Youth Impact Program for ‘At Risk’ Young Boys Opens in New Orleans and Los Angeles

    ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 15 /EMWNews/ -- Riki Ellison a

10-year veteran of the NFL and an alumnus of the University of Southern

California announced today that this year's Youth Impact Program (YIP),

supported by the National Youth Football, Fund has opened last week in two

major U.S. cites. The program has expanded to include two major NCAA

Universities as well as the New Orleans Saints football team. Tulane

University and the University of Southern California are hosts to the Youth

Impact Program this year that began earlier this week on both campuses.



    Ellison explained that more than 300 inner-city at-risk youth boys from

ages 9-12 from local urban communities surrounding the universities have

been selected to participate in the daily, four week program.



    The Youth Impact Program has brought local elementary teachers from

these communities to participate as mentors and teachers, coupled with

active students from the universities during this time frame to extend it

to a year round program. The boys are brought to the campuses, placed in

academic time blocks focusing on language skills, mathematics, as well as

life skills. The life skills curriculum focuses on conflict resolution,

anger management, health and leadership.



    The boys are served full nutritionally balanced meals daily and placed

in groups of under 20, where the teacher/mentor ratio is 1 to 5. These same

mentors and teachers are with the same group throughout the program. This

allows a positive relationship to develop with a mentor figure that will

follow the young boys throughout their development.



    The Youth Impact Program continues to bring the boys, mentors/teachers

together throughout the year to nurture and strengthen their relationship.

One of the top attractions of this program is the allure of football. The

NFL Youth Football Fund is providing all of the necessary equipment needed

for the football aspect of the program. The young men play every day on the

university campus coached by their same teachers and mentors. Some of the

mentors are student athletes on NCAA athletic scholarships and others are

from the same communities that the program participants are from.



    The Youth Impact Program does not cost the families of the

participants; The Youth Impact Program funds the program in its entirety.

Support for the Youth Impact Program is provided by the NFL Youth Football

Fund. The NFL Youth Football Fund was established in 1998 by the NFL and

the NFL Players Association. It seeks to use football as a catalyst to

promote positive youth development, support youth and high school football

needs nationwide, and also ensure the health of grassroots football in

future generations.



    Congresswoman Diane Watson who represents the City of Los Angeles

stated "I am proud of USC, the NFL, the NFL Players Association and Riki

Ellison for their outreach into our community. I plan to share this model

with other inner city communities that have a university and local school

systems to partner with the Youth Impact Program by telling my colleagues

in Congress about the program."



    Rita Benson LeBlanc the owner of the New Orleans Saints said "This is a

fantastic program that will give our youth additional opportunities to

develop skills to help them to be successful not only in athletics, but in

life, the Saints are excited and proud to do our part."



    To read more about the program please visit http://www.youthimpactprogram.org



    Riki Ellison is available for interviews on the Youth Impact Program,

what the NFL is doing to support the program, and how USC and Tulane

support the program. Call Mike Terrill at 602 885-1955 to arrange.