The MEN Programs The Six Core Programs address a range of needs across all age groups and stages of life as a male. The strategy is to provide a continuum of interventions and services from the earliest developmental years (through the Fatherhood Program) into K-12 (In-School Mentorship, Activities and Support Groups) and on into adulthood (Support Groups, Fatherhood, and the Workplace Development). The programs are: |
The In-School Mentorship Program has been our core program since 2004 and serves boys, typically of elementary school age, who are identified by school social workers as likely to benefit from a positive male role model. Volunteers receive background checks and training, and are matched with a mentee with whom they spend an hour a week providing friendship, tutoring, guidance, and above all, listening. The Support Groups Program began in 2004 with the At-Risk Teen Group, which to this day serves as a primary laboratory for refining the MEN group model. Middle School and High School Groups are slated for the 2009-2010 school year, to be followed by an Adult Support Group. The Activities Program will be fully implemented by summer of 2010, featuring a much-needed summer program to support mentees during the gap between school years. Year-round field trips already serve to open doors to a wider world. Activities include sports, wilderness trips, ropes courses, and educational outings to Santa Fe and Albuquerque destinations. The Fatherhood Program began in 2009 to help young fathers in claim the fatherhood role and then go on to actually perform it. The twelve-week class covers hands-on parenting skills from diapers on up, and addresses key issues such as partnership and co-parenting difficulties, stress management, custody, child support, and educational or vocational planning. The Workforce Development Program will begin in 2010 with Nonviolent Workplace seminars offering jobsite training in stress management, conflict resolution and nonviolent communication for both men and women. Kit Carson Electrical Co-operative has agreed to pilot the program. The Media Campaign has been a strikingly innovative tool for mobilizing the male community and establishing nonviolence as the gold standard for the community. Quarter-page ads in The Taos News weekly feature men taking a high-profile stand for nonviolence under the banner “We’re Men and We’re Nonviolent – Join Us!” Where We’re Going: MEN’s Three Year Plan calls for thorough road-testing and refinement of The MEN Model and The MEN Programs by 2011. At that time we will build or occupy a facility – The MEN Center – which will serve as a focal point for the male community and a home for the National Training Center.
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