Programs
Healthy Lifestyles
Helping Young People Make Good Decisions
These programs develop young people’s capacity to engage in positive behaviors to nurture their well-being, set personal goals, and grow into self-sufficient adults.
Healthy Habits Held in Shelton, Ansonia
Healthy Habits, for members ages 6-15, is designed to incorporate healthy living and learning throughout the Club experience, emphasizing good nutrition, exercise, and all-around well-being. healthy Habits addresses the ways a child’s healthy behavior are influenced by personal beliefs and exposure to positive role modeling. In addition to nutrition education, activities focus on helping youth assess, practice, oidentify, consider, and recognize healthy behaviors and messages.
Passport to Manhood Held in Ansonia, Shelton
Passport to Manhood represents a targeted effort to engage boys ages 8-12 and 13-17 in disussions and activities that reinforce character, leadership, and positive behavior. Each participant receives a “passport” to underscore the notion that he is on a personal journey of maturation and growth.
The passage from boyhood to manhood is challenging, requiring adolescent males to understand and manage many issues and transitions. Passport to Manhood addresses critical issues tht young men face during this time, such as ethics, decision-making, wellness, ideas about fatherhood, employment and careers, cooperation and conflict, diversity, relationships, and self-esteem.
SMART Girls Held in Shelton, Ansonia
SMART Girls is a small-group. program for girls ages 8-18 that helps members build skills for eating right, staying physically fit, getting good health care, and developing positive relationships. Through dynamic sessions, participatory activities, field trips, and mentoring opportunities with adult women, Club girls explore their own and societal attitudes and values as they build their skills.
Triple Play Held in Shelton, Ansonia
Triple Play is a comprehensive health and wellness program that strives to improve the overall health of Club members by increasing daily physical activity, teaching them about good nutrition, and helping them develop healthy relationships. The program includes three components:
Healthy Habits
Addresses the ways an individual’s health behaviors are influenced by personal beliefs and exposure to positive modeling. In addition to nutrition education, activities focus on helping youth assess, practice, identify, consider, and recognize health behaviors and messages.
Daily Challenges
Intentional focus on physical literacy: Ability, increasing capability in basic movement skills and overall fitness; Confidence, the knowledge of the ability to play a sport or enjoy other physical activities; and Motivation, the intrinsic enthusiasm for physical activity for members to be physically active for life.
Social Recreation
Emphasis on social and emotional development, or the social, cognitive, and behavioral skills that youth need to be healthy and productive. There is an explicit focus on emotional regulation, healthy relationships (with self and others), and responsible decision making.
Gardening Club Held in Ansonia
Gardening provides our members with exercise and sensory stimulation, and increases cognitive and intellectual skills through planning, planting, maintaining, and harvesting. In the end, the members literally eat the fruits of their labors, preparing food they’ve grown and bringing it home to share with their families.
In addition to the garden beds outside the Clubhouse, Tower Gardens located inside the building extend the growing season to a year-round activity. Members can grow fresh, nutrient-rich foods through the cold months—without soil!
Dance Club Held in Ansonia
Confidence Club (LivGirl) Held in Shelton
Confidence Club provides girls with a positive adult role model and creates a safe space for girls to develop self-esteem and social-emotional intelligence. This small group meets weekly with a professional mentor to share concerns and interests. The curriculum-based program builds social emotional intelligence and self-esteem, the building blocks of a confident leader.