Build
Why Build?
- To reduce high risk behaviors
- To reduce school dropout
- To increase academic success
Suspension or involvement in the juvenile justice system is a crisis point in a young person’s life. This is an opportunity to give them the support they need to learn new ways to cope with challenging situations.
How We Build
We focus on each student’s strengths, help them become accountable, and identify individual attributes they can build on for a more successful future. We accomplish this through highly interactive skill-building exercises, students connect their voice and experiences, and problem-solve as a group.
We help young people build resilience by learning skills for conflict resolution, communication, healthy relationships, self-expression, stress management and personal growth.
- Students learn because they feel emotionally supported at Boomerang
- They engage because we make the content personally relevant to them
Our Impact
- 90% of students reduce the problem behaviors for which they were referred (Alternative to Suspension).
- 90% of students demonstrate improvement in targeted social and academic skills.
- 95% of students report increased understanding of essential life skills (e.g. substance use prevention, healthy dating and relationships, conflict resolution and communication, self-expression).
- 100% of adjudicated students do not have new reported offenses while at Boomerang.
We measure resilience and the success of our young people through data on grade promotion, retention or graduation. On average, 68% of Boomerang youth graduate from high school or are promoted to the next grade on time. This is significantly lower than 4-year graduation rates for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (91%) and Orange County Schools (88%), which tells us there is much more work to do.
Your donation will support:
- Educational workshops on substance use, conflict management, sexual health, healthy relationships, and communication.
- Community service projects, such as Boomerang’s Youth Garden.
- Continued program development and expansion.
- Building bridges to community partners, in particular between youth and law enforcement.
