Challenge Idea Pages

THE

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5 PROMISES CHALLENGE

The Promises 1. Caring Adults 2. Safe Places 3. Healthy Start 4. Effective Education 5. Opportunities to Help Others The Five Promises are the key resources that all children need in order to grow up happy, to stay healthy and to become successful adults and citizens. Children who experience at least four of the Five Promises at home, in school and out in their neighborhoods are much more likely to graduate from high school, avoid crime and violence and contribute to their communities.

CHOOSE YOUR CHALLENGE PROJECTS! By accepting the 5 Promises Challenge you are agreeing to identify, organize and implement a series of 5 Challenge Projects - one project for each of the 5 Promises. In order to help you get started, check out our Challenge Project Idea pages. On these pages you’ll find three types of ideas: 1. Projects from our Alliance Partners The America’s Promise Alliance is built of over 130 unique businesses, foundations, non-profits and youth serving organizations. Many of our partners have interesting projects and opportunities that young leaders can get involved with. The projects listed in this section are all sponsored by our Alliance Partners. Many of these projects have toolkits or resources available online.

2. Bright Ideas Projects listed in the bright ideas section are creative ways for young people to help provide the 5 Promises. Most of these projects ideas are not sponsored by a national organization so you’ll have to get creative in finding your own ways of making these ideas come to life!

3. Days to Celebrate It might be a good idea to plan your Challenge Projects so that they take place on a special day. In the “Days to Celebrate” section you’ll find a few interesting events to put on your calendar that are specific to each of the 5 Promises.

Once you review all of the Challenge Project Ideas, decide which 5 projects you’d like to work on. If you have a great idea for a project that’s not one of the projects listed on our idea pages, we encourage you to get innovative and try it out! Record your project plans on the 5 Promises Challenge registration form and submit the form to the America’s Promise Alliance.

CHALLENGE PROJECT IDEAS

PROMISE

1

Caring Adults

PROJECTS FROM OUR ALLIANCE PARTNERS: Absolutely Incredible Kid Day On this day, adults are encouraged to let kids know how valuable they are by taking part in a national letter writing campaign sponsored by Camp Fire USA. Organize letter writing events for your school or community to provide adults with an opportunity to write letters of love and support to the children in their lives. www.campfireusa.org/a_i_kid_day/mainpage.html

Big Brothers Big Sisters

Kids need their parents and other people older than them to turn to for friendship, advice and fun. These mentors can be teachers, coaches, tutors, neighbors, religious leaders, or other members of the community— community— including older young people, like high school and college students.

Contact your local Big Brothers Big Sisters to find out if they have school based mentoring programs or existing opportunities already organized for older students to be matched up as mentors for younger students. www.bbbs.org

Family Volunteer Day Help promote the importance of caring adults within families by organizing opportunities for families to volunteer together. Sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation and the Walt Disney Company, Family Volunteer Day was established to promote the fact that volunteering as a family provides quality time for busy families, strengthens communication and bonds, and positively impacts local communities across the nation. http://disney.go.com/disneyhand/familyvolunteers

Thank Your Mentor Day Sponsored by MENTOR, thousands of people take a few minutes each year on Thank Your Mentor Day to express appreciation and gratitude to those who are mentors for them. Organize activities that encourage people to celebrate this special day by writing a note, making a phone call, or sending an email. www.hsph.harvard.edu/chc/wmy2007/Thank_Them/intro.html

DAYS TO CELEBRATE! November Nov. 18-24, 2007

National Family Week

BRIGHT IDEAS:

Nov.17, 2007

National Family Volunteer Day

January Jan. 2008

National Mentoring Month Jan. 24, 2008

Thank Your Mentor Day

March March 20, 2008

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day

May May 3, 2008

Join Hands Day May 5-9, 2008

Teacher Appreciation Week May 6, 2008

National Teacher Day

Create a list of opportunities for your peers to serve as role models and mentors while helping as a coach or assistant for a sports team, music group, drama club or scout troupe.

Coordinate a “Lunch Buddies” program where older students are matched up as mentors for younger students. Once a week the pairs meet for lunch at the younger students’ school to eat, talk and have fun together. Encourage the older students to talk with the younger students about healthy eating habits and good study skills.

Make a presentation to your Parent Teachers Association or School Board to raise awareness about the importance of setting up in-school mentoring programs for students of all ages.

CHALLENGE PROJECT IDEAS

PROMISE

2

Safe Places

PROJECTS FROM OUR ALLIANCE PARTNERS: Lights on Afterschool Sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance, Lights On Afterschool is a yearly event celebrated to help showcase the afterschool programs offered in your community, and underscore the need for quality afterschool programs for all children. Make sure your community takes part in the celebrations! http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/lights_on/index.cfm

Advocate for Play

There are a lot of hours and days when kids aren’t in school; so there needs to be safe places for them to go to participate in appropriate, structured activities during those hours.

Visit the KaBOOM! website to read up on why play matters. Check out their list of “20 Ways to be a Play Advocate.” Ideas range from researching the safe place spaces in your community, to calling government officials, organizing community awareness events and hosting play days! If you really want to go all out, start fundraising and build a healthy and safe new play space by organizing a KaBOOM! playground build. www.kaboom.org

i-Mentor Program Help kids stay safe in the virtual world by starting an i-Mentor program at your school. Sponsored by i-SAFE, INC., the i-Mentor program gives you tools and tips that help you educate and empower peers, parents, and community members on how to make safe and responsible decisions online. i-SAFE provides lesson plans, activities and suggestions for events. www.imentor.org

Youth Traffic Safety Month

DAYS TO CELEBRATE!

Help the National Organization for Youth Safety raise awareness around the dangers of drinking and driving and encourage safe driving habits for teens by using their activity ideas to organize events during Youth Traffic Safety Month. www.noys.org/AllState.htm

September Sept. 16, 2007

National Neighborhood Day

BRIGHT IDEAS:

October Oct. 18, 2007

Lights on Afterschool

January Jan. 21-25, 2008

No Name Calling Week

March/April March, 2008

National Safe Place Week March 30 - April 5, 2008

National Boys & Girls Club Week

May May, 2008

Youth Traffic Safety Month

July

Volunteer to teach an after-school “life skills” class, like cooking, creating and maintaining a budget, appreciating art, or basic fitness.

Use “No Name Calling Week” in January to put an end to bullying in your school and community. Download the Stop Bullying Now Guidebook developed by the Department of Health and Human Services and use the activities to teach smaller children about bully prevention.

Contact area museums, theaters, business leaders, and sports complexes and ask them to host monthly, weeknight or weekend field trips for groups of young people. Ask them to help with transportation too.

July, 2008

Recreation & Parks Month

www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/index.asp

CHALLENGE PROJECT IDEAS

PROMISE

3

Healthy Start

PROJECTS FROM OUR ALLIANCE PARTNERS: March of Dimes WalkAmerica WalkAmerica is the oldest and one of the most popular walking events in the nation. Get your friends and neighbors to walk and raise money to support research and programs to help babies in your community and across the nation get a healthy start. www.walkamerica.org

Host a Health Fair

Kids need to learn how to eat healthy, how to exercise, how to recognize signs of trouble, how to manage emotions, how to talk about sexuality, and how to make smart decisions about alcohol and drugs. Learning these things now will help kids grow up to become responsible, healthy adults.

DAYS TO CELEBRATE!

Visit the American Academy of Pediatrics’ website to find resources to help you organize a school or community-wide health fair. Use the fair to distribute information about your state’s Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), immunizations, free or reduced-price health services and screenings, nutritional recommendations, vision and dental care, mental health issues, fitness and more. http://www.aap.org/family/healthfairkit.htm

Positive Choice Program Use the resources from the teen section of the Positive Choice Program from HOPE worldwide to teach teens about safe sex practices. The program equips youth with the tools to say no to risky behaviors and yes to their future goals and dreams. www.positive-choice.org

Prevent Teenage Pregnancy Visit the National Campaign’s Stay Teen Website to learn about teenage pregnancy prevention. This website was created for young people and provides resources, statistics, and ideas for how to get involved. www.stayteen.org

September Sept.9-15, 2007

Suicide Prevention Week Sept. 22-29, 2007

BRIGHT IDEAS:

YMCA’s America on the Move Week

October Oct. 23-31, 2007

Red Ribbon Week

November Nov. 2007

Prematurity Awareness Month

February Feb. 2008

Children’s Dental Health Month

March March 2008

National Nutrition Month March 2008

American Red Cross Month

April

Help organize a “Give Kids a Smile” event at your school or community on February 1, 2008. Taking place during National Children's Dental Health Month, “Give Kids a Smile” was designed to provide education, preventative and restorative care to low-income children who do not have access to care.

April 2008

Cover the Uninsured Week April 12, 2008

YMCA Healthy Kids Day

www.ada.org/prof/eventsfeatured/ gkas/index.asp

Organize a series of health practitioner “show and tell” events. Invite doctors, dentists, optometrists, and mental health providers to visit classrooms to help students learn what happens at their offices.

Many schools are offering fewer opportunities for physical education and recess. Help kids stay active by working with athletic teams or your sports-minded friends to organize exercise and fitness classes for children at local schools, community centers, religious organizations, and public housing complexes.

CHALLENGE PROJECT IDEAS

PROMISE

4

Effective Education

PROJECTS FROM OUR ALLIANCE PARTNERS: Common Cents Help teach students about good money habits in a fun, memorable way. Visit the State Farm Common Cents website to find games and resources to use with students from kindergarten to grade 12. It’s never too early – or too late – to develop good money sense! www.statefarm.com/learning/kid_stuff/commoncents/

Groundhog Job Shadow Day While schools take the lead in helping kids learn, they need help from community members, including additional tutoring and enrichment, jobjob-shadowing opportunities, internships, serviceservice-learning projects, and apprenticeships to help kids build a set of skills required in the job market.

Encourage your school to participate in Groundhog Job Shadow Day. On this day students are encouraged to “shadow” adults in the work place and learn about fields of interest. Through this experience, students are able to see firsthand how the skills learned in school relate to the workplace. www.jobshadow.org

Semester of Service Youth Service America is encouraging students to develop a semester long service-learning project that launches on Martin Luther King Day in January and culminates on Global Youth Service Day in April. Help teachers inform teachers about this opportunity and work with classrooms to design and implement projects. www.imentor.org

Give Kids Good Schools Help make sure that all children are given access to a quality education. Help find ways to get your friends and classmates involved in the Give Kids Good Schools Campaign. Visit their website to learn about what you can do to help. www.givekidsgoodschools.org

DAYS TO CELEBRATE!

BRIGHT IDEAS:

October Oct. 18, 2007

Get Smart about Credit Day Oct. 15-21, 2007

Give Kids Good Schools Week

February Feb. 2 2008

Groundhog Job Shadow Day

March March 3, 2008

Read Across America Day

April April, 2008

Teach Children to Save Day April 25, 2008

Take your Son or Daughter to Work

Collect information about local internship opportunities for students. Ask local professionals or a university business club to provide workshops on resume writing or interviewing skills to help students get prepared to apply.

Use the Start Something Curriculum (provided by the Tiger Woods Foundation and Target) with a group of younger students to get them thinking about what they want to be when they grow up and how they can get involved as volunteers in their community today. www.tigerwoodsfoundation.org/ startsomething/

Coordinate a college fair to give high school students information about admissions and financial aid, fields of study, student activities and employment, campus living and more.

CHALLENGE PROJECT IDEAS

PROMISE

5

Opportunities to Help Others

PROJECTS FROM OUR ALLIANCE PARTNERS: Global Youth Service Day Organize a project for Global Youth Service Day in April. On this day, millions of young people across the world branch out to projects ranging from park clean-ups to visiting people in senior centers to painting and restoring community centers. www.gysd.net

Kids Care Clubs

Studies show that when kids are asked to serve, they are eager to do so. Kids need to be asked to serve in their schools, religious organizations, afterafter-school programs, neighborhoods, athletic teams, youth groups and families.

Help teach younger kids about the importance of giving back by starting a “Kids Care Club,” a program of the Points of Light Foundation. The mission of these clubs is to develop compassion and the spirit of service and philanthropy in elementary and middle school aged youth. Visit their website to find tips and tools for how to start a club for kids in your community. www.kidscare.org

Presidents Volunteer Service Awards Make sure your school is sponsoring the President’s Volunteer Service Awards program to reward young people for serving 100 or more hours per year. To help promote the award consider starting a President’s Volunteer Service Awards Challenge in your school or community to see who can log the most volunteer hours. www.presidentialserviceawards.gov

Red Kettle Collections

DAYS TO CELEBRATE!

Organize volunteers from local schools to ring bells for the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Collections in December. Each year the Salvation Army raises millions of dollars to aid needy families, seniors and the homeless. www.salvationarmyusa.org

September Sept. 11, 2007

My Good Deed Sept. 17-23, 2007

National Learn and Serve Challenge

October Oct. 27, 2007

BRIGHT IDEAS:

Make a Difference Day

January Jan. 21, 2008

Earth Day

Did you out grow trick-or-treating? Try something new this year. Get people from your school and community to dress up and Trick or Treat for UNICEF.

April 25-27, 2008

www.unicefusa.org/trickortreat

Martin Luther King Jr., Day of Service

February Feb. 9-15, 2008

Random Acts of Kindness Week

April April 22, 2008

Global Youth Service Day April 27– May 3, 2008

National Volunteer Week

May May 5, 2008

Join Hands Day

Do groups like your school board, city council, and community foundation grant committees have young people serving on them? If they don’t, volunteer to work with them to develop opportunities, write up the descriptions and recruit young people to serve. Check out the resources on the Youth on Board website to get started. www.youthonboard.com

Celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Week at your school and engage your classmates and friends in some of the special activities offered by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation http://www.actsofkindness.org