The Problem
Research from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion states, "Between ages five and eight, children enter into a broader peer context and develop enduring friendships. Social comparison is heightened at this time, and taking other people's perspective begins to play a role in how children relate to people, including peers." However, due to the lack of socialization that online learning presents, many younger children are deprived of the opportunity to develop these core skills that are vital for their future. In addition to this lack of social interaction, children have many other difficulties with online school, including easily losing interest when the teacher is talking, not being able to stay on task and complete assignments, not being able to do many hands on experiments or projects, and not feeling as if they are heard or able to communicate as well with their peers and even teacher.
Mission Statement
Habitat Youth Leaders strives to fill this 21st century education gap by providing accessible, practical, and free core-skill education opportunities to youth all across America. Since our inception in 2020, we have been particularly focused on educating children on soft skills such as problem-solving, leadership, critical thinking, and life skills such as email writing, basic financial literacy, and public speaking. It’s important to cultivate these skills in children from a very young age so that they stick with them lifelong, and foster their curiosity in a wide range of skills. As the COVID pandemic hit, we recognized that students were being deprived of social interaction through distance learning; our goal was to initially recreate an outlet of social interaction for students and also mentor them in vital soft skills for their life. As the COVID pandemic gradually eases, our organization is still focused on providing soft skill education globally, and ensuring educational equality for all. By providing valuable real-world education, we not only prepare children for future growth but also foster a valuable out-of-school social community which has become particularly important for many children during the pandemic.
Our Plan
Habitat Youth Leaders has aimed to address these challenges by organizing a series of free seminars, skill workshops, courses, holiday events and other exciting events for elementary school students to meet their needs of social interaction and work on building important soft skills. We host one hour seminars- typically on weekends with organizations like libraries or YMCAs- incorporating a plethora of engaging activities, projects, and games focused on target skills. Within our seminars, we provide elementary schoolers individual attention to work on their specific needs through small group based projects/learning, as well as group based activities to foster social interaction. They not only learn valuable skills, but also have a fun time interacting with their peers. We also provide tutoring in subjects such as math, English, and science. Our curriculum has been thoroughly planned and to incorporate effective methods of learning such as visualization, cooperative learning, inquiry based learning, and hands on activities. Furthermore, we also host competitions in which possibly win prizes. students can uniquely compete based on their soft-skill abilities and Ultimately, we hope to make an impact on the young community and provide a venue for social interaction with their peers.
Seminars
Through a plethora of engaging activities, projects, and games included in our weekly sessions, we plan to work with elementary schoolers and help them through the difficulties online school, while also having a fun time interacting with their peers. Our curriculum has been hand picked to provide the most effective and engaging methods through using visualization, cooperative learning, and hands on projects, researched and recommended by multiple teachers.
Funding
Habitat Youth Leaders works to provide funding to low income schools through sponsors, campaigned events, and fundraisers. This funding ensures that low income students have a better access to education.