one that has been endorsed by former Miami Police Chief Donald Warshaw and the Director of the Miami Dade Police Department Carlos Alvarez. With so much controversy surrounding the ineffectiveness of the well-known D.A.R.E program, there is a need for a proven, more effective program. ARISE has already scaled the hurdle of determining effectiveness.

Parents
While to date this has not been a primary focus for us, it is a viable market because just as the books are used in a classroom setting, the lessons can be used between parent and child. Because these books are designed to generate discussion, ARISE books will be especially useful to parents who want to talk to their kids, but normally have a hard time getting started.