New Day Ministries

Love Overcomes Violence and its Effects

4-E Approach

What We Do

New Day Ministries emphasizes people and programs that promote safer, healthier thriving communities. New Day provides low-income, disadvantaged, and at-risk youth and young adults access to caring, committed men and women who have grown up in or survived similar challenging backgrounds to become successful, resilient adults and programs that equip and empower these same young people to go on to create their own successful lives. Our 4-E Approach is a multi-faceted and focused effort at preventing youth violence, intervening and improving youth growth and development, and reclaiming young people who otherwise might end up trapped in the juvenile justice system.




ENGAGE

Team

We reach hundreds of Louisville youth and young adults in the Louisville Metro where they are today: in their hurt, in their homes, in their neighborhoods, and in their communities. We deploy  “Breaking the Cycle” tours and L.O.V.E. Walks with knowledgeable, relatable, and caring adults who spend time with the youth speaking from experience and the heart to encourage them to pursue a better way as they walk the neighborhoods where these young people live.

L.O.V.E Walks

  • Neighborhood Walk – Abouts & Youth Invitationals held every 30 – 45 days
  • Focus on Neighborhoods in Louisville with high concentrations of poverty, youth, violence, gang activity, unemployment, and low academic performance
  • Uses these opportunities to speak with residents, listen to their issues, assess community needs, identify potential community revitalization projects, and meet the young people affected by these issues

‘Breaking The Cycle’ Tours

  • Interactive Community Engagement Events held one week after each L.O.V.E Walk
  • Motivational speakers and positive adult mentors who have lived through similar struggles or situations share their success stories
  • They offer youth and young adults key strategies for avoiding violence, escaping or changing gang culture, improving academic performance and graduation rates, and establish dialogue & listen to kids

  ‘Your Pain is Our Pain’ Empowerment Program

  • A follow-up to the L.O.V.E Walks and ‘Breaking The Cycle’ Tours which pairs youth with positive adult mentors to help counsel and coach them as they navigate the many challenges faced by Louisville’s youth today
  • Mentors are trained to work with at-risk youth and are given available resources that can be shared with mentees to address more intensive issues or situations beyond mentors capabilities (domestic violence matters, mental health issues, legal issues, etc.)
  • Mentoring relationships are designed to be ongoing (with at least two face-to-face meetings monthly and unlimited communication or mediations in between as needed) and to especially help young people navigate their lives through completion of high school and their early adulthood years through age 25

 

EDUCATE

Team

We educate young people on crucial life and job skills including academic study skills, effective communication, character development, conflict-resolution strategies, resume-writing, job readiness preparation, and more skills listed below. We teach these skills with the aim of helping them increase their options and opportunities while improving their outcomes.

L.I.F.E. Skills Training (Classroom Instruction & Experiential Learning Ops)

  • Goal-Setting
  • Tutoring and Homework Help
  • Time and Resource Management Training
  • Leadership and Character Development
  • Communicating Effectively and Creatively
  • Problem-Solving and Conflict Resolution Strategies
  • Financial Literacy Principles and Practices
  • Safety & Self-Defense Training

JOB READY Training

  • Resume Writing and Development Classes
  • Master the Interview Training
  • Career Path Planning and Progression Coaching
  • Computer Literacy and Mastery Classes

 

ENRICH

Enrich

We aim to enrich neighborhoods and communities across Louisville by partnering with youth and young adults from some of the most blighted areas to participate in community service, revitalization, and community beautification projects such as mowing the lawn of an elderly citizen’s home and picking up trash and drug paraphernalia around a local park so mothers and kids can come and play safely. We also work with local churches and city councils to identify deteriorated properties for repurposing the building into a youth enrichment and training center and we work with youth leaders to do all the work to repair, renovate, and ready the center for community use.

  • Community Revitalization & Redemption Service Projects
  • Honor Thy Neighbor and Honor Thy Vets Events (Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway, Annual Neighborhood Block Party, etc)

 

EMPOWER

Empower
We empower young people to overcome the challenges in their lives and create better, brighter tomorrows while transforming themselves and their communities into safe places where they can live, love, laugh, learn, and thrive. New Day Ministries connects young people with caring mentors and invites them to participate in cultural and creative experiential learning and living opportunities that show them firsthand the impact they can have now and in the future on their families, neighborhoods, communities, and city through the decisions they make and the actions they take now.

The ‘YOU-DO’ Project (Youth Led Community Centered Development Projects)

  • Working in partnership with other nonprofits, local/city/and state leaders, as well as local youth, identify one or more blighted properties in each targeted neighborhood that strategically, if revitalized and repurposed, could provide young people access to a safe space in which to pursue growth opportunities
  • Example of ideas: turn a former crack house and partially burned home into a youth computer coding and tech careers training center or converting an abandoned school into a residential business incubator and academic accelerator for teens and young adults ages 16- 24.
  • Each project is coordinated, conducted, and co-led by young people from that neighborhood from start to finish so as to encourage a sense of ownership and boost confidence in young people that they can make a difference in their communities, cities, and lives

Summer Leadership Speakers Series & Year-Round Youth Camps