WILDERNESS LEADERSHIP & LEARNING INC
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Mission Statement
WILL's mission is to provide diverse growth experiences and challenging learning opportunities to inspire and assist youth to make good decisions, become effective leaders, and achieve their goals.
About This Cause
WILL is a transformative holistic 12-month experiential learning, youth leadership and life skills development program for District of Columbia youth from underserved under-resourced neighborhoods. One of our goals is to launch WILL youth into a future that they could not imagine before they participated in the program, and to compliment traditional classroom education with high-quality, diverse experiential learning opportunities to develop inherent strengths, decision-making and leadership and life skills for students to learn and to be effective and successful as they move forward with their lives. A Few Recent Significant WILL Outcomes and Accomplishments • 100% of WILL graduates have graduated from high school or are on track to do so. • For 14 years in a row, WILL’s retention rate has been between 62% and 79%, far exceeding the 50% considered excellent for youth development programs (we have never been below 50%). • The third-party analysis of the Pre-and Post-WILL surveys completed by 2019-2021 WILL youth showed that they had increases in knowledge and understanding of WILL’s pillars and knowledge areas and fundaments taught in WILL, including, nutrition, SMART goals and the ability to set them, environmental awareness, financial literacy, leadership, accountability, and self-empowerment. WILL Youth also demonstrated improved perceptions about themselves following completion of the WILL program. • 86% of the youth who graduated from WILL August 14, 2021 reported that they learned something beneficial from the WILL programs in which they participated that they will use in their lives, and 100% said that they benefited a great deal from being in WILL. • WILL is ecstatic to be featured in the 2021-2022 print Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the best community-based nonprofits in the Greater Washington region and has been in the Catalogue since 2012. The words of a few WILL 2019-2021 youth provide the most compelling testament about WILL's impact and what the WILL experience means to them: “The word to describe my WILL experience is opportunity. WILL gave me and gives everyone the opportunity to be a better person and a better leader; WILL teaches life skills that you can use and will help you in life. Every student should experience the WILL Program.” – Tania “In WILL, I learned about the environment and how and why it is important to preserve it. Based on my WILL experience, I care more about the environment, I don’t leave my trash on the ground and I ask other people to pick up their trash.” – Prince “WILL teaches us about financial literacy so that we know the difference between needs and wants and the importance of living life with financial dignity.” – Timberly “My WILL experience was eye-opening. I did and learned things I never would’ve done or learned if it wasn’t for WILL.” – Gabriel Based on information compiled by DC Acton for Children published in the Annie E. Casey Foundation 2021 KIDS COUNT Data Book, in 2019, among other statistical information provided, 19% of DC youth lived in poverty, 8% of DC teens were not in school and were not working, and, for the 2018-2019 School Year, 31% of DC teens did not graduate from high school on time. This is the highest rate of any “state” and is more than twice the 14% national average rate for that year. These youth contend with the direct daily impact of poverty and violence in their communities, which has only been exacerbated by the pandemic, and are the youth WILL recruits as its participants. It is well documented that quality after-school programs like WILL improve social, developmental, and school outcomes (attendance, behavior, and grades), and contribute to healthy lifestyle options and decisions. WILL’s greatest strength is the four pillars that support and provide structure for the WILL curriculum/experience: • Leadership & Self-Empowerment: WILL encourages and provides the platform for individual leadership, self-esteem, and confidence growth to help WILL youth push beyond perceived limitations to increase their understanding and appreciation that each has the power and the ability to determine his/her life trajectory, to self-advocate, and to make decisions that lead to self-determination and self-sufficiency. • Critical Life Skills Development: WILL develops critical life skills, which are under-emphasized or not taught in school, such as financial literacy, accountability for behavior, communication skills, the importance of saying “please” and “thank you,” and how to make healthy wellness/nutrition decisions, set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals, and create action plans to achieve them. • Environmental Awareness & Stewardship: WILL helps teens become aware of the world around them and to be better stewards of the environment. • Cultural Awareness & Appreciation: WILL youth learn to be receptive to, to appreciate, and to respect diversity and differences in others (e.g., race, gender, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation, and beliefs), to be inclusive and to support equity. Intertwined with the pillars is the belief that empathy and compassion - caring about the world in which we live and caring for one’s fellow persons - are essential qualities to be an effective leader. During the WILL Year, youth are engaged in more than 335 hours of quality experiential activities that are designed to develop their inherent strengths and decision-making and leadership skills. Among others, WILL programs include: a ropes course, environmental literacy and learning about biodiversity on the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), learning about biases, diversity, equity, and inclusion, nutrition and holistic wellness, and learning skills to make healthy eating and hydration choices, music/cultural appreciation focused on Latin American and Ukrainian cultures and music, a day at Mount Vernon, 3-day trip during spring break to the Karen Noonan Center, a CBF environmental education facility on the Bay, a college admissions forum, service learning projects giving back to the community, financial literacy, CPR/1st Aid, resume writing and interview skills, a scavenger hunt on the National Mall (over half of the questions are in the National Gallery of Art), canoeing on the Anacostia River, 7-day backpacking and canoeing Expedition in the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina, and WILL graduation. Integrated with these activities, WILL youth learn to set personal SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals and action plans to achieve those goals, monitor progress towards attaining their goals, and participate in small group discussions to provide constructive feedback on each other’s goals and action plans. Service learning is an integral part of the WILL experience, so that WILL youth learn and appreciate the importance of giving back to one’s community. We discuss with WILL youth that leaders give to others and to their communities. Each year, at least one of WILL’s service projects is environmental. We regularly communicate with WILL graduates and gather with WILL alumni twice each year at the alumni holiday lunch and summer alumni picnic. WILL alumni volunteer with program activities, attend fundraisers, provide program feedback, and mentor current WILL youth. Pandemic Response During the pandemic, from March 2020 through June 2021, to continue to provide WILL positive youth development programming and continue to provide social and emotional support for WILL youth, we pivoted our approach. We did Zoom meetings with WILL youth every two to three weeks on Saturdays for 2 to 3 hours that align with WILL’s pillars. The topics covered (some with multiple sessions) were: Systemic Racism, Equity v. Equality, Financial Literacy, SMART Goals, Resume Writing, Interview Skills, 1st Aid, Biases, DEI, and Social Justice, Nutrition and Holistic Wellness, a College Admissions Forum, and Leave No Trace Ethics. At the beginning of each session, after check-ins, shout-outs, and celebrating recent birthdays, and before delving into the main subject for the meeting (noted above), we had discussions on topics that included: WILL’s Standing Together Statement, John Lewis, Hispanic Heritage Month (Delores Huerta), Ruth Bader Ginsburg, What are you thankful for, Indigenous American Heritage Month (several indigenous proverbs), the insurrection at The Capitol, Amanda Gorman’s poem The Hill We Climb, Black History Month (Mary McLeod Bethune, Barbara Jordan, Duke Ellington Shirley Chisholm, and Mae Jemison), and the efficacy of the COVID vaccine and why it is important to get vaccinated. Some of the words WILL youth used to describe the Zoom meetings and the information discussed, include: beneficial, compelling, constructive, cool, educational, empowering, encouraging, engaging, enlightening, equity, fascinating, fun, helpful, hopeful, informational, important, interesting, inspiring, motivating, peaceful, powerful, rejuvenating, stimulating, togetherness, unity, uplifting, and useful. We re-started in-person WILL programming in July 2021.