Dear fellow treasure hunters, friends and supporters,
November is Kids at Hope Month and November 23rd is Kids at Hope Day. Although Kids at Hope is a 24/7-365 day child and youth development strategy we still believe it important to celebrate our year long achievements and our powerful expression that supports of the success of all children, No Exceptions!
As we near Thanksgiving, I wish to share my gratitude with each and every one of you who have understood the important message and strategy we launched 10 plus years ago. In just this past decade we have sponsored trainings, classes, seminars, and institutes and reached over 22,000 caring adults in 11 states and Canada who are now translating our research findings, principles and practices into everyday efforts and witnessing the transformation from at risk to AT HOPE.
Along with our professional and community development efforts we have continued to collect and analyze data to ensure we are advocating and demonstrating the most potent child and youth development principles and practices.
We have developed a great number of strategies and program enhancements designed to more easily help adults help children see the great strengths they possess and how they are able to harness those assets in support of their success.
Today we are proud to count over 500 schools, youth groups, departments and communities as part of our growing family. By suspending our self-interest we are doing something together we cannot do alone and that is support all children, without exceptions.
I know each of you share pride in the following achievements:
Today over 500,000 children are benefitting from our powerful vision and strategy we know as Kids at Hope.
Did you know that the Kids at Hope pledge is the second most recited pledge offered in our classrooms and youth centers across the country - only second to the Pledge of Allegiance?
Eight independent university lead evaluations have underscored the effectiveness of Kids at Hope. Kids at Hope findings have been published in two research journals and most recently, published as a doctoral dissertation
Did you know an elementary school which was rated the 22nd worse performing school in a school district of 22 schools today is now ranked number 2? A recent study about that remarkable turn around cited the Kids at Hope culture along with the leadership of the principal and commitment of the faculty and staff as the influencing factors in this remarkable achievement.
Currently five cities in the US have officially adopted Kids at Hope as its community wide youth development strategy. These visionary cities include: Avondale, AZ; Annapolis, MD; Bremerton, WA; Fort Pierce, FL and Port St. Lucie, FL. Hundreds more are now considering such action.
Did you know Kids at Hope: Every Child Can Succeed, NO Exceptions is now in its third edition?
Kids at Hope is practiced in juvenile detention and correction facilities to help all children succeed, NO EXCEPTIONS!
Did you know that our newest "character" the TIME TRAVELER is helping adults and children understand the power of mental time travel and how that capacity leads to hopefulness? The Time Traveler is preceded by Hillary Hope, Oscar Optimism, Sammy Success, Drew the Dream Stealing Villain and Sheriff Hope -a-Long, all who help our very young students understand the power of hope, optimism and success and how to protect themselves from evil people who try to steal their dreams.
Kids at Hope has advanced a theory similar to Einstein's understanding that energy and mass are actually manifestations of the same thing. Kids at Hope believes that hope and risk are manifestations of the same thing. And as Professor Einstein explained, energy and mass are two sides of the same coin. In our case hope and risk our also two sides of the same coin and the coin is our children and youth. For too long and for too many children we have only focused on the risk side. If you turn the coin over you will find the treasures and hope that lie in each child.
Our annual Youth Development Master's Institute founded six years ago continues to attract North America's top educators, academics, and practitioners including Dr. Shane Lopez, senior scientist, Gallup Poll; Dr. Nel Noddings, our country's preeminent education philosopher, Bonnie Benard, one of leading experts in the field of resiliency theory and application; Frank DeAngelis, Principal of Columbine High School; Dr. Erika Camacho, a student of the famed teacher Jamie Escalante whose story was featured in the film Stand and Deliver and this coming year, Dr. Ann Masten, child psychologist and Distinguished McKnight University Professor from the University of Minnesota.
We have also been privileged to have some of our nation's top leaders serve as our Institute's honorary deans including Linda and Bill Pope; Ambassador Raul Yzaguirre; John Glass; Academy Award winner Gerda Klein and for our 2011 event we welcome US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor who will keynote our event, participate in a panel about civic engagement and be recognized at our Dean's Luncheon.
Speaking of our annual Youth Development Master's Institute we are proud to announce that our Canadian partners, Alberta Recreation and Parks Association, will be joining us as a co-sponsor making our event INTERNATIONAL. Pretty cool I must say.
We've had an extremely rewarding year and we are most thankful to our board members, donors, supporters, and fellow treasure hunters. Together we are demonstrating how a schools, communities, states and countries can rally around all their children as the treasures they are.
Happy Kids at Hope Month!
Stay close.
Rick Miller
Founder, President and Chief Treasure Hunter
Special Message from Rick Miller 