Twenty-five percent of American kids live in poverty, 1.5 million youth run away each year; child abuse and teen violence are at epidemic proportions. YIELD International Outreach Programs advocates for children, youth and their families by caring for them directly and individually through its diverse program initiatives and by advocating with public official on behalf of children and youth who are at risk of being forgotten or abandoned by society. YIELD’s Advocacy 101 program component seeks to involve all aspects of our society to protect and advance the legal and human rights of children, and to promote their healthy development through active partnerships with the community. The program is designed to educate and empowers youth, their families and the community on self-advocacy, and about federal, state, local and global initiatives that will achieve improvements and provide funding to ensure that every child has a fair chance in life to reach their full potential. The program challenges its participants and maintains their involvement through its relevancy to their lives.

All partcipants are encouraged to raise their level of expectancy of what they want out of life and the level of the contribution to their related communities.

Our tutorial program matches youth with adults and peer tutors who provide the necessary one-on-one assistance to produce improved math and reading skills. Students can also prepare and practice taking the SAT, ACT and other testing manually and via the computer. When students are able to do well in school, interest is increased. They are better able to compete for college scholarships, as well as, in the job market; thereby, increasing their ability and opportunities for higher wages, which will inevitably result in more buying-power. YIELD’s intent is to ascertain that inner city youth have a good foundation upon which to build.

A. Ongoing mentoring and leadership development Initiatives .

B. Workshops

• Diversity
• College Preparation
• High School Partnerships
• Choosing a College
• College and Career Planning, Development and Enhancement
• Securing Scholarships
• Financial Aid
• Mentors
• Embracing Power Through Education – College Tours
• Athletics in Education
• Scholars Academy

C. Job Preparation / Career Planning

• TABE (Testing of Adult Basic)
• CASAS (Employability)
• Vocational
• Entrepreneurial Development Initiatives
• Etiquette and Appropriate Behavior for All Occasions

Student Engagement through Access Opportunities(SEAO)

YIELD is committed to providing access to cultures of humanity and uplifting the arts to students. We want to help students procure an appreciation and harness their creativity for contributions in various art forms (media, medium). Communities are often divided by lack of understanding of different groups of people. YIELD International Outreach Programs seeks to promote and foster the arts by creating and nurturing a global perceptive that results in an environment where cultural difference is celebrated and respected.

Exposing school-aged children to the arts early in life is critical for their psychosocial growth. Research shows that when children study the arts critical thinking and self discipline skills improve along with the child's early cognitive development, basic math, reading abilities and self-esteem.Improved SAT and other test scores, ability to work in teams, various reasoning skills, and school attendance are some of the additional rewards. The results YIELD has experienced confirms the importance of the arts and as a part of each child's complete education.

Mission and educational oriented travel is an essential component of the YIELD Program. Travel provides a window that allows youth to discover the true treasure of the human race and in return helps to restructure the manner in which they think about themselves, their family, others, their community and how they all fit in the global equation. Our intent is to provide life-changing experiences through travel exposure. This exposure allows individuals to be taught various concepts about life, situations and other ethnicities from another reality. It's actually what one sees and experiences that governs his/her limitations and expectations for their life. Transformation of the mind can only take place when new information is integrated.

Global experiences provide an avenue for young people to gain a perspective on how they fit into the scope of the global community. The gap between the rich and poor is greater from a global perspective, but greater also is their sense of pride and sense of community. It has been noted that when a woman in Africa dies from disease or the affects of war, another woman of the village will come along, pick up that child and raise it along with her own. This action illustrates in the truest sense "Community Spirit" (come-unity).

Travel allows YIELD participants to look outward and also inward, thereby providing a vehicle of analysis. As Les McCann's (jazz artist) song conveys, "We try to make it real compared to what"? Trips build upon on-going outreach, and provide a window through which inner city youth can see and experience life to its fullest. They further equip young people in the affairs of the world from a first hand perspective. Our intent is also to sensitize youth to the needs of others, as they reflect upon their own. Exposure experiences are interactive and provide many opportunities for participating youth to pour out of themselves, (giving) to others.

YIELD seeks to bridge the digital divide among disadvantaged youth, recognizing that access to technological information holds the key to the empowerment, wealth creation, reduction of unemployment and self-sustaining communities. The organization provides marginalized people with the technology tools, training and resources to enable them to realize their greatest potential.

UrbanGut™ Sports Program Initiative is the component of YIELD International Outreach Programs utilizes sports to teach valuable life lessons in non-traditional settings, delivers a package of fitness and social benefits; develops sportsmanship; discipline, focus and concentration; promotes increased levels of self-esteem and sense of accomplishment.

Although tennis is not the exclusive sport utilized by YIELD’s Urban Gut Sports Program, the organization has deliberately chosen tennis as an initial tool to further educate young people. Other sport components will be integrated at different intervals.

Researchers have pointed to a number of psychological and physical explanations including increased self-esteem, self-sufficiency, improved quality of life, distraction from daily hassles, changes in brain neurotransmitters, increased oxygen consumption, and better blood flow in the brain.

These psychological benefits will enrich not only young people’s experiences on the court, but overall functioning and competitiveness off the court as well. Tennis offers something for everyone-regardless of age, gender, cultural or socioeconomic background, physical ability and skill level. Tennis delivers a package of fitness and social benefits unequaled in the field of sports. There are health benefits for individuals of all ages and skill levels. It's fun and inexpensive, delivers a great aerobic workout, teaches teamwork and helps to develop discipline. Studies demonstrate that sports such as tennis are associated with improved academic performance and memory, and reduced confusion. Tennis also provides mental edge to think a little clearer and better manage the chaos of daily life.

Sports and exercise on a regular basis may also provide widespread emotional benefits. Many psychologists and physicians prescribe exercise as an adjunct, or main treatment, for a variety of emotional difficulties.

This is imperative at a time when health problems such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other related illness have reached epidemic portions among youth and adults in America.

By getting out and playing 2-3 times a week you can complement other fitness programs such as walking or swimming. Three hours of moderate tennis will burn 1,397 calories, and even more for competitive tennis.

Other outcomes of Urban Guts Sports Programs are greater emotional stability, improved confidence and assertiveness, more positive body image, fewer phobias, decreased in undesired behavior, Positive associations are reported between sport and overall functioning, self-control, work efficiency, decreased absenteeism, fewer work errors, and decreased alcohol abuse, improved sportsmanship, discipline, effective competition, increased level of self-esteem and provides a sense of accomplishment.

Tennis offers a great diversion from life’s stresses as well as a great opportunity to socialize, particularly if you join a local tennis league, club or frequent public courts. Tennis is invigorating, and, once you get the hang of it, tremendously satisfying. It also makes a great family activity.

Other sports activities utilized by Urban Gut include soccer, volleyball, basketball and soccer.

Volunteerism is a requirement of YIELD International Outreach Programs and provides opportunities for participants to become caretakers for the community in which they live. As trustees, YIELD participants can choose their area of interest and talent as a means of giving back.

The YIELD PROGRAM has a profound desire to expose and equip youth with knowledge and tools, to create and execute in the American and global landscape of commerce. In order to be a viable and contributing factor in this new millennium, success will be measured in the terms of how citizen generate their financial well being through virtual and physical commerce gathering capabilities. The time is rapidly approaching a paradigm demanding a new small business model.

With big business offering less benefits and government demanding leaner entitlement programs, today’s youth, the business owners of the future, will be forced to create jobs for themselves and their respective communities or be trapped in relegated lifestyles.

With the realities of the new economy, YIELD has adopted a policy and corporate cultural of entrepreneurial initiatives derived from several of the programs components. The digital divide and the arts are the initial coupling with entreprenuership.