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Project B.I.N.D. (Boston Inclusion Network for Disabilities) is a new core program at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester specifically designed to encourage the educational and social enrichment and advancement of children with special needs throughout the surrounding neighborhoods. Together with a vast network of partners, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester will provide access to exceptional after school programs while nurturing the full inclusion of children in all Club programs and activities. Project B.I.N.D. will also provide a support network to for families and engage in advocacy work around inclusion.
Benefits for children with disabilities:
- Increasing inclusion within the community by participating in mainstream after-school programs (fostering individual growth, friendships, and awareness)
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Exploring opportunities and developing relationships that may develop into lifelong hobbies, interests, and/or relationships
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Extending the benefits of mainstream schooling to after-school programs
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Increasing general independence for the students
Benefits for the volunteers, tutors, and affliated organizations:
- Fostering a personal understanding about disabilities
- Providing a structured venue to work with children with disabilities
- Expanding career development and personal experiences
Target Population:
The program will seek to identify a wide range of children with special needs/disabilities. For example, some programs can be implemented for young children (e.g., swimming programs and general after school programs) and other programs will be targeted to children ages 8 through 14 (e.g., tutoring programs, summer camp programs, community services programs). Our goal is to work with 20 children and their families in the coming year.
http://www.bgcdorchester.org/programs/BIND.html
Our mission
Roxbury Youthworks, Inc. (RYI), is a community-based nonprofit organization. Our mission is to create healthy families and strong communities; to inspire young men and women to recognize and develop their strengths; and to prepare them to lead independent and self-sufficient lives. RYI combats the roots of juvenile delinquency in the inner city neighborhoods of Boston by providing innovative support services to court-involved and other youth up to 21 years of age.
History
RYI is one of the oldest minority-based non-profit organizations in the City of Boston. Conceptualized and then initiated by Justice Julian T. Houston in 1981, RYI first helped decrease recidivism among young men and women from the Roxbury District Court. Today, RYI provides community-based supports, positive alternatives, advocacy, and an array of social services to young people and their families with strategic state partnerships acting as:
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the Lead Agency for the Dimock Street Area Office and a network provider with the Department of Children and Families;
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the sole service provider of all of Boston’s Community Re-Entry Centers with the Department of Youth Services (DYS);
For twenty-seven years RYI’s focus has been to assist at-risk/high-risk youth and their families who are struggling to overcome life challenges. Our greatest achievement is the number of youth served successfully who have gone on to cultivate positive relationships with families and their communities. Each year RYI assists over 700 youth as well as hundreds of extended family members.
[more history...]
Infrastructure
Led by an Executive Director, RYI consists of multi-cultural and lingual staff members, many of whom reside in the same communities in which we operate our sites and where our youth live and go to school. RYI receives strategic, fiscal and executive oversight from its Board of Directors.
http://www.roxburyyouthworks.org |
