YES!Atlanta stands for "Youth Experiencing Success" We seek to enhance the lives of "at-risk" teenagers through voluntary programs based on long-term regular interaction with committed, caring adults. Our goals are to:

• Increase academic skills and performance
• Raise graduation rates
• Reduce self-defeating behaviors
• Increase self-esteem
• Build better relationships with family, peers, and authority figures

These outcomes are achieved by continually reinforcing these core beliefs and life-altering imperatives in the youth:

POSSIBILITY
My future can be different from what I see all around me

RESPONSIBILITY
It's up to me to turn my possibilities into reality

COMMITMENT
Changing my future requires commitment to my personal goals

SUPPORT
Ask for support when I need it, accept support when it's offered, and support others when I can.

FORGIVENESS
Letting go of the past frees me to look ahead to a brighter future

An early Rising Star reported:

Before YES!Atlanta, because my mom and teachers said I was going down, they said I had a bad attitude, I couldn't seem to get along with anyone. YES!Atlanta took a lot of time with me, my Coach was very supportive. I was able to see why I was so angry, and was taught ways to deal with my anger in a responsible way. I was selected as Rising Star of The Year in 1999. I am a senior in college now, and it was YES!Atlanta that put me back on track and supported me becoming a better student.

First delivered in 1990. Enrollment is voluntary. Teens set reasonable goals for self- improvement, which form the core of a personalized progress plan.

Rising Star's key element is a highly structured Intensive Course combining guided group discussions with challenging physical activities intended to foster self-esteem and cooperation with others. We impress upon the teens how much today's choices will impact their future lives. We prepare them for the year-long mentoring relationship to follow.

Thereafter, during weekly mentoring/tutoring sessions and monthly group meetings, the real work of the program is done. Youth are supported in achieving their chosen goals. While doing so, they practice dealing with mistakes and broken commitments, and learn the value of trusting in the support of others, especially adults.

This program is expensive to produce and, because of funding issues during the recession, has been in suspense. We hope to resume it soon.

Coaching for Success

This program is an ongoing partnership with Fulton County Juvenile Court. The program was created in the mid 1990's and has been functioning ever since.

While incorporating most of the philosophical elements of Rising Star (including setting personal goals), Coaching for Success does not include an Intensive so is substantially less expensive to produce.

In Coaching for Success, teens who are having trouble succeeding in school (often recommended to us by their counselors) are paired with a trained adult mentor who is the "wall" around the youth's personal commitments for self improvement. We also work with delinquent youth sent to us by the Juvenile Court as an alternative to adjudication for minor, principally drug-related offenses.

All teens receive individualized tutoring in a variety of subjects to better enable them to stay in school and achieve a high school diploma or a G.E.D. certificate. In addition, they receive, through cooperating agencies, life skills counseling to help them reduce or eliminate self-defeating behaviors.

More from past Rising Stars

Angela wrote recently: The program taught us so many different things about life in general. We need programs like Yes Atlanta to help steer our youth in the right direction to also show them that it really doesn't matter where you come from or what statistics say about you; you still can be successful. I'm overwhelmingly greatful for Yes!Atlanta you guys really changed my life.

Sherika wrote recently: I am a graduate of the first YES!ATLANTA PROGRAM. Originally we were called RISING STARS OF ATLANTA. The program taught me a lot of things as teenager girl growing up in a low income neighborhood. YES! ATLANTA took time out to show us how to love ourselves and live our dreams. The program also taught us how to love each other no matter where you from. We were given mentors. I consider my mentor another mother.

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