"Giving Youth the Power to Make TeRRiFiCC Choices!"
Making Good Choices
This program’s framework is based on the Six Pillars of Character; Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. This program is a three year program. Each year surrounds two of the Pillars of Character in detail including two service learning projects focused on those pillars. This group is held each month during the school year in Rippleside Elementary in Aitkin, Minnesota assisting these young children in learning and how to implement making good choices in their everyday lives and the importance of community where they are able to see the results of their actions as well. The children in grades 4-6 participating in this program then graduate into the Youth Leadership Skill Building Program when entering the seventh grade.
Step Four: Youth Leadership for Grades 7-12 -
The Road to Leadership
This program, implemented in 2007, is a monthly afterschool program that concentrates on leadership skill building. The issues addressed are in correlation to the 5 dimensions of leadership: personal leadership, interpersonal leadership, team leadership, organizational leadership and civic/service leadership. They will work on personal decision making (healthy choices), Interpersonal decision making (dating), Team decision making (presented by a local business owner), and ethical decision making. We partner with our local 4-H Minnesota Extension office in implementation of this programming. This program also provides youth in grades 7-12 an opportunity to improve the Aitkin community while learning life skills and creating a sense of belonging in their families, peer groups and the community at large. By encouraging teens to engage in these activities, they can reach their full potential as individuals while setting examples for their peers.
Step One - Our Building Block Children are matched according to their interests, age, location and emotional needs. Volunteers wishing to become mentors undergo a criminal background check and extensive interview with references required. Kinship of Aitkin County monitors these relationships on an ongoing basis to ensure that the mentors are empowering these children by engaging them in safe, educational and effective activities. Other Available Activities: Please click here for an application for children to join Kinship's Mentoring Program!
Kinship's Mentoring Program
Our mentoring program is the building block of our Youth Development Program. This is an intergenerational program that matches youth in grades K-12 with caring adult mentors. Presently, there are 42 youth who benefit from this program. Volunteers work with children on an individual basis, spending 1-2 hours weekly doing a variety of activities with them.
Kinship of Aitkin County is listed as an Expert Mentoring Program with the Minnesota Mentoring Partnership!
The Good Character Club for this age group is a seven week free after-school program that concentrates on introducing young children to the Six Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. We spend these weeks educating the children educating by engaging them through stories, activities and projects. We have found they retain more information and stay engaged when a lesson is presented in a way that is fun and meaningful.
This program is currently available during the school year in Rippleside Elementary, in Aitkin and McGregor Elementary in McGregor, Minnesota
