Mission & Vision
ENT (Empower, Nurture and Transform) Youth Services is a non-profit organization providing services for opportunity youth who are disconnected from society. ENT is dedicated to reconnecting these youth by focusing on Health & Wellness and Mental/Behavioral Health, through structured mentorship. We believe that every teen deserves these fundamental tools to help them thrive. With the nurturing provided by ENT Youth Services, our disconnected youth and troubled teens in our communities can become productive citizens. In June 2020, amidst the global pandemic, ENT Youth Services conducted a successful pilot of its modular based Health & Wellness program. The participants were involved in ENT Youth Services “Virtual Nurturing”.
The objectives of ENT Youth Services are to provide solutions to many of the challenges facing our teens, including but not limited to: conflicts with law enforcement, behavioral health problems such as ADHD, absence of parent(s), truancy, youth of incarcerated parents, LGBTQ youth, gang members, victims of abuse/sex trafficking, exposure to illegal activities, drug use (especially marijuana and opioids). ENT Youth Services takes a hands-on, community based and family inclusive approach to deliver its services. ENT Youth Services has a diverse team of leadership and professionals with vast experience in health care, law enforcement and policy; all working together and dedicated to Empowering, Nurturing and Transforming our disconnected youth.
ENT Youth Services seeks to partner with mental/behavioral health organizations in the Washington D.C. area, as well as with other like-minded organizations - to provide comprehensive care for our community’s opportunity youth ages 13-19. We believe that our youths potential will shine through, given the right empowerment and nurturing.
ENT’s goal is to foster a commitment to young people that will promote pro-social friendships, strong interpersonal skills, and reassert a sense of hope in the future. Only through personal relationships can a sense of individual responsibility be reestablished that will give youth the commitment to follow through on a path to adulthood with a sense of pride and accomplishment.
ENT Youth Services is a program that is in direct response to the growing number of young people that are either falling through the cracks at school or are already entangled within the juvenile court system. The goal of the program is to identify youths who are going to have a turbulent transition to adulthood and offer a positive support system to avoid the pitfalls that can derail their lives. The focus is slightly different at each level but the goal remains the same; empower the adolescent to make positive changes in his/her life.
ENT Youth Services is being established to provide rehabilitation for less fortunate teens in the DMV area to be successful at life. This program will create the necessary partnerships with the local school district and juvenile court. The program would consist of the following key components.
● Life skills - To lead a successful life, it is paramount for an individual to be self dependent and sufficient. Consequently, ENT Youth Services has incorporated into its program modules that would equip its charges with necessary life skills such as cooking, and maintaining good hygiene.
● GED - This program will equip teens with the necessary educational qualification that will enable them to join the workforce as competent individuals.
● Communications & Language - Effective communications skills, learning a foreign language
● Programming - Due to the recent and fast paced advancement in technology, it is paramount that everyone become computer savvy. With this in mind, ENT Youth Services aims to expose and educate its charges in the field of computer programming. Mentorship - This component of the program would focus on pairing participants with law enforcement agents who would help encourage, direct and provide mentorship.
Keys to Success
● Set up a strong network of support and partnerships with the school and juvenile court systems.
● Host a series of fundraising events that would successfully fund the initial start up and the expansion of the program.
● Establish an effective training program for mentors, teachers and guardians of program participants.
● Set up an effective monitoring system that would help protect both the youths and their guardians.
● Successful job placement of youth after completion of the program.