GSLI Spring - Summer Newsletter

Gulf South Leadership Institute Spring - Summer 2012

News and Updates

THIS ISSUE Assisting The Next Generation - E.D.

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Partnering with Professionals

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Developing Partnerships

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Smart Investment

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Office and Location Update

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Paying Forward: Assisting The Next Generation Wimbai Mutonono - Executive Director Teenagers, especially high school students are currently facing challenges and hardships that they are ill-equipped to deal with. The escalating high school dropout rates and other statistics specific to the high school population reveal the immensity of the problem. Through LEGACY Youth Development Institute, Gulf South Leadership Institute in partnership with local professionals educates, equips and empowers high school students through career and workforce readiness mentoring.

LEGACY Institute partners with the community to deliver a workforce mentoring program that helps give young men and women the confidence, resources, tools and skills they need to achieve their potential. By offering this youth career initiative, Gulf South Leadership Institute is reinforcing what the education system is offering as well as adding to the pool of resources available to high school students within the community.

LEGACY Youth Development Institute Core Values: The Core values that guide LEGACY Youth Development Institute are:  Helping young people grasp basic academic skills that facilitate graduation from high school.

 Assisting youth develop transferable job skills to prepare them for the workforce

 Equipping high school students with interpersonal skills, knowledge, and understanding of careers.

Building Communities, One Leader At A Time.

Partnering with professionals to offer career readiness tools and life skills development:

Otto Rojas (GSLI Board Chairman) and Slidell’s Mayor Freddy Drennan with LEGACY participants.

LEGACY Youth Development Institute is a strategy for helping young people succeed in school, work and life. The program is designed to a community model approach to youth career development. Gulf South Leadership Institute partners with the community to deliver a workforce mentoring program that equips young men and women with confidence, resources, tools and skills they need to achieve their potential.

High school dropout rates continue to escalate across the nation. The goal of LEGACY Youth Development Institute is to contribute to the process of lowering the dropout rates in our immediate community by engaging high school students in quality mentoring relationships with adults in various professional careers.

Research and statistics reveal the value of youth career development as a strategy to combat the dropout problem. The impact of the dropout problem affects local communities, states, and ultimately the nation at large. The LEGACY model for

Career mentoring and development takes into consideration some of the proven and successful methods communicated by the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, and these methods are applied with relevance in mind. LEGACY endeavors to mentor young people to become highly responsible citizens with a high degree of self-reliance, resourcefulness, positive character/ and the desire and skill to contribute to the economy.

The program offers caring mentors from the community, composed of men and women who trust and believe in the potential that is present in every young person, and who are willing to invest time and resources to tap into that potential.

Youth Career Development Social Issue Report documents that students who drop out of high school account for an estimated loss in potential earnings of $65.8 billion for the United States, and the solution of the problem is collaborated efforts and projects. The Education system alone cannot tackle the problem. It is a problem that calls for community-based, schoolbased, online-based, and faith-based approaches to career development and exploration.

By offering this youth career development initiative, Gulf South Leadership Institute is not taking away from other programs already in place, but reinforcing and adding to the pool of resources for high school students within the community.

Kyra Turner and Kara Turner engaged during a session of the LEGACY program.

LEGACY Institute has a three-component approach for youth career mentoring and development: fostering applied skills, exposing to a wide variety of careers , and offering youth development services.

Building Communities, One Leader At A Time

LEGACY Youth Development Institute Program Approach:

LIFE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

CAREER EXPOSURE

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES Life Skills Development equips the participants with skills that improve eligibility for employment or pursuit of post secondary education.

Career Exposure is delivered though programs that provide information, skills, and credentials required to enter and advance in a field of choice.

Youth Development Initiatives include any and all services that we can make available to aid the youth in overcoming individual challenges to success.

Board of Directors 2012

Otto Rojas

LEGACY Institute Program Partnerships PROFESSIONALS , PARENTS, AND EDUCATORS The success of LEGACY Institute is highly dependent on quality program delivery partnerships. One such partnership is the partnership established between Gulf South Leadership Institute and Slidell Memorial Hospital (SMH) Parenting Center. This partnership facilitates the use of conference rooms and facilities for workshops and seminars. The success of this mission to educate, equip, and empower teenagers to get them ready for the workforce is a huge undertaking, and as such it requires the collaboration of resources.

The process of developing teenagers through career and workforce readiness mentoring is a limited reality without the support of professionals, parents and educators. One of the basic ways to help young people today is by caring for them and LEGACY Institute is surrounded by men and women who care for the future of high school students in our community.

Board Chairman

Otto Rojas is a native of Honduras and has lived in the New Orleans area since 1979. He has a Paralegal degree from Tulane University, 20 years business experience in the commercial collection industry and currently works for Bios Technologies in sales. Otto also served honorably in the US Marine Corps and is a veteran of Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He is a great proponent of leadership in the ministry circles.

He has been a Ministry Leadership student of Gulf South Leadership Institute and a lay leader within the

For greater success, the network cannot be too big and LEGACY continues to stretch an open invitation to more parents, professionals and educators. “Alone We do so little; together we can do so much.�

- Helen Keller

Gulf South Leadership Institute values each networking relationship that helps make the process easy yet accomplishing the goals set forth.

As a result of the partnership with SMH Parenting Center, Gulf South Leadership Institute is able to offer seminars and workshops at any of the Slidell Memorial Hospital System conference rooms.

Building Communities, One Leader At A Time

Carlton Greene Board Vice-Chair

A business professional with a passion for combining business experience and education to make a significant contribution in the field of education. Over 10 years of diverse experience in higher education, and the non-profit sector with emphasis

Board of Directors 2012 (Continued) Carlton Greene Board Vice-Chair

in regulatory compliance, program administration, grantwriting and fundraising, budget management, forming partnerships and collaborations, attrition analysis and improvement, program implementation, and adult learning. Carlton has held director level positions at “grassroot” community based organizations as well as held key leadership positions in higher education. Carlton has mentored countless youth throughout his career who have predominately lived in underserved communities. Carlton possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree from Auburn University, an MBA from Troy State University and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Management. Carlton has a passion for working with youth and one of his objectives is to ensure that all youth are equipped with the necessary resources to succeed in their academic pursuits and in life. ______________________________________________________

A decorated Veteran of Desert Storm and Desert shield serving active duty with the First Calvary out of Fort Hood Texas. After being discharged in 1991 he started a school with his back ground in AM/FM communications he Jason Kahl was certified in 1994 as a Novell Board Treasurer Engineer and Network Analyst, Jason started with integrating hardware and software into K-12 then moved to private sector. He has worked with information technology in Healthcare within the last 7.5 years as a Senior Project Manager and Senior Field Engineer with a pharmacy and supply automation company. He was side lined by a spinal cord injury in 2009, but remains active in the community, he has served on the board of his church, elected Vice President of the church's men’s club and councils other veterans. Jason Kahl. Jason is supported by his wife Dawn Kahl who is also very active in the GSLI filling in for Jason when his physical limits are exceeded.

Dawn Kahl Treasurer Assistant

Mrs. Dawn Kahl serves as the assistant to Gulf South Leadership Institute’s treasurer, her husband Jason Kahl. Her experience is in accounting and administration, gained from past employment positions. Dawn Kahl is the proud mother of three girls who keep her busy in addition to her role with Gulf South Leadership Institute.

Bishop Eugene Wellington Sr. was born in Bukavu, Zaire and at a young age his family moved to Sierra Leone where he completed his high school education. After graduating from high school he moved to Poland on an academic scholarship and earned a Master’s degree in Agricultural Marketing. Bishop Wellington moved to Washington DC in 1987 Bishop Wellington to work with the May Department Corp, Board Member then later moved to Louisiana where he received his calling to ministry. As an ordained minister with the United Pentecostal Church, he founded The El-Bethel Apostolic Ministry (T.E.A.M). He also serves as chaplain and is a board member for a few of the community organizations in the area including Gulf South Leadership Institute.

Hans Ngodock is a research scientist with the Naval Research Laboratory at the John Stennis space center in southern Mississippi.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree of Science in applied mathematics from the University of Yaoundé (Republic of Cameroon) and a Hansen Massoma Master’s degree in applied mathematics Board Member and computer science from Université Joseph Fourier in France. He has worked as a research associate at Oregon state university and the University of Southern Mississippi.

He previously served as volunteer campus ministry leader with “Les Groupes Biblibques Universitaires” in France, as youth pastor with a Spanish church in Corvallis, OR.

GULF SOUTH LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

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1290 Seventh Street. Suite 5 Slidell, LA 70458 985.641.8427 Office

gsli@gulfsouthleadership.org

www.gulfsouthleadership.org www.gulfsouthleadership.org/blog P.O. Box 3352 Slidell, LA 70459

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