Life Pieces To Masterpieces

Lptm's summer program, connecting communities across the globe, engages ninety boys and young men ages 3-13 (elementary and middle school-aged youth participants), and ten young men ages 14-18 (high-school-aged "junior mentors"), daily in a six-week program from july through early august, 8:00am-4:00pm. The program focuses on the study of a new foreign country each summer and incorporates three core strategies: 1) in-depth math and literacy tutoring designed to prevent summer learning loss; 2) promoting creative self-expression through the study of various art forms; and 3) developing global citizenship by discovering and exploring the cultural similarities and differences between our community in dc and foreign nations. Connecting communities across the globe builds on lptm's school-year focus of learning and growth in a safe, loving, and supportive environment; capitalizes upon the unique international opportunities available in washington, dc; and reminds our youth that they are global citizens.

Saturday academy (sa) provides between ten and fifteen high school students, ages 14-18, with academic support, college and career readiness training, black male development, leadership knowledge and skills, financial literacy, opportunities for creative self-expression, and public speaking practice to prepare them for post-secondary success. They also train for and prepare to serve as "junior mentors," supporting their younger peers in lptm's afterschool and summer classrooms. Over nine months, students meet three saturdays per month from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm for 90 minutes of academic tutoring with college and professional mentors, followed by afternoon workshops critical to personal and professional success. Over the past decade, 100% of sa participants have graduated from high school and entered college or other post-secondary training.

Color me community workshops advance our strategy for dismantling structural racism and other barriers to equity. Informed by lptm's nearly 30 years of experience in human development and co-led by lptm graduates, the highly interactive workshops provide a safe, non-judgmental environment for people of all backgrounds and identities to explore the implications of race, gender, sexual orientation, cultural background and identity, and how we see ourselves, each other, and the world. At the end of the workshop, participants collaborate to create artwork in the life pieces art style, communicating an action they will take to inspire positive change and a vision of shared humanity in their own lives and the world. Color me community has developed from a program into a life pieces enterprise whose clients include the u.s. State department, national and local nonprofit organizations, and local government agencies. Lptm's color me community workshops have reached over 1,000 professionals including artists, educators, politicians, and community leaders from over 55 countries. Art by life pieces - "creating art . . . Changing lives" - life pieces to masterpieces takes its name from the unique style of art that our apprentices collectively create. Youth collaborate to decide on a life experience to make the topic of their painting and then make their masterpiece together by painting, cutting, arranging, and sewing pieces of canvas. Each colorful, sewn, acrylic-on-sewn-canvas collage illustrates a shared story and reflects our young artists' courage to create their own destiny - to turn their "life pieces" into "masterpieces". Lptm apprentices have created over 2,000 artistic masterpieces, and their artwork has been displayed in such venues as children's national medical center, the world bank, nbc's today show, chicago museum of science and industry, the dc mayor's office, and private foundations throughout the district of columbia. Art by life pieces creates a source of earned revenue by making many of these masterpieces available for purchase, rental, and display. Parent/family engagement - lptm supports parent/family engagement via quarterly events including program orientations, "family nights," "family art days, and youth performance/presentations during which parents and families are actively engaged and honored. During the 2022-23 school year, nearly 100% of lptm families attended at least one of these events, speaking to parents' positive feelings about lptm family engagement opportunities. All lptm parents have the phone number of no less than four lptm staff members. Parents/families receive routine updates about their child(ren)'s progress throughout the year, in addition to monthly program updates newsletters, event invitation flyers, and daily logistical updates on an as-needed basis. Outreach and public engagement - the participants and alumni of lptm engage in events including public speaking opportunities, musical and spoken word performances, and art exhibitions that spread lptm's mission and change narrative ("lptm changes how black and brown boys and young men see themselves; changes how the world sees our black and brown boys and young men; and lptm young men change the world's understanding of shared humanity"). Through their storytelling, arts, and advocacy, lptm's boys and young men are thought leaders as share their visions for a more just and equitable world and change the world's understanding of shared humanity. Four lptm youth moderated and/or spoke on panels at the "youth at the center" conference hosted by mentor md/dc and fair schance; one alumnus spoke at the national mentoring summit; another alumnus was on a local pbs station speaking about the importance of mental health support in black communties. Lptm youth and alumni were featured in a short film sharing their stories, as well as in local news media.