This idea was first sparked when two teams of students with diverse backgrounds, economically and culturally, worked together on a playground project. One group of students was from Fairfield Prep High School and the other from Community Youth House, a program for adjudicated youth. As expected, both groups of students stayed together in their separate teams for about the first hour. But, as the course of the day went on, the students began to intermingle. They worked together to perform the tasks that needed to be completed and, in the process, they had fun getting to know one another. From this project and interaction grew the idea for GWB's program, Working Buddies.
Though Working Buddies, Groundwork seeks to:
- Stop young people from engaging in risky behaviors by offering them alternative opportunities and creating opportunities for the transfer of positive aspirations from one person to the other
- Help young people learn and enhance new skills that will be useful to them in life
- Teach leadership skills to young people
- Teach problem solving and critical thinking skills
- Encourage the formation of positive relationships with people of all ages and with diverse backgrounds - truly building community.
All buddies will benefit from the relationships that they build with one another. There is the potential for the transfer of positive aspirations from one person to the other, and both groups will gain a better understanding of the other.
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Barnum Avenue, Suite 304, Bridgeport, Connecticut 06608
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