Positive Youth Development Program

The purpose of the Positive Youth Development (PYD) program is to teach and empower young male middle school students, primarily of African-American descent, who are currently excelling in academics and behavior, to continue to thrive and achieve positive life goals; how to cope with peer pressure and the hurdles that we know can deter them from achieving their dreams and life goals. PYD teaches, encourages and gives recognition to these students, which helps them individually and collectively to build and maintain the self-esteem and confidence required to continue to excel academically and behaviorally throughout their academic years and in life. 

Our members form teams that actively engage these students during school hours, in life discussions about (1) “Goal Setting” which is our first discussion topic each school year. We discuss and teach these boys how and why to set short and long term goals for themselves, we show them how write down their individual goals, how to create action plans and how to measure their progress (2) “Positive Peer Pressure”, here we discuss with these student how they can support one another and create positive peer pressure in their school and at home; how to recognize and deal with negative peer pressures (3) “Academics” here we discuss the relationship between good grades, good behavior and their future earnings potential. Throughout the year our members expose these students to career opportunities they may have never imagined.

The PYD committee works with school principals and their staffs at various public schools in Miami-Dade County.  At the core of PYD is the commitment of our members, who take time off from work and arrange their schedules so they can interact and share professional and personal life experiences. The 100 incorporates sessions with parents and an annual educational field trip into the program curriculum.