Thirty young men from central Arkansas schools are giving up time on weekends and after school to learn about leadership, service and philanthropy and to volunteer their time. They are part of the Centers for Youth & Families Champions of Hope Program.
This is the second year of the program for young men, reminiscent of the popular American Heart Association's Sweethearts and the Cancer Society's Angels of Hope programs for high school girls based on volunteerism, learning and fundraising that culminate with honors at a gala.
The Centers for Youth & Families, also called Centers, provides care for children who have experienced trauma or abuse and are struggling with behavioral or mental health problems through programs such as outpatient counseling, residential care, therapeutic foster care and community outreach.
Champions of Hope Program founder Trena Nosler, a member of the board of trustees of the Centers for Youth & Families Foundation, said she has a daughter who participated in Angels of Hope and Heart Ball and remembers sitting in a Centers' board meeting and thinking there was nothing like those programs for boys to commit to doing something for the community.
"Once the board approved the idea, we poured ourselves into making it happen," she explains. "The plan and agenda came together quickly and with the board's blessing, I had our first group of Champions of Hope within a few months. The original class had 14 young men in 11th and 12th grades."
During the first year, Nosler says, "we worked side by side with the Champions volunteering at Centers, raising funds for their programs and educating the Champions about what Centers does and bringing awareness to mental health."
This year, there are 30 young men in the program and another board of trustees member, Jay Gadberry, has joined to lead and help the program grow.
"We had 60 nominated and only took 30. They had to be nominated and have leadership potential," he said about the young men in the program. They were nominated from every public school in Little Rock and one or two from Conway and Benton, he says.
Thirty is a good number, says Nosler about the group size, because it allows her and Gadberry to be involved and build a relationship with each participant and the boys to get to know one another and become friends.
"It's an exciting program that the kids thoroughly enjoy," Gadberry says. The programs include meeting and having discussions with community leaders, and so far this year they have met with U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), Fitz Hill, Greg Hatcher and Joe Kleine.
Nosler says the program began last year as a way to teach the young men about working to better their community. And "one way or another -- no matter what that source is -- and teaching them about Centers and what they offer for mental health to foster programs and everything they do for Arkansas families," she says. "This year, Jay was kind enough to come in and brought in philanthropy, and to teach them some entrepreneurship and leadership skills that they can use and bring back to Centers over the years, because hopefully these young men will be the leaders we have for decades to come."
"We're going over attributes of leadership such as honesty, integrity, trustworthiness and to teach them how to be leaders in school," Gadberry says.
The high school students have also helped mentor sixth-grade boys in a program called Sixth and Goal, and have spent time volunteering at, and learning about, Centers.
"This year they've really focused on foster care," Nosler says. "They've watched a movie called Removed that tells about what kids go through and how they get into the system. We try to tackle mental health just as we go along because it's out there. It's a normal term to high school boys in this day and age. It's not something they've not heard. They're familiar with it. We just make sure there's not a stigma with it."
The participants also help with fundraising. Each one is asked to raise $1,500.
"The boys have different ways to raise funds. They have created their personal websites, some have worked with their churches, while some have even saved their own hard earned money, Nosler says. "It's really something to see how selfless these young men really are."
The Champions of Hope program will culminate at Evolve -- a gala on April 6 at the Statehouse Convention Center.
"Every single boy is acknowledged and will receive a certificate of completion," Nosler says, and two participants will receive scholarships sponsored by Convocare. Those two boys will have been nominated by the board for going beyond what is required and named as Outstanding Champions of Hope.
"We've talked about how gifted and blessed they are," Gadberry says. "They've got potential and they'll learn more about how to be great men because attributes of leadership carries into character. They'll be great leaders."
High Profile on 12/16/2018