Minor Miracles Men's Academy Pilot Program
Your donations will help to provide stipends for our 7 full-time summer participants and extend the program into the fall to an additional 15 youth.
Leader
Eric Matthews
Location
3-01 27th Ave Astoria, NY 11102
About the project
What is the Minor Miracles Men's Academy?
One mother stated that she was so glad that her son was a part of the program because it kept him engaged and learning thru-out the summer!
- Visited the Deputy Borough President of Manhattan, Matthew Washington, and learned about how to manage a borough and a $52 m budget.
- Visited the New Museum's Shaun Leonardo, Manager of G: Class and Community Programs, and was exposed to art & culture through the Experiential Study Program.
- Visited an attorney, Gary Weeks, and learned about fiscal fitness and estate planning.
- Participated in a Verbal Judo class, a martial arts course that teaches how to de-escalate situations by talking through them.
We would like to continue in the Fall / Winter to restore honor back to the program. We realize that when the young men are truly given an opportunity to learn something useful they responded! So now armed with this knowledge, we would like to expand the program to a total of 15 Participants, so we can have a bigger effect on our community.
For the fall, we will reinforce the values and skills they learned about over the summer and continue with the experiential learning. We will get them out into the community to have new experiences and organically absorb and learn new things. The fall program participants will not receive a stipend but we'll use funds for the experiential learning program expenses.
The Steps
Our initial Pilot Program took place this summer and went for 8 weeks. No one missed a class it was awesome! Once we get cash in hand, I will reach out to all the community educators and agencies and restart the project for the fall schedule. We will maintain the current curriculum - if it ain't broke don't fix it!
We already have space and we already have over 15 young people who want to participate!
Why we‘re doing it
Young men need guidance, we have been working in and around the Astoria community for over 7 years. It's time to make a difference, put up or shut up.
Our work aims to complement the hard work of local educators and parents to provide life-changing experiences, outside of school and home, for young men to see what's possible for themselves and their future.