We Are: We help people see their individual unique selves and acknowledge what are the parts of themselves that they allow the world to see. The work that Ever Forward - Siempre Adelante does with the Ever Forward Club, the Taking Off The Mask workshop and the #100kMasks Challenge is directly related to the areas that the collaborative has highlighted. How does your mask exercise and workshop address these three areas?Ī: The Ever Forward Club was started to provide a safe space for young men to build connections in a brotherhood and to grow into men of character by helping them to develop healthy social-emotional tools. Q: The Expanded Learning 360°/365 collaborative is focused on promoting social emotional learning and character building and has defined this using three areas: We Are (self-awareness, self-management), We Belong (social awareness, interpersonal skills), We Can (self-efficacy, growth mindset). Please follow us, help connect us with people who we can partner with and who may be interested in funding this work. We can also be reached on all social networks. Folks can visit to let us know how many youth they work with and we can provide them with the tools to take them through the #100kMasks Challenge.
Q: How can people get involved? For those who work with youth, how can they involve their youth?Ī: We set a big goal and we really need the community's support in reaching our 100,000 mask goal. That's where the conversation about what is living in what we call "the back of the mask" comes into our workshops and circles. What we've found is that when people, young men specifically, don't have a space to take off their masks and deal with what’s really happening for them, the mask becomes a part of them. Sometimes a mask is necessary to survive, get from one place to the next. We all wear masks for different reasons, at Ever Forward we don't believe the mask is an inherently bad thing. Q: What is the significance of the "Mask"?Ī: A mask is a metaphor representing what we allow the world to see about ourselves. So far, we've found that, no matter the age or gender when people see each other's masks, it resonates and there's a community formed from that connection. So using some of our design thinking principles learned at the Stanford D.school, we prototyped, tested and launched the mask card and set a goal of 100,000 masks. We wondered how we could make this work more impactful especially for those communities who could not afford to hire us. Following the premiere of the documentary, The Mask You Live In, we began traveling all over the country with our signature 'Taking off the Mask' workshop.
EVER FORWARD CLUB OAKLAND PROFESSIONAL
We have 3 programs, Ever Forward Club, Ever Forward Professional Development, and Ever Forward Experiences.Įver Forward is featured in a documentary called, The Mask You Live In (view the trailer below), which is an exploration of American Masculinity and how the hyper-masculine narrative of what it means to be a man, is failing our boys.Ī: Ever Forward was featured in the documentary about American masculinity detailing the toxic ways we define and teach masculinity to our youth. The Ever Forward Club is a mentoring and youth development program for young men in grades 6-12. Q: Can you say a little bit about the Ever Forward Club?Ī: Ever Forward aims to address the underlying causes of dropouts, the growing achievement gap of inner-city youth and youth violence in a preventive manner. Below is an interview with Darius Simpson, Program Officer at the Ever Forward Club, about this challenge which can involve both adults and youth. The Ever Forward Club has launched a #100Kmasks challenge. They were also featured in a documentary entitled The Mask You Live In.Īshanti Branch, Founder and Executive Director of the Ever Forward Club, was a featured presenter and workshop leader at the recent How Kids Learn VII conference in Oakland, CA. Their efforts include work in schools and trainings of educators and youth workers. The Ever Forward Club (Oakland) works with boys and young men to promote greater self awareness and awareness of others - both critical components to social emotional learning and character building.
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