YOUTH & FAMILY EMPOWERMENT

Through participation in numerous community advocacy groups, the Backside Learning Center amplifies the interests and concerns of equine families and youth. The BLC draws attention to the need for inclusive multilingual environments while celebrating a strengths-based perspective around culture and language.

We prioritize bringing educational content in the form of workshops and programs based on the interests of parents. “El Grupo De Mamás”, or “The Mom’s Group”, is a parent support group focusing on the importance of literacy in early childhood education. The group also partners with other organizations leading discussions on lactation, car seats, and much more.

These initiatives focus on strengthening community, leadership development, and creating space for parents to learn from & support one another.  

Creciendo Juntos, or “Growing Up Together”, is a group focused on empowering the teen children of the workers of the backside community to become healthy, effective leaders and agents of change within their community.

There are three phases to the program. For the first phase, we host 10 therapy sessions in which students had the chance to talk about their mental health and learn from one another. The second phase is “Emotional support and learning about community organizing”. This includes taking field trips and listening to speakers involved in For the last phase, we encourage our students to go out in the community and make changes on their own to positively impact their communities!

PROGRAMS:

• Parent Support Group
• Creciendo Juntos Youth Group
• Say & Play with Words – in partnership with National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) and LENA (Language Environment Analysis)
  
• Bilingual informational workshops  
• Self-advocacy support & guidance