D3's Core Programs
D3 develops highly innovative and effective programs free to youth and their families that focus on mitigating a variety of needs. This is inline with the mission of the organization. By offering a programs that have a specified focus youth are able to develop the necessary life skills to be successful and contribute positively to the greater community.
To learn more about each of these programs click on the logo above and please complete the information form that can be found on the contacts page. When submitting the form be sure to use the drop down menu to indicate which program you would like to learn more about. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.
How we know that these programs are needed:
1. 90% of the youth in our basketball summer league for the past four years have been high-risk street-involved youth of color without many constructive alternatives during their otherwise idle summer hours.
2. According to Mark Mannes, PhD, Director of Applied Research at the Search Institute, “Resilience is best understood as young people's successful adaptation to adversity in their lives.” To the extent that life skills programs strengthen the “protective factors” in a young person's life, such programs can profoundly impact a young person's ability to overcome risk factors in their environment, says Mannes.
3. Kashani, Reid, and Rosenberg (1989) found that youth who reported lower levels of social support were more withdrawn, hopeless about their future, inattentive, and harmful to others than were youth who reported higher levels of social support. Mentoring may provide some of this social support and, hence, improve youth functioning. In addition, some theories of juvenile delinquency suggest that youth develop delinquent behavior patterns because they have not identified with appropriate role models in their environment (Hawkins & Weis, 1985). Mentors can serve as models with whom youth might identify, leading to increased socially appropriate behavior and reduced delinquent behavior. Furthermore, the resiliency literature suggests that the children who are most likely to survive abusive and neglectful upbringings are those who seek healthier relationships outside the home (Stein et al., 2000; Rutter, 1987, 1995). Mentoring may provide resilient youth with such relationships.
4. Dropping out of school is easy. Students who have done it say they simply stopped going to school one day. Some said they dropped out because they thought school principals or teachers wanted them to. Others said they dropped out because of circumstances beyond their control. Either way, they may have encountered little resistance from others around them. As a society, we do not want students to drop out. We know that those who do probably are not prepared for what happens to them afterward. Most will not work as much as students who graduate and will not earn as much when they do work. Economic trends are likely to make this situation worse rather than better. Dropouts are more likely to depend on public assistance, use drugs, be arrested, and spend time behind bars. We want students to succeed to be successful and this can be accomplished by attending our well developed GED program which has multiple levels of entry to assist a variety of students at different literacy levels which has lead to increased GED completion rates.
