exalt is...
Opportunity
For young people who’ve been told they’re nothing and going nowhere
To be told they’re incredible, and that they can go somewhere;
To be given a classroom experience designed to help them
shine, push themselves and each other, be the engaged and
successful students they want to be;
To be given access to an internship in a professional
space, in a field they may not have known existed;
To be inspired.
Innovative
We ensure our teachers are innovative by vetting all potential staff by our
students; exalt youth determine who we hire by telling us who and what
motivates them;
We’ve developed internal pre and post assessments for our “four core
skills” (communication, critical thinking, creative problem solving,
and resource management) that connect directly to classroom
lessons, ensuring that we’re constantly gauging students’ progress and
our own effectiveness at teaching them;
We regularly bring new content to our curriculum that
connects to our students’ lives so what we’re teaching is
always relevant and engaging.
Unique
exalt is the only program designed for and exclusively serving justice-system involved
youth in NYC in which:
They participate voluntarily – and yet do not get paid for the first six weeks
of participation. The only reason they continue attending is because of the
value THEY feel they get in our classroom;
They can receive significantly reduced sentences than what they were
initially facing when they start our program based on their own
strong performance in the program. exalt demonstrates that youth
do not have to take pre-established plea bargains for long probation
sentences to avoid incarceration.
Powerful
95% of our graduates from the past two years have NOT received any new
convictions.
93% of our graduates from the last 2 years remain enrolled in school; 8%
are attending college;
Over 70% of the youth who come to us with open court cases
receive significantly lowered and fairer sentences than what they
originally faced due to their successful participation in our
program.
In the words of our students, exalt is also:
Love
Family
Action
Hope
Future….
Please help exalt unlock the potential of more young people in 2014 by contributing to our inaugural year-end campaign. A contribution of ANY amount makes a huge difference, and ALL contributions will help us reach our goal of raising $20,000 by December 31st.
Executive Director