This past school year Every Neighborhood Partnership (ENP) had a great opportunity to collaborate with two Fresno Unified Elementary schools, Fresno State, Fresno City College and Alliant International University to pilot two unique programs that help to build resiliency and social-emotional life skills.
Through this collaborative partnership, ENP was able to facilitate two evidence-based programs that help students to build and develop social and emotional life skills through yoga and recreational hand drumming activities. The yoga curriculum was facilitated at two sites to approximately 120 students in the 6th grade. The hand drumming curriculum was facilitated at the same two sites to about 160 students in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. Both curricula are strength-based, positive youth development programs that are delivered to an entire class or grade level during the P.E. period.
ENP is excited about the opportunity to continue our collaborative partnership in the coming 2018-2019 school year. We will continue the yoga program at the two existing sites next year while expanding the drumming program from two sites to at least four with the possibility of a fifth site. We have two major goals for this next year, the first is to build the program capacity and the second is to collect data measuring and to assess social-emotional competencies.
The following is a brief description of the two curricula we are using along with links to the websites where you can learn more about these programs.
Yoga Ed: Created in schools, for schools.
Yoga Ed.’s story begins at a South Central Los Angeles charter school in 1999. Nested in the LA nucleus of crime, poverty, and riots, the Accelerated School faced a growing need for students to learn life skills that could extend beyond the school walls and promote health in other areas of their life.
The benefits of yoga are unquestionable. Among our students, we have seen improvement in overall fitness, body, and health awareness, stress management, concentration, focus, schoolwork, respect, and self-confidence,” raves Kevin Sved, co-director of the Accelerated School. “We see yoga as a positive and valuable factor in maintaining the high level of academic achievement we expect at our school.”
For more information on the Yoga Ed program visit http://yogaed.com/about
Beat the Odds (BTO): Social and Emotional Skill Building Delivered in a Framework of Drumming
Beat the Odds integrates the power of contemporary drum circles and group counseling to build core strengths such as focusing and listening, team building, leadership, expressing feelings, managing anger/stress, empathy, and gratitude. It is inclusive, culturally relevant, and does not bear the stigma of therapy.
UCLA researchers have shown that Beat the Odds® can significantly reduce a spectrum of behavior problems in children, such as those associated with inattention, withdrawn/depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, attention-deficit /hyperactivity, oppositional defiance, and sluggish cognitive tempo.
For more information on the BTO Program visit https://uclartsandhealing.org
To chat with Brian or learn more about ENP email him at brian@everyneighborhood.org.
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