In addition to the workshops listed above for Males of Color and those who work with Males of Color, we offer a series of workshops geared to adolescent males of color in Middle School and High School.

CULTURAL AWARENESS IN COLLEGE LIFE (2 hrs.)
Participants will explore/examine their understanding of culture and its role in their lives. Through their own understanding of cultural similarities and differences, participants learn that culture is not static but a dynamic force that can be old and new, inherited, created and shared with people from different backgrounds. The aim of this workshop is to help the participants to bring their best self to college and the workforce by being open and exploring differences.

POSITIVE ASPECTS OF LATINO, BLACK AND ASIAN CULTURES (2 hrs.)
This team-building workshop will elicit from the group the positive aspects of Black, Latino and Asian Cultures, e.g., respect, family connections, group solidarity, music, survival skills, and religion/spirituality. The participants will discuss how they can use the positive aspects of their culture to support each other and enhance their growth and development in preparation for college and beyond.

INTERNALIZED RACIAL INFERIORITY: COLORISM (2 hrs.)
Participants will examine some of the painful destructive legacies of slavery, racial discrimination, and immigrant bias in communities of color. Participants will explore the ways in which young people of color accept negative stereotypes about their cultural/racial group and limit their educational and leadership aspirations. Participants will explore colorism within communities of color, e.g. light/white skinned privilege and the pejoratives associated with dark skin in communities of color.

SELF-ESTEEM (2 hrs.)
Participants explore levels of self-confidence and contributing factors to self-esteem. How do family life, peer experience and treatment of young males of color affect self-esteem and educational and professional success? They will learn strategies and tactics for increasing self-confidence. Communication and presentation stylenare addressed.

EDUCATIONAL PEER PRESSURE: POSITIVE & NEGATIVE INFLUENCES (2 hrs.)
Participants examine the detriments of negative direct and indirect peer pressure as they strive to negotiate their own identities in a race based society. Participants will explore the phenomena of “dumbing down” oneself and forgoing intellectual pursuits in order to fit in.

STRESS MANAGEMENT (2 hrs.)
Participants will examine the myriad of stressors that often affect urban males of color. Participants will be encouraged to explore and share their own coping strategies both positive and negative. Participants will examine the effectiveness of these strategies and be introduced to additional and/or alternative coping strategies.

UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING TEST TAKING ANXIETY (2 hrs.)
Information about Test taking strategies, Test Taking Anxiety, and other academic performance anxiety, will be presented. In preparation for the November SAT and future standardized tests, students will learn techniques to boost confidence and diminish test-taking anxiety.

ELEMENTS OF MANHOOD (2 hrs.)
In this workshop participants will examine the socially constructed, ubiquitous messages they receive about maleness and manhood from the moment they are born and throughout the course of their lives. Participants will critically examine their own intergenerational notions of maleness and manhood and how these notions impact college and professional relationships. This workshop will enhance the participant’s interpersonal skills and prepare them for healthy competitive business interactions.

DEVELOPING HEALTHY REALTIONSHIPS (2 hrs.)
Objectives: Participants will examine the characteristics of healthy relationships with male and female colleagues. Participants will consider how to maintain balance between academic studies, intimate relationships, social relationships, recreation and self-reflection time.

HEALTH AND NUTRITION (2 hrs.)
Participants will learn the importance of health and nutrition in promoting overall health and wellness. Participants examine the research associated with both positive and negative outcomes for urban youth of color around health and wellness.

BEYOND BOUNDARIES (Session I) (2 hrs.)
(PART 1) In this two-session workshop participants will explore how their history and culture shape their view of education and the work world. Participants will examine how these experiences, in turn, influence thought, behavior and the current norms framed within the context of contemporary urban youth culture. Participants will examine their own views on education, visions for their future and career goals.

BEYOND BOUNDARIES (Session II) (2 hrs.)
(PART 2) Participants will gain a basic understanding of urban culture in communities of color, its origins in this society and how to address challenges and pitfalls posed by differences in college and the workplace by developing an inclusive network and broadening their personal and business prospective from neighborhood to global.

IMPORTANCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: YOUTH OF COLOR ON THE RISE (2 hrs.)
Participants will explore ways to deal with being “the first,” or one of the few to attend college in their families. Group explores family and community supports and questions about college attendance. What responsibility do I feel toward family? How do I help the family with financial needs and care taking? (Themes, concepts, and insights will be drawn from the work of Pedro Noguero, Paulo Friere, and Center for Nu Leadership, et al.)

SET CAREER GOALS: KEEP POSSIBILITIES OPEN & RESEARCH VARIOUS PATHS – PART 1 (2 hrs.)
Participants will consider their career goals in light of their experiences in the Program and the expectations of their families. They will be challenged by the workshop leader to consider their passion, their unique strengths, and their responsibility to others, as well as their material needs in considering goals. Participants will be given an assignment where they work with a small group to prepare a verbal report on the career goal setting process for each member of their group.

PART 2 (2 hrs.)
Discussion and exercises that demonstrate a process for participants to “find their passion” and identify their strengths.

LANGUAGE: OPPRESSION OR POSSIBILITIES (2 hrs.)
Participants will learn the importance of and power inherent in the use of language in our society. Participants will learn how common functional definitions of terms may not be consistent with their personal and family values. Participants will be introduced to the dialectic of definitions (Unity of Opposites: thesis, antithesis and synthesis) to understand the functional definitions that shape their understanding of and behavior in the world in which they live. They will explore how they can use positive cultural values imbedded in their language to bolster self-confidence and achievement of goals.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION – PART I (2 hrs.)
In this workshop participants will learn the importance of developing sound communication skills for leadership development and career advancement. They will learn about the most important variables to effective communication, i.e., body language, eye contact, voice inflection. They will learn what the dominant culture’s notions of effective communication are and how these notions differ and/or relate to the nuanced culturally influenced ways they communicate at home. They will explore terms like “talking white” and the mixed messages youth of color receive. They will also learn the definition of Active Listening and how it can improve overall communication. Follow up to: Beyond Boundaries (Sessions I and II), participants will discuss ways to reconcile the mixed messages they often receive from the dominant culture and their families about appropriate modes of communication. They will develop an understanding of code switching and what its value is to multilingual young men of color. They will learn that communicating effectively is a skill that can be improved and honed.

PART II (2 hrs.)
Participants will bring in examples of situations at school, part-time job, or with other adult authority figures where their communication did not gain the desired outcome. The group will give feedback and practice more effective ways of communicating.

POSITIVE ASPECTS OF MEN OF COLOR (2 hrs.)
Objectives: This team-building workshop will elicit from the group the positive aspects of various cultures such as respect, family connections, group solidarity, music, survival skills, and religion/spirituality. The participants will discuss how they can use these positive aspects of their culture to support each other and enhance their growth and development in preparation for college and beyond.

STREET SMARTS (3 hrs.)
Participants are presented with dangers and pitfalls teenagers and young adults routinely face in their daily lives and the consequences they might face as adults because of uninformed decisions. The workshop is designed to illustrate the importance of evaluating potential decisions from a law enforcement prospective. This workshop will help participants to be mindful of issues having the potential to change the trajectory of current paths to success.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION (2 hrs.)
Participants will explore ways to negotiate conflicts on multiple levels: with peers in inner city environments, in schools with teachers/professors, with employers, with intimate partners and with parents and guardians.

GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY (2 hrs.)
Participants will do team building exercise to consider ways they might give back to their communities during their studies and as professionals.

Programs can be customized to meet the needs of girls, teens and women of color. For additional information on customized training, workshops, or supervision on providing culturally sensitive services to males of color, contact via email [email protected]