Youth Empowerment Programs and Community Advocacy

The ACS Empowerment Seminar emphasizes youth career preparation while promoting community advocacy. Within our seminars, we identify resources in the community and online that motivate, assist, and support their search for employment. We provide information on obtaining the necessary skill set to secure jobs through vocational and trade schools. Additionally, we discuss the diversity of various professions versus salary, highlighting the importance of financial literacy. Our sessions engage in conversations about the road map to success by encouraging participants to set daily, short-term, and long-term goals. We also supply them with sample cover letters for job applications, sample resumes to help formulate their own, and sample thank you letters. Furthermore, we integrate elements of mental health awareness into our discussions to ensure holistic development. As a nonprofit organization, we are committed to youth mentorship, guiding young individuals towards fulfilling careers.

We actively engage in community advocacy by using our voice alongside community leaders to address the injustices within our culture and community. We are not afraid to step on the frontline to combat issues such as racial profiling, police brutality, social inequality, women's rights, and the lack of resources, all of which our community continuously faces. As a nonprofit organization, we rally together and encourage influential individuals and corporations to do what is right for the people within our community. We emphasize the importance of financial literacy and mental health awareness while encouraging everyone, especially our youth, to participate in youth mentorship programs. Their voices matter and play a crucial role in helping us make a difference.

Athletic Youth Day is a community advocacy program that stimulates and inspires our youth through the sport of boxing, enhancing their athletic skills. Professional boxers volunteer their time and expertise, engaging participants in boxing exercises and drills that foster youth mentorship and help develop their future in sports. Additionally, the program promotes mental health awareness and encourages participants to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle through physical exercise, while also emphasizing the importance of financial literacy.

The Annual Football Clinic is an excellent opportunity for community advocacy, as it focuses on teaching the fundamentals of football. Participants receive instruction on proper techniques for offense, defense, and special teams through both individual and group drills. After completing the drills, children engage in a non-contact game of flag football and participate in a highly educational Q&A session with notable NFL players. This event, organized by a nonprofit organization, allows children ages 7 to 15 from the community to join, with parental consent, while also promoting values such as financial literacy and mental health awareness through youth mentorship.

Thanksgiving is the time when individuals come together to form an alliance focused on community advocacy, ensuring that those in need are supported during the holiday season, especially as hunger is a pressing issue in New York City. According to the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, 1.5 million people live in food insecure homes. This season is an opportunity to promote mental health awareness by helping to make the holiday experience a little brighter. Our annual Thanksgiving Turkey Drive, also known as #OperationGobble, exemplifies how the Brooklyn community can work together to assist their neighbors in need. Additionally, our nonprofit organization emphasizes the importance of youth mentorship, guiding younger generations to understand financial literacy and the significance of giving back.

For many people, the holidays represent a time of joy, celebration, and family. Bringing smiles and laughter to children is priceless. As part of our community advocacy efforts, our annual pediatric unit toy giveaway creates joyful memories for children confined to the hospital during the holidays. We invite notable celebrities and community leaders to read books to babies, infants, and toddlers, while also providing gifts and taking pictures with children and teens of all ages within the pediatric unit, psych ward, and emergency room. This initiative not only supports mental health awareness but also aligns with our nonprofit organization’s mission to promote youth mentorship and financial literacy through positive experiences.

Every year, our nonprofit organization collaborates with a local foster care office to organize a Christmas party aimed at promoting community advocacy for the children within their system. We offer clowns, face painting, games, food and beverages, and, most importantly, Christmas gifts for the children and teens invited. This initiative also supports youth mentorship and raises awareness about mental health, while fostering financial literacy among the participants.

Strikes & Spares For Children We Care is an annual charitable holiday toy and coat drive that supports community advocacy by benefiting the pediatric ward at various hospitals and multiple homeless shelters where children reside. This nonprofit organization accepts donations in the form of new unwrapped toys, new or gently used coats, gift cards, or monetary contributions that provide essential support for babies, infants, and teens up to 18 years old. Through our efforts, we also promote financial literacy and mental health awareness, and we engage in youth mentorship to empower the younger generation.

Winter in New York City can be incredibly brutal, which is why our nonprofit organization actively engages in community advocacy by providing warm coats to those in need at the Police Athletic League in Bedstuy Brooklyn every year. This initiative not only supports those facing harsh conditions but also aligns with our commitment to youth mentorship and promoting mental health awareness and financial literacy in our community.

The Annual 'Love Yourself' Brooklyn Peace Concert serves as a vital platform for community advocacy, addressing the violence that has surrounded the annual parade in Brooklyn. In light of the tragedies and senseless violence that have marred Brooklyn's Parade in recent years, this annual free community concert aims to educate youth on financial literacy and promote mental health awareness, fostering peace across the borough of Brooklyn and citywide. Through the support of local nonprofit organizations and youth mentorship programs, this initiative strives to create a safer environment for all.