Page 11 - Leadership Miami Project

4WRDMIA team members understand obstacles may come up at any point during the project implementation. A primary obstacle may be not being able to achieve appropriate fundraising to complete all three tiers of the project. The tiers were set in place to combat this, so that in the event funds are not sufficient to complete the final tier, the team will have completed the two most important additions to ABF Learning Center.
Another obstacle that may arise is not having the time and man-power to implement all of the changes at ABF Learning Center. To address this head on, organized work days will be planned that work for members of the team and accept that not all team members will be able to make every work session at ABF Learning Center.
Rocio has confirmed the team will be able to work on all areas of the project at almost any time during both weekdays and weekends because they are currently not being used by the students.
Funding, timing, and delivery will be the biggest obstacles, but the team will work together to combat any bumps encountered along the way to ensure the delivery of project goals.
WHY THIS PROJECT
When exploring possible project focusses, 4WRDMIA team members identified Youth Development & Education as the most favored area of focus, followed by Homelessness. The group also favored the idea of incorporating mindfulness into the project. ABF Learning Center beautifully ties these three focus areas together because of the population the school serves and the director’s desire to implement a holistic, mindfulness-based curriculum.
The sustainability of this project lies in the research-backed, life-long impact the establishing of mindfulness practices has on young children experiencing challenges associated with poverty, homelessness, and transitional or unstable housing.
Children who grow up in a low socio-economic situation are at greater risk of experiencing adverse childhood experiences such as abuse or neglect, which can affect learning, health, and emotional development. The Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study establishes that childhood trauma leads to chronic diseases, mental illness, violence, and financial and social problems in adulthood. The study consists of a series of 10 questions. For each scenario a person experiences before the age of 18, a point is accumulated. Most people have at least one ACEs point. The more ACEs points, the more likely a person is to experience adversity in adulthood. This is because trauma literally changes a child’s brain, and therefore that trauma carries on into adulthood and can be passed to future generations.
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