Next Level Trainings’ VIP 6 - Philadelphia class raises $61,653 in 31 days for Youth Action, Inc.
We, the 22 members of Next Level Trainings’ VIP 6 - Philadelphia leadership class, came together from multiple states to support the youth in Philadelphia. We spearheaded a massive community service project benefiting Youth Action, Inc. through monetary contributions from 972 donors, an improvement project for the facility, and collected over 200 tangible goods valued at approximately $600 including gift cards from Wal-Mart, Target, and Giant, backpacks, school supplies, notebooks, binders, pens, pencils, and markers. We are honored to issue a check to this non-profit in the amount of $61,653 and delivering the tangible goods on September 12, 2018.
This community service project manifested many surprises. We experienced extreme gratitude and a greater appreciation of family. We made stronger connections and realized our many blessings and talents. We reached a greater appreciation for our personal freedom and for the work of non-profit organizations like Youth Action. We learned about how they impact the community from a grass-roots perspective and how they value giving back to their own over and over again. We saw firsthand this organization’s cornerstone mission: youth become leaders to mentor other teens and have the opportunity to become volunteer leaders within their new family.
Extreme emotions ran rampant among us during our fundraising campaign as we recognized the power within ourselves and each other. The main takeaway is that people do love to give if given the opportunity. We gave to the community through tenacity and teamwork.
This project brought about new and rejuvenated interest in community service within our team as well as opening up our vulnerability within the team that created a stronger bond among us. We built bridges through trust, responsibility, possibility, tenacity, risk, urgency and integrity. The friendships that we created through this training are invaluable and will last a lifetime. We are honored to mark the beginning of our collective efforts to bring peace, love, and empowerment to the world through and for Youth Action.
Youth Action empowers middle and high school students in Philadelphia to become change-makers by educating them on societal issues, teaching them ways to generate creative solutions, and connecting them with opportunities and resources in their communities to act on issues of their concern. Focused on building socially responsible young leaders in Philadelphia, Youth Action provides leadership training, mentorship, and funding to help young people organize student-led community service initiatives. We envision a generation of civic-minded leaders who organize impactful community service programs throughout their professional lives, while inspiring the next generation of students to follow in their footsteps.
Next Level Trainings provides experiential leadership programs that support people in unlocking their passion, power, and purpose. Our emotional intelligence trainings, developed using positive psychology and behavioral science, are proven to make substantial and lasting impacts on graduates’ personal and professional lives while also improving our local communities.