Programs, Services & Support
PhD Storytelling Project
PUBLIC HOUSING DEVELOPMENT STORYTELLING PROJECT The PhD Storytelling Project is a public health and public safety strategy. Through this 6 month needs assessment initiative we gather information from the community, with the community, to improve the community. The group of young people are placed in a group to share ideas on what keeps the neighborhood safe and make them feel safe and present. The group is supported with mentors and people with lived experiences.
The idea is to develop young people to be heard and listened to while building professional, personal and community navigating and advocacy skills.
Young people build self-worth, rebuild community, and learn to make better pathway choices (education, careers, health and well-being).
Designed with a mentor and career pathway, young people become designers of their future.
Healthy Choice Project
Our Healthy Choice Project is designed using local community gardens and playgrounds; the two places elders and babies are.
This project focus is to activate spaces and community gardens. We gather young people in our program and encourage the idea for bridging the gap:
1- We connect young people to gardens as a way to learn from the elders and understand healthy eating as a community.
2- We connect our young adults and teens to people younger than them and their peers with the introduction to board game activities. This provide time away from electronics and raises awareness for them to learn from one another in real time.
Design Your Future: SSP1 & SSP2
Design Your Future: DFY is a graphic and fashion design program that uses a concentration of Systems, Society & People (SSP) to influence thought and challenge students to be creative thinkers.
Students are not just working on designs and fashion, they're working on a message and image that influences change.
Students are tasked with research projects focused on the history of Society, Systems and People.
This 2 level program will take young people on a ride through history while unveiling the impact of systems and movements.
Age Requirements: 10 - 24
Age Requirements: 10 - 24
Consultants & Partnership
Thinking about improving your community or the work of your organization? Neighborhood Benches work with thought partners to redesign and/or redevelop your plans.
This is designed with partnerships:
1- School Internship
2- Experiential Learning
3- Volunteers
4-Alternative To Incarceration
5-Community Service
And More.
Community Activation & Transformative Fellowship
Our signature and rebranded program, the Community Activation & Transformative Fellowship focuses on Mentorship Search, Recruitment & Training. The Community Activation and Transformative Fellowship is a unique opportunity that helps cultivate and empower the next generation of community leaders. Fellows participate in community activation projects and learn mentoring as leaders and narrative shifters with a focus on Systems, Society and People.
Age Requirements: 18+
Age Requirements: 18+
Place-Based Programming
We understand NOT all programs benefit your community. All neighborhoods are not the same. Therefore, Neighborhood Benches transform people and neighborhoods with the understanding of community partnership and not "One Size Fit All". Together with neighbors, new programs and strategies are developed
Looking for a program that will help to keep your neighborhood safe and healthy?
BENCHES: Talk Therapy
Talk Therapy: NB purchase and/or utilize local benches in the neighborhood as open invitations for people to gather and talk. Understanding that talk therapy is an open-ended dialogue about any issues or concerns a person is facing, skilled mentors are provided to guide and support the discussion. These shared discussions are regularly focused on family life, relationships, childhood experiences, and symptoms or history of a condition that may trigger and/or contribute to negative behaviors.
Age Requirements: N/A
Age Requirements: N/A
Neighborhood Leadership 2.0
Neighborhood Leadership 2.0 offers young people under 18 the opportunity to explore self identity and community while working towards career goals. Through this 16 week program young people are challenged with understanding community service, leadership and values. This program is offered to all young people seeking a new way of thinking. The objective of this program is to increase awareness, improve decision making practices and connect young people to a care path (e.g. school, employment, business start-up).
Age Requirements: 17 & under
Age Requirements: 17 & under