LifeBound participants help paint and refurbish the new Paso Teen Center. Thanks to the generousity of community volunteer/donor Debra Compton and Sherwin Williams of Paso Robles - the teen center will be ready for viewing at the community open house set to take place on Wednesday, September 22nd, from 6:00-8:00pm.

LifeBound youth helped install pavers to aid clinic staff in disposing of hazardous waste. The super volunteers also installed plants, mulch, and had lunch from Subway. While at Subway Sandwiches LifeBound was lucky enough to run into Grover Beach resident and sports hero, Horace Grant.

LifeBound has finalized a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Paso Robles School District that will allow LifeBound to have a new teen center and office space. LifeBound will oversee an after school leadership, community service, and mentoring program for adolescents (12-18) from Paso Robles beginning in the Fall of the 2010 school year.

The “sparks” of asset development were on display at the Revolving Closet Thrift Store in Nipomo. Observe this Nipomo High School Sophomore using his construction and carpentry skills to build sturdy clothing racks/hangers for the faith-based thrift store that provides clothing to needy families of South County. ”In its purest form, asset development can be seen as the leveraging of latent creative potentials and energies that when unleashed from dormancy within a person “ignite powerful chain reactions.”-James L. Statler

Youth volunteers and community members united at the Healing Us Garden Sanctuary (HUGS) on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 to begin the building of a community garden distinguished by its raised planter beds, sustainable business model, potential for youth leadership development, intergenerational learning, and therapeutic benefit. This initial phase of development was fueled by project materials donated largely by the community. The primary goal of the workday was to “construct” the first raised planter bed and inaugurate the beginning of the HUGS community garden.

Aided by HUGS visionaries Sally and Bryan Dean, volunteers Joe and April Sutton-Coats, and Osvaldo Olmos from the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo (ECOSLO) - the service day proved fruitful for LifeBound participants as they built the first raised bed and cleared dead brush in preparation for future raised bed and nursery development. LifeBound welcomed the return of Fred Zamudio and his son Chad. Fred was instrumental in the completion of the LifeBound kiosk in the Cesar Chavez Garden which was dedicated in April of 2009. HUGS is located at 1016 Mesa Road in Nipomo, California and is in the nascent stages of becoming a retreat and therapeutic care center for those living or recently diagnosed with cancer.

Click to watch and hear a performance of “How to Save a Life” by LifeBound staff and participants.

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During the week of May 24 to May 28^th LifeBound’s entire staff embarked on a Postponing Sexual Involvement and HIV/AIDS prevention intervention at Mesa Middle School. LifeBound reached over 200 youth with lessons on Sexuality & Healthy Relationships, Reproductive Anatomy, HIV/AIDs, and Decision Making.

Now in its 3^rd year running, the Pathways Youth Leadership Program commencement event was held at the Butterfly Grille at Monarch Dunes, located on the Nipomo Mesa in the Trilogy Development. The event drew over 60 guests and was extremely well attended by youth participants; their parents & family members, collaborative partners, adult mentors, and members from the Kiwanis club of Greater Nipomo.

12 youth attended and were recognized as graduates of Pathways – having participated in 14 leadership and employability skills classes, numerous service activities and community events, and mentorship training. For the second year in a row, CAPSLO’s very own CYFS Program Manager Joseph Castro acted as a Spanish translator and Co-MC. LifeBound’s Youth Leadership Program distinguishes itself as the only culturally competent youth leadership program for Latino youth in San Luis Obispo County, thanks in large part to a collaborative partnership with the Vision Unida Community Building Institute (CBI). The CBI supplies valuable guest speaker/mentors, and was responsible for helping LifeBound initiate the program in 2008. Graduates received incentives for their participation including Best Buy Gift Cards, I-Pod Nanos, and an I-Pod touch screen awarded to the youth who performed most impressively during the programs mock job interview session.  

Pathways to Adulthood seeks to enhance the resilience of high-risk youth so they can grow up to be productive adults. LifeBound derives much of its theoretical foundation from the risk and protective factor model, which, in recent years has shaped the thinking of researchers and practitioners in the field of youth development. The effectiveness of LifeBound’s community-based Pathways to Adulthood program, while yet to be fully evaluated by an outside entity, is evidenced by the high level of buy-in among youth participants, interest and investment from community members, and satisfaction from parents.

In accordance with social development theory which hypothesizes that “the existence of strong social bonds to others who exhibit prosocial behaviors is essential to healthy childhood development,” all LifeBound programs aim to achieve increased psychosocial skills and core competencies among youth participants. Social development theory suggests that youth who have opportunities for positive involvement in conventional activities develop social competence skills, receive reinforcements and rewards for their participation, and become attached and committed to a social unit, for example, family, school, peers (Mentoring Across Generations: Partnerships for Positive Youth Development). Program outcomes and measures for Pathways program point toward major changes/increases among youth participants in their social attitudes, behaviors, skills, and knowledge.