TRUTH LEADERS NYC
TRUTH LEADERS NYC
A Culture View Afterschool Proram
Our mission is to expose youth of color to practices that strengthen self esteem, discipline and resilience. Through consistent exploration of past and present leaders we inspire youth to follow through with the execution of their greatest ambitions and goals. We unveil the leader in each young person.
Culture View
The Culture View component is what separates our program from other after school options. Every other Friday youth leaders explore a new cultural space, for example, museums or other cultural hubs. We begin the year with more local destinations such as the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, and we culminate further away, for example, a trip to the Washington DC Museum of African American History.
GOALS
The Truth Leaders Afterschool Program’s student facing goals are to build self esteem, strengthen reading, writing, financial and technological skills. We develop students as creative producers, problem solvers, and leaders. In addition to our Culture View program we address SEL needs by empowering students to practice self control and self awareness through consistent affirmation and mindfulness practices.
Mindfulness & Emotional Regulation
The middle years can be especially turbulent for our youth. Mindfulness is a non-religious strategy that addresses a number of common issues that affect both children and adults. We set a foundation of goal setting at the start of the year and later engage in character building work where we reflect on who we want to be and consider whether we are meeting our own expectations.
At our program we begin each meeting with a short meditation or written and recited affirmations to center our work. We then have a community check in, where we share any positives from our day and consider if there were any moments we might have made better choices.
Literacy
The literacy component of our program seeks to internalize the idea that literacy is a fundamental skill for intelligence, maturity, understanding our world and our internal selves. Shortly after students arrive they receive homework help in any subjects requested. We strengthen students' love for reading by reading in community with book clubs. We also set aside time for individual reading pursuits. Our literacy extends beyond just books. We also equip students with social, technological and financial literacy. We extend our financial literacy to empower youth in pursuing their own business endeavors.
Jelisa Tannis
Program Director
My name is Jelisa Tannis. I am a mother of four and have been a fulltime educator for several years. I attended CUNY Hunter College where I completed a Bachelors in Sociology. I then completed a Master's in 7-12 Education at Columbia University's Teachers College.
My aim is to provide youth in the community with an education that is relevant for the world we live in. I am passionate about Literacy, Art and Black culture. I am driven to flip the consumption only mentality because I see every young person as an artist and producer. This production can range from bringing joy and positive energy to the community or a material good or service. I see entrepreneurship as an opportunity for youth to internalize the valuable gifts innately possessed by Black people which have always been much needed in society and are ever deserving of appropriate compensation.
