How We Work
Our Values
People
A community's most valuable asset is its people. By including and honoring leadership and contributions from diverse stakeholders, we keep our work authentically grounded.
Equity
We proactively work to build equity by creating systems to break down structural barriers to opportunity, making change happen and improving outcomes.
Community
We believe in the community’s ability to develop itself from the inside out and that we all must play a part in creating the environment we want to live in.
Education
We believe in the power of education through experience. The freedom to be dreamers, creatives and thinkers is essential in building strong people and communities.
Inclusiveness
No one in our community should be left behind. We all have something of value to contribute to achieve our common goal.
Cultural Respect
A person’s cultural and social identities provide purpose, power and pride and add value to the spaces they are brave enough to enter.
Framework
Our youth-focused initiatives follow the Positive Youth Development Framework, which emphasizes people as agents of change. Additionally, our organization is prevention certified through OhioMHAS.
Assets
Participants have the necessary resources, skills and competencies to achieve desired outcomes.
Agency
Participants perceive and have the ability to employ their assets and aspirations to make or influence their own decisions about their lives and set their own goals, as well as to act upon those decisions in order to achieve desired outcomes.
Contribution
Participants are engaged as a source of change for their own and for their communities’ positive development.
Supportive Environment
Participants are surrounded by an environment that develops, supports and strengthens their ability to avoid risks and stay safe, secure and protected; living without fear of violence or retribution.