iChoose: A mentored empowerment program to inspire healthy decisions
Since 2008 Search and Care has created and brought this program to NYC teens at Central Park East HS in East Harlem, initially as a way of giving back to the community. We have since mentored over 500 young lives with the goal of equipping them with skills to grow into confident young women and men, making healthy decisions today as well as tomorrow.
Through conversations with mentors who speak to their own lives and experiences, teens are engaging with a variety of inspirational and experienced adults of all ages: a recruiter coaches “how to show up for an interview;” a young East Harlem man who has won Columbia University’s Agent of Change awards multiple years due to his transition from incarcerated artist to supporting others on a similar path of self-destruction; an elected official, live from Albany, introducing a bill that truly covers equal rights for all; our program facilitator leads conversations about gender identification, safe sex strategies, and healthy relationships. Each meeting concludes with 5-10 minutes of mindfulness.

