Starting With Community
1. Our community has the tools and expertise to meet the needs of our kids. REBOUND works to establish programs in community and for community by:
Leading with Support
4. Young people need support, not confinement. REBOUND works with youth and families to build better systems of support by:
Acknowledging & Addressing Systems
6. Systemic racism exists. REBOUND acknowledges systemic harms and works towards a world without those inequities by:
Understanding & Addressing Trauma With Care
10. Traumatic experiences are real and complex. REBOUND works to navigate systemic traumas affecting our communities by:
1. Our community has the tools and expertise to meet the needs of our kids. REBOUND works to establish programs in community and for community by:
- Engaging with community to design programs that are culturally responsive and impactful
- Hiring individuals from community who share cultural and lived experience with our youth to staff programs
- Partnering with existing agencies that are doing work aligned with ours, to help us create opportunities in the present and different outcomes for our young people’s futures
- Reconnecting youth in positive ways to grow healthier communities and support their continued success
- Providing support & training to increase the capacity of community members to meet the needs of young people others see as “hard to serve”
- Establishing programs in close proximity to young people and their families
- Welcoming families into our programs
- Creating opportunities for families to engage with their children in family-like settings
- Partnering with families to define ‘success’ for their young person
- Keeping families in the loop about what’s happening with their young people throughout the process
- Encouraging families to continue actively advocating for their children’s health, education, and well-being
- Providing holistic support to families to help address systemic inequities that may be impacting them, helping students return to more stable homes after participating in REBOUND programming
- Supporting young people who are defining what ‘family’ means to them as they begin building communities they will lead
- Creating opportunities for our young people to have new experiences and try new things
- Encouraging community partners to support youth by enrolling them and supporting their participation in partner programs
- Supporting our youth in exploring their interests, defining their success, setting short-term and long-term goals, and celebrating their achievements
- Seeking out programs and services that align with their individual interests and goals
- Helping young people prepare for, find, and grow in employment opportunities
- Advocating for our young people in their schools and with their social supports –including probation officers, social workers, therapists, parents & guardians, and other family members
Leading with Support
4. Young people need support, not confinement. REBOUND works with youth and families to build better systems of support by:
- Providing programs centered on the specific needs of “hard to serve” youth
- Identifying supplemental supports tuned to serve any young people our programs may not effectively be able to reach
- Advocating for the creation of more diverse, community-based services for young people others see as “hard to serve”
- Reviewing critically every referral received to determine our team’s ability to address present needs of each young person (regardless of past missteps, criminal history, or previous engagement with our programs that may have been unsuccessful)
- Communicating clear and consistent expectations for the youth we serve
- Establishing clear and consistent responses to missteps during participation in our programs, which center on skill building to course correct and demonstrate new ways for young people to solve challenges
- Identifying supplemental supports to help young people who may ‘act out’ so they can find their own version of success in our programs
- Working to be an ongoing source of community support for all young people who’ve been a part of our programming (regardless of initial outcomes)
Acknowledging & Addressing Systems
6. Systemic racism exists. REBOUND acknowledges systemic harms and works towards a world without those inequities by:
- Educating our young people about how systems of oppression work, and may be impacting their lives
- Encouraging critical self-reflection from our program staff and residents
- Advocating boldly for the young people we serve
- Actively participating in system reform efforts
- Listening to young people’s stories of being pushed to the margins and providing support as they learn to advocate for themselves
- Educating our young people about the cyclical nature of systemic poverty
- Supporting youth in accessing resources to meet their varied needs
- Teaching our young people to use tools for financial literacy and growing their understanding of financial systems
- Connecting our young people to programs that offer solutions for financial security through education, skills & job training, ways to budget & save, entrepreneurship exploration, and employment & career development
- Addressing our young people by titles that speak to their future and not past missteps
- Maintaining a culture of expectation for our young people as they grow into their boundless futures
- Modeling behavior and practices ourselves that we expect from youth in our programs
- Discussing values and developing practices that grow healthy decision making
- Hiring individuals of color from the communities we serve
- Providing opportunities for youth to see African-American individuals succeeding
- Developing opportunities for our young people to meet and engage with other young people doing positive things
Understanding & Addressing Trauma With Care
10. Traumatic experiences are real and complex. REBOUND works to navigate systemic traumas affecting our communities by:
- Educate our young people on the complex nature of trauma and how it may be impacting their lives
- Engaging with trauma informed community providers who understand and offer effective support for youth in our programs and communities
- Providing training for REBOUND staff about systemic, historic, and present-day traumas they may be navigating themselves, and how it may impact their work with youth in our programs
- Educating our young people about how historical trauma may be impacting them in the present
- Engaging community providers who are trauma-informed and effectively support youth as they process these complex experiences
- Offering opportunities for adults in the families of our young people to process their traumas and identify how it may be impacting their caregiving and other relationships
- Exploring with our young people what present-day traumas may look like and how they are impacted by them
- Engaging with trauma-informed community partners who understand and can effectively support youth as they process
- Using daily interactions with youth intentionally to work through traumas they may be navigating
- Holding space for REBOUND staff to debrief from escalated or triggering scenarios youth may present with which connect to their own trauma-related experiences