Programs

Project Champions Youth Resiliency and Prevention Program

Raising leaders of tomorrow begins today.

Project Champions is a 14 week, online, user-friendly, interactive youth prevention and resiliency program that can be implemented from elementary school through college, community-based or athletic team program initiatives.

Helping young adults navigate through their adolescence is priority one.

Developing healthy coping skills to manage life’s challenging situations is what Project Champions offers. Created as a hybrid from evidence-based, youth prevention and resiliency programs, Project Champions brings together the best of the best.

After years of being the Director of Prevention Services at the Johns Hopkins University, Department of Pediatrics, Adolescent Clinic, I created an educational and interactive youth resiliency program. Project Champions meets your students and athletes right where you are, classroom, athletic facility, faith-based program, or home.

We have all seen the horrible events unfold across our own country. Years of research reveals arming our youth with personality characteristics and healthy decision-making decreases the likelihood of their involvement in risky behaviors. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

About

Prevention and Resilience

Project Champions addresses a broad-base of evidence-based prevention and resiliency topics, including:

1. Assertiveness
2. Decision-making
3. Goal-setting
4. Self-esteem building
5. Moral and value development
6. Feelings identification
7. Alcohol, tobacco and drug education
8. Leadership skills
9. Diversity appreciation
10. Communication skills

What are people saying about Project Champions?

“Project Champions helped the youth in our juvenile program develop healthier ways to deal with their lives, families and community. The activities were fun at the same they taught valuable life lessons. They facilitators found the lessons to be great tools to use in general when dealing with teens in the community. I highly recommend Project Champions.”

— Tim C, C.o.P.S. Foundation, Edgmere, MD.

“Thank you for presenting on Best Practice, Evidenced-Based Models in Prevention at the Prevention conference. You displayed the magnitude of the problem and offered an excellent array of treatment interventions. In particular, Project Champions offers adolescents an engaging and educational approach to skill development. The results are impressive both by the youth and their parents.”
— Gregg S, Director, Eugene du Pont Prevention Medicine and Rehabilitation Institute, and Public Health Practice Planning Committee for Prevention

“Dr. Shinitzky thank you for helping us coordinate a universal, broad-based prevention program for the LMB. Implementing Project Champions into the middle and high schools has been exceptional. Glen Burnie High School and Annapolis High School have found the kids respond well to the prevention materials. Project Champions will help high risk ESSS kids stay in school and earn their high school diploma. The facilitators have really enjoyed the training sessions and find the kids are highly engaged with all of the lesson plans.”
— Linda S, Director Local Management Board, ESSS

“Dr. Shinitzky, Thank you for consulting with the LMB. Project Champions students attained statistically significant benefits than the control students. The facilitators reported using the standardized curriculum and lesson plan format was well received and easy to implement. Having veteran teachers as our facilitators is exceptional. They have reported consistent engagement by all participants. I hope that you could return next year to give an opening (Day 1 of Training) “historical overview” of the program development. Again, thank you.”
— Huntley C, Special Assistant to the Superintendent Anne Arundel County Maryland

“Helping kids get the coping skills to manage life is essential. Project Champions provides a forum for kids to feel safe and learn through interactive lesson plans. The Train-the-Trainer presentation was upbeat and energizing. The staff was excited to put Project Champions into practice. The results were impressive as we saw more pro-social behaviors by the kids from the intervention group. I would encourage other youth programs to consider using Project Champions. The earlier you can get this information to kids the better.”
— Anthony R, Anne Arundel Charter Challenge CRW

“The results from Project Champions revealed on average the participants engaged in fewer at-risk behaviors and maintained positive, pro-social behaviors at school and at home. Impressively, the parents’ results paralleled their children’s results.”
— Melissa Kerr, Kerr & Associates: Positive Youth Development Specialists

“Thank you for training our staff with Project Champions. The resiliency materials will definitely help the ESSS students in our programs. The Program Report Card revealed so many benefits for the students participating in Project Champions. They avoided conduct issues and connected with their families.”
— Brad Clagett, Adolescent and Family Services

“Taking a prevention approach with youth is a wise investment of resources. Project Champions provides the perfect vehicle to proactively address resiliency and prevention needs for today’s youth. We certainly can incarcerate anti-social behaviors but it is economically, emotionally, academically and therefore societally wise to pro-actively address prevention and resiliency factors with youth. Highly recommended.”
— William Caltrider, Jr. President, Center for Alcohol and Drug Research and Education