YAP teaches community responsibility

YAP students board up a vacant building on Harper near Van Dyke. YAP Coordinator Renard Richmond says the students learn community responsibility in a real life setting.

Alkebu-Lan Village is host to the Youth Assistance Program (YAP) where teenagers learn conflict resolution, anger management and life skills. Some of the teens are adjudicated first offenders. They are taught appropriate behavior for teenagers.

Another important element of the program is the principles learned by the participants. A key principle is: To do always as much as we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

The program has 30 participants—10 to 15 children with staggered schedules—for a 6th month period.

Photo Courtesy of Renard Richmond