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Many children aspire to become singers, rappers,
DJs, dancers or be a part of the industry that
promotes that lifestyle. Many of those same
children are inner city, at risk youth who seek
the culture arts as an opportunity to achieve a
better way of life. The House of David Youth
Outreach (HODYO) utilizes the arts to inspire
youth to reach their full potential. HODYO wants
to capture these young people and offer them
opportunities for training with professionals
who are successful artists and promoters.
The House of David Youth Outreach offers a
mentor/training program in cultural arts based
on positive youth development. Children between
the ages of 5-17 participate in programs that
will help them develop and showcase their
artistic abilities. HODYO utilizes local artist
in music, song and dance to teach dance,
vocalization, drama and chorography. Students
have the opportunity to showcase and practice
performing their talents at HODYO events. In
addition, HODYO sponsors talent shows and
exposure expeditions to other venues. The focus
of the program is to develop the students to the
point of creating a professional CD/DVD that
will be a part of their portfolio.
HOD targets at risk children in communities that
have high levels of gang violence, single parent
homes and low literacy rates. We target
children who have the dream, but are lacking the
resources to pursue it. Second, and very
important, we train and promote aspiring artist
in genres that are socially acceptable. Our
entertainment capitalizes on a movement that is
sweeping the nation – Holy Hip Hop that combines
the popular rhythms of rap with socially
acceptable lyrics. Additionally our programs
include other forms of the arts but not in a way
that is demeaning, utilize inappropriate
language; promote violence, sex, alcohol, or
drugs
We
are offering positive alternatives for youth to
spend their free time by exposing them to career
choices and opportunities that will enable them
to lead productive lives as adults. The kids
are choosing to attend our programs because they
want to; they have a good time and feel safe.
We want to be able to accommodate more students,
offer more training and mentoring opportunities
and expose our kids to more positive
opportunities in and outside of their immediate
neighborhoods. We love our kids and want to
continue to offer early prevention programs that
turn kids away from gang violence, alcohol,
drugs, and sex by offering positive alternatives
that continue to interest them.
The success of the program lies in the success
of the kids. By tracking their academic
progress in school, behavior problems at home
and school, we will be able to monitor and track
the success of the programs.
Target Population/Need:
We are targeting youth living in Hot Spots and
identified as Title One communities in
Hillsborough County. A large number of the
occupants have below average incomes and are
single parent homes with kids that are at risk.
We are reaching out to Generation Y, a
generation whose most likely causes of death are
suicide and auto accidents due to alcohol; a
generation where 79.5% of college students and 45.6% of high school students’
first sexual experience was due to peer
pressure; a generation that spends 16.7 hours per week on the
Internet. We are targeting young Hispanic girls
who are more likely to commit suicide than
blacks or whites. We are targeting young black
boys who are more likely to have sex as an
adolescent than any other race. We are
targeting the parents of Generation Y to give
them an alternative to entertainment such as 'R'
rated movies and video games that promote sex
and violence and Internet chat rooms such as
Face Book and My Space.
The kids in our neighborhoods need places that
they can socialize that are safe and free of
negative influences. Once there, they need
programs with activities that INTEREST them and
PROMOTE positive youth development. Through
the use of cultural arts in an upbeat,
high-energy environment we are able to draw the
kids in. Because entertainment is so popular
amongst kids, the opportunity to learn the
skills necessary to be a part of the
entertainment industry is another incentive that
keeps the kids coming. By having local artist
and technicians as mentors who are from the same
ethnic and cultural backgrounds that the kids
can relate helps to ensure the program’s
success. Through collaboration with other
agencies HODYO is able to offer such a life
changing program.
Sponsors:
We currently received support from a number of
agencies and businesses to include Hillsborough
County, Gulf Coast Community Services, The
Children’s Board, and Burger King. |
