BAM and WOW Kansas City

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Youth Guidance is delighted to announce the launch of BAM^® and WOW^® in Kansas City, MO in January 2021.

BAM and WOW are highly engaging school-based counseling and mentoring programs that promote social-emotional and psychological well-being, strong school engagement, and increased academic attainment for students in grades 7-12.

We’re partnering with Hickman Mills C-1 School District to provide programming at Smith-Hale Middle School and Ruskin High School. BAM and WOW’s work in Kansas City are supported by GreenLight Fund Kansas City, Mayor Quinton Lucas and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

Becoming A Man® and Working On Womanhood

BAM and WOW’s work in Kansas City is made possible through a wonderful partnership with Hickman Mills C-1 School District and with philanthropic support from GreenLight Fund Kansas City.

We envision a bright, healthy future for every student and look forward to supporting students as they recognize and realize their potential.

Our long-term strategy for Kansas City is to sustain services in Hickman Mills C-1 School District while also expanding to serve other schools and students in metropolitan Kansas City.

Program Overview

BAM and WOW are led by counselors working full-time in schools to guide students as they learn, practice, and internalize social-emotional skills that correlate to positive long-term life outcomes.
Students meet one time each week in a BAM or WOW Circles, small groups of 10-15 peers, that facilitate positive relationships and guide students through an exploration of each program’s core values (see below).
For More information about BAM & WOW and their impacts, please visit Becoming A Man and Working On Womanhood.

Hear from BAM and WOW Alumni About the Programs

Launching BAM & WOW in Kansas City

Joining forces with Hickman Mills and the City of Kansas to serve young women and girls of color is as exciting opportunity as it is important —vital to the well-being and success of our youth.

It is with great joy and enthusiasm that we launch our WOW program in Kansas City to address the impact of trauma, depression and other stressors that can hold back a young person from reaching her full potential and finding life success.

WOW is a dynamic program that helps young women heal and realize in their power, that they are enough.

Gail Day

Director, WOW

Too many of our boys and young men of color are facing obstacles that no one should have to face. At Youth Guidance we believe that every young person needs and deserves a guide, and that’s a big part of why the Becoming A Man (BAM) was created.

Our program is rooted in a set of core values that include Integrity, Accountability, Self-Determination and Visionary Goal-Setting as something we all need to succeed in life — and there is something about seeing your peers, sitting in a safe space speaking their truth and learning that you are not alone and that your potential is limitless — that it is truly transformative. Investing in youth in this way is incredibly important and Hickman Mills and Greenlight Fund agree. So together it is with great pleasure that I share we have joined forces to help young black and brown men heal and reach their full potential.

A.J. Watson

National Director, BAM