ArtEsteem
Attitudinal Healing Connection (AHC) - Oakland, CA
Since 1995, AHC’s award-winning art and literacy program has helped develop creative, engaged and successful children/youth through building knowledge and emotional, social, academic and intellectual skills.
ArtEsteem engages students and supports their positive development – body, mind, and heart. The program help keep children and youth interested in school through creating individual and collective educational excellence across academic subjects.
In addition to art classes for children and youth, ArtEsteem Art Instructors provide professional development consulting and hands-on training for educators in art curricula –and also in support of academic subjects (e.g. science and social studies) – to help teachers develop visually engaging and hands-on methods that improve student involvement, comprehension, and critical thinking.
Participants discover how to self reflect and dream, as well as focus on their tasks and “follow through” by completing their art projects. Methods used by ArtEsteem guide students to think practically about the world and their abilities to manifest positive and creative outcomes. Classes also build students’ language and math literacy, aesthetic appreciation, listening and performance skills. Students learn – through dialogue, reading, and writing – conceptual understandings of social, historical, and cultural topics to engage and inform their minds, and develop the whole child, in expansive ways.
For further information please contact Amana Harris, Executive Director, at amana@ahc-oakland.org or 510.652.5530
Children’s Wilderness Day
Centre for Attitudinal Healing - Perth - Perth, Australia
The Children’s Wilderness Day, a camp for children living in refugee camps or recently released from detention centers in Western Australia. The program has children from diverse cultures between seven and nine years of age.
In Co-Founder Meneesha’s Machalka's words, “It was something we have been dreaming and planning for a few years now, and it was absolutely magical. Through free play, cubby building and exploring out in the bush the kids were able to start to share their stories, explore their feelings and also just be kids. They were enjoying, many for the first time, being safe and playing."
To learn more about this innovative program, please contact the Centre for Attitudinal Healing - Perth at centre@attitudinalhealing.org.au
Elige
CECURA Guadalajara - Guadalajara, Mexico
Lucero Aguirre, Founder of CECURA Guadalajara, in collaboration with a leadership team of 7, created the Elige Program, a cultural adaptation of the Power to Choose program. The Elige (Choose) program was originally piloted in 2013 at a Guadalajara elementary school serving over 500 children Grades 1-5 and 100 parents and teachers.
The leadership team made cultural and structural adaptations to the program in order to work directly with students, parents, and teachers. The success of the pilot led to requests from other public and private schools at which the program was successfully implemented. This team made the program culturally relevant and accessible to students by introducing other elements such as storytelling and the arts, found in the completed curriculum manual for teachers.
For further information please contact Lucero Aguirre at caguirre1@prodigy.net.mx
Oakland Super Heroes Mural Project
Attitudinal Healing Connection (AHC) - Oakland, CA
The Oakland Super Heroes Mural Project is West Oakland and Emeryville’s first large scale mural revitalization and beautification project. As part of the planning process, AHC surveyed residents of the Hoover Corridor Neighborhood where the murals would be located. Community members were asked to describe positive and negative aspects of the neighborhood as well, as their hopes and dreams for the community and future public art pieces. Responses determine the content of the murals. AHC hires mainly Oakland based artists to paint the murals, as the whole process promotes and exemplifies community collaboration from beginning to end.
The murals are designed and conceptualized by local middle and high school students, giving youth the rare opportunity to be critically engaged in a public forum and really allowing their voices to be heard.
The project encompasses six underpasses which include 7 huge walls under the 580 freeway in Oakland California. Approximately 28,000 square feet of concrete blighted canvas has been approved by Oakland City Council to paint with the mission of cultivating, educating and engaging schools and youth in community issues through the power of public art.
For further information please contact Amana Harris, Executive Director, at amana@ahc-oakland.org or visit www.oaklandmuralproject.com
Power to Choose
Center for Attitudinal Healing - Mongolia
The CAH-Mongolia under the direction of Founder, Undarlaa Battogtokh successfully implemented the Power to Choose program in five schools in the capital, Ulan Bataar. The youth in these schools were ages 12-15. The program met weekly for 3 hours and served a total of 66 participants during the 12 weeks.
The CAH-Mongolia applied for and received funding from Swiss Development Agency for the Power to Choose program implementation
For further information please contact Trish Ellis, International Communications Coordinator, at trish@ahinternational.org
Power to Choose
Hawaii Center for Attitudinal Healing - Honolulu, HI
The Hawaii Center for Attitudinal Healing implemented the Power to Choose program for eight consecutive years until 2014 in a public high school serving grades 9-12. During those 8 years, over 1000 students were impacted by the program via the 12-week session, the support group model, and/or the freshman orientation program.
For further information please contact Trish Ellis at ahhawaii2016@gmail.com
Unstoppable Leadership Academy
Kenya, Africa
The Unstoppable Foundation and WE Charity (Free the Children), both non-profit humanitarian organizations, are powerful partners in bringing sustainable education to children and communities in Kenya and other developing countries. In 2016, AHI joined Unstoppable in a collaboration to develop a unique leadership and empowerment program for young adults attending WE College, a new vocational college in the Masai Mara in Kenya.
The Unstoppable Leadership Academy (ULA) is a powerful two-year certificate program where students learn to develop the leadership skills necessary to empower them to achieve their full potential as leaders in their families, communities, and the world at large. Students devote 25 hours each week to their ULA studies which include engaging in leadership classes and support groups, homework, mentoring and community outreach.
Attitudinal Healing was selected as the basis for the first 12-week course in the Unstoppable curriculum. Through the 12-week Foundations for Success course, the scholars learn tools for introspection, self-awareness, self-expression and genuine connection with others that lead to a greater understanding and increased confidence in achieving success. At the conclusion of the course, these empowered, motivated students have learned to:
- Formulate personal meaning and measurements for success
- Develop mental habits to manage stress, enhance creativity, cultivate peace of mind, foster resilience and facilitate the experience of success
- Increase self-awareness, self-confidence and self-efficacy
- Strengthen interpersonal communication and listening skills
- Cultivate attitudes and skills for success
Between 2016 and 2019, AHI participated in the development of four 12-week courses and offered three facilitator training workshops in the Mara. The program is already expanding from the college into the community centers.
In 2019, the Foundations for Success curriculum was adapted and translated into local languages for a community leadership program in a remote rural community in the Mara. Eventually, Unstoppable Foundation plans to offer the program to schools and communities in other countries.
For further information please contact Trish Ellis at trish@ahinternational.org
Youth Leadership
Cameroon Center for Attitudinal Healing
In 2014, Tasha Abdou, Founder of the Cameroon Center for Attitudinal Healing, implemented the Youth Leadership Program, a cultural adaptation of the Power to Choose. The program was implemented at the Governmental Bilingual High School Deido in Douala Cameroon, where Tasha has worked directly with 14-18 year old youth.
Mr. Abdou has offered the Power to Choose Facilitator Training in Douala, during which several youth participants from the first Youth Leadership Program attended. Once trained, youth participants served as Youth Assistant Facilitators during the next cohort. Tasha continues to expand and enhance the program, offering more opportunities for youth to develop their facilitation and leadership skills.
For further information please contact Abdou Tasha, Center Director, at tashaabdou@yahoo.fr
