Project Description: Our organization is seeking the funding and support to host our “first of its kind”, Community Trailblazing Celebration. This event will be held at the end of the school year for youth in grades K-12 up to 500 participants. The Trailblazing Celebration will be a motivational event intended to celebrate the small successes of academic and overall achievement in each student who comes to participate. It is also designed to foster a sense of pride and plant an unwavering belief that everyone must work hard to achieve at a level of excellence at all times. Having this community Trailblazing Celebration will start a revolution among the youth and their families to begin to take ownership of their learning and to ultimately realize the tremendous power they have once they embrace the importance of education. We are planning this huge Trailblazing Celebration at Main Event in Fort Worth. The entire building will be rented out for 5 hours. Youth in grades K-12 will be eligible to attend for FREE. We will be promoting excellence in academics. Their entry into the event will be to show their end of year report card so we can view their academic excellence, great behavior, citizenship, and great attendance. During their time there, they will be able to participate in unlimited bowling, laser tag, billiards, and arcade games. There will also be a pizza buffet with soft drinks served. To promote this event, several months in advance, flyers will be distributed to the local schools and public announcements through social media, news, and radio will be made.

Our organization would like to continue our efforts of mentoring middle and high school females in our mentoring program called “Ladies of Distinction”. A goal of ours is to promote character building and self-worth. In doing so, we would often have group talks that turned out to be extremely beneficial. We are now planning to take that concept to the next level by organizing an “All about Me” Project. Within the seminar, there is a huge proponent on tips for personal hygiene. It has been researched and a known fact that children in poverty often go without basic essential items to manage proper hygiene. In addition to the daily struggle to find food and a safe place to sleep, acquiring basic hygiene items such as soap, shampoo, and toothpaste can be very challenging. In an effort to assist and help some deserving high school young ladies in need of these essential items and more, we would like to purchase and give all of the participants of our seminar a feminine personal hygiene kit. Each kit is a waterproof, nylon toiletry case that can be used by the individual as a permanent storage case. This personal hygiene kit will definitely be the start for increasing each young lady’s level of self-esteem. Maintaining personal hygiene is necessary for many reasons: personal, social, health, psychological or simply as a way of life. Body images influence self-esteem, confidence, and motivation. It is our organization’s continuous goal to help young ladies we mentor practice having a daily routine of good personal hygiene. This in return will help them maintain a healthier lifestyle and give them the confidence they need to be the best they can be.

Our organization is planning to open up our enrollment to middle school students to join our mentoring groups, “Ladies of Distinction” and “Men of Vision” and to have them participate in our first of its kind “Trailblazing’ Book Club”. This book club will not only be unique but a rewarding experience. The students will be encouraged and coached to get a public library card if they do not have one and we will have our book discussions at the community library or neighborhood school where the students attend. It is the goal for every student participant to receive the selected book of discussion for free. Depending on the length of the book will determine how long each book discussion will last. It is also the goal of the program to invite people and celebrity authors who have written books to special events where the “Trailblazers’ Book Club” can be included. The ultimate goal is to hopefully instill a love for reading and possibly one day inspire each of the students to write and self-publish their own book. From time to time people have wondered why reading is important. There are many adults within the surrounding communities who cannot read well enough and that same sentiment, unfortunately, has been passed down to the children who live in the same home. This upcoming book club is important for various reasons. First, it is going to shed light on the lack of reading literacy among our youth, especially those in socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. The program will be designed to appreciate reading and spotlight that reading is important because it develops the mind. The mind is a muscle, and it needs productive and positive exercise. Understanding the written word is one way the mind grows in its ability. Teaching young children to read helps them develop their language skills. I honestly believe that if a child cannot read by the 3rd grade, he or she is on the path to incarceration and other unfortunate mishaps. Our non-profit organization is on a mission to promote reading literacy head on. Reading is how we discover new things. We live in an age where we overflow with information, but reading is the main way to take advantage of it.

Our organization would like to continue our efforts of mentoring middle and high school males in our mentoring program called “Men of Vision”. A goal of ours is to promote character building and self-worth. In doing so, we would often have group talks that turned out to be extremely beneficial. We are now planning to take that concept to the next level by organizing a “Man Talk” Project. Within the seminar, there is a huge proponent on tips for personal hygiene. It has been researched and a known fact that children in poverty often go without basic essential items to manage proper hygiene. In addition to the daily struggle to find food and a safe place to sleep, acquiring basic hygiene items such as soap, shampoo, and toothpaste can be very challenging. In an effort to assist and help some deserving high school young men in need of these essential items and more, we would like to purchase and give all of the participants of our seminar a male personal hygiene kit. Each kit is a waterproof, nylon toiletry case that can be used by the individual as a permanent storage case. This personal hygiene kit will definitely be the start for increasing each young man’s level of self-esteem. Maintaining personal hygiene is necessary for many reasons: personal, social, health, psychological or simply as a way of life. Body images influence self-esteem, confidence, and motivation. It is our organization’s continuous goal to help young men we mentor practice having a daily routine of good personal hygiene. This in return will help them maintain a healthier lifestyle and give them the confidence they need to be the best they can be.