| Name | Johnny |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Martin |
| Home Address | 1767 Sterling Oaks Lane Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421 United States |
| Organization Name | 4ward |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | As Program director my responsibilities are to oversee this program through effective research, planning, developing, and implementation of this yoga and mental health awareness program. This program will advocate for at risk youth and juveniles and their families within the community. I will do this by developing a program that will consist of creating activities and events that will help at risk youth and their guardians become better individuals mentally, emotionally, and physically, which in return will produce better and productive citizens in society. As an instructor I have developed the knowledge, skills, and furthered my education in Yoga, mental health awareness, and Children and Family studies in order to efficiently and effectively provide activities that will serve the youth and families that need support. As a mentor I will work hard to improve the well-being of at-risk youth and juveniles by providing a role model that can support the participants mentally, socially, academically, and personally. |
| Organization Address | 6215 Lee Hwy Suite 107 K Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421 United States |
| Website | https://cfaylounge.com |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423-596-0040 |
| Alternate Phone Number | |
| Email Address | youngyogaletts@gmail.com |
| Alternate Email Address | cfaylounge@gmail.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | 4ward of Chattanooga is a grassroots trauma focused mental health and mindfulness restorative youth diversion program. This program takes Juvenile Offenders ages 12-16 and teaches important skills through trauma informed yoga and trauma focused clinical mental health therapy and counseling. 4ward promotes mindfulness; self-regulation and autonomy; prosocial skill building and peer interaction; skills to manage emotionality and decision making; and contribution as a functioning member of society. These skills combined seek to create a decrease in violence, increase in positive coping, decrease in effects of trauma, and increase in mental health and wellness. This, in turn, can reduce recidivism, protect the community, and create for a healthier more sustainable outcome for the youth participants and community at large. The Novel CoronaVirus - Covid -19 pandemic changed the landscape of the world in 2020. The US Department of the Treasury Final Rule shares that youth and students in low resource communities and communities of color were potentially adversely affected by the pandemic in ways that could exacerbate known determinants of adverse childhood experiences - a major factor in juvenile delinquency. The program is a cohort-based gender responsive 20 week program. With weeks dedicated to instruction as well as assessment, evaluation, and data creation. The instruction time includes daily alternating sessions of Trauma Focused and Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy and trauma- informed Restorative Yoga for the duration of each cohort. Referrals are received from community partners, triaged through our case managers, and youths admitted into their respective cohorts. The program utilizes a non-justice setting within the community that promotes modernized and intentional space for appropriate integrated supervision, mentoring, peer support, yoga, cognitive behavioral mental health, increased pro-social engagement in a home-like space that encourages self-regulation and autonomy and decreases hyperarousal. This program is a representational community based program led by trained experts in trauma focused mental health and yoga that consequently works to close equity and health gaps within Chattanooga juvenile populations. The program also hosts a myriad of social activities built within the therapeutic interaction and framework. The program utilizes adult mentors as supervisors and also employs case managers to engage the participant families and pro-social supports. Participants are selected through community partnerships, on boarded with assessment and screening, and taught a series of intentional skills throughout the program. Upon completion of the program students are elevated to peer sponsors and case management maintains connection for optimum accountability and sustainability. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | The Final Rule published by the Department of the Treasury seeks to address the “systemic public health and economic challenges that may have contributed to more severe impacts of the pandemic among low-income communities and people of color.” The program, as shared by the Final Rule, “ will meet behavioral health needs exacerbated by the pandemic and respond to other public health impacts”; “through services that include mental health treatment,” and “outreach to promote access to physical or behavioral health.” 4ward, due to its; objectives, leadership and target population- aligns with these goals of the American Rescue Plan (ARP). It is a direct physical and behavioral health program responding to the psychological impacts of the pandemic. It also addresses the economic barriers that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. It also aligns with the overall goal by demographically addressing health barriers and inequities within this disparately affected population. The program will assist in other key-goals outlined in the ARP in that it will reduce and respond to violent crime committed within our identified population, and provide mental health services to those with needs exacerbated by the pandemic. Due to lockdown measures, sudden tele-education, abrupt social changes, and generalized worry over social and economic outcomes for the world, youth have been significantly impacted by the changes brought by the novel covid-19 virus. More than ever youth have been scared, confused and needing to seek help. According to UNICEF 73% of youth have felt the need to ask for help concerning their physical and mental well-being due to the pandemic. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program as many as 70 percent of youths within the system may have a diagnosable mental health problem. The overlap between covid concerns, and Juvenile Justice impact through the lens of mental health is clear. Behavioral health support for concerns that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, and restorative diversion practices through yoga and mindfulness that lesson and address violence and crime as it relates to youth are the program’s focus. This is imperative as the Final Rule seeks to lessen the impact of the pandemic within low-resource communities and elevate access through the social determinants of health. Department of the Treasury. (2021, May 17). Federal Register :: Coronavirus state and local fiscal ... Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. Retrieved from https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/05/17/2021-10283/coronavirus-state-and-local-fiscal-recovery-funds |
| Where would your project take place? | The project takes place in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A real time and live series of therapeutic Yoga and Clinical Mental Health sessions led within Hamilton County at an inclusive appropriate facility. The program utilizes a non-justice setting within the community that promotes modernized and intentional space for appropriate integrated supervision, mentoring, peer support, yoga, cognitive behavioral mental health, increased pro-social engagement, a home-like residential space that encourages self-regulation and autonomy and decreases hyperarousal. |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 1533059.00 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | No |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | |
| If funded, when would your project start? | April 18, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | 2 years |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | The data collected pre and post program in qualitative and quantitative evaluations, assessments, as well as progress outcomes, and perspectives using screening and scaling tools is metricized at monthly, quarterly and yearly intervals – both to track needs and to research and report findings; effectively these target points are milestones for the purpose of reporting, research and programmatic acumen. The program participants will also have beginning, halfway, and ending checkpoints within the program. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | Due to the nature of the program it boasts ethical rigor of implementation through certified and licensed Behavioral Health and Yoga teaching efficacies. The certifications and qualifications needed to accomplish this hold with them an accountability to transparency. Our program has also built in data and assessment tracking at monthly, quarterly, and yearly intervals to ensure accountability and transparency. Evolve uses evidence based clinical screening tools to provide mental health support and intervention, led by Licensed and Certified staff. The program also metricizes other data and information for reporting purposes, and programmatic goals. The program has built in appropriate and qualified staffing for administration management/oversight, bookkeeping, accounting/reconciliation, and professional ethics. The program seeks to maintain professional memberships for the purpose of evidence based oversight and transparency with programmatic goals, community partnership, and city resources, and to maintain licensed professional staffing. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | The program’s success benefits the community in a myriad of ways. The key outcomes, however, are that it will ultimately make Chattanooga a safer place for people to thrive. Chattanooga continues to blossom and grow as a place where college students can go jogging after classes, Single mothers can walk their dogs and children, and youth who formerly were a part of a negative series of decision making through the impacts of trauma are now taught to be positive change agents for their own future and that of their effect on their community – our community. Chattanooga is also a tourist destination. By impacting the community around downtown, we make it a safer place for tourism and increasing economic expansion goals of the city at large. The health and wellness benefits of both implementing yoga and mental health services to the low resource juvenile justice population, and by extension key members in their families, is a keen economic and restorative benefit to the community. Also, a great benefit to the community is the youth participation in a tailored diversion program that holistically addresses trauma and its impacts in the community leaving great feedback and recommendations that can streamline and influence other community based decisions. There is clear benefit in the violence reduction and mental rehabilitation of at-risk youths. This program, by nature of its work, also addresses important health related equity gaps. There is currently no programming that comprehensively includes these components of mental health and wellness in this region. It is needed. Its ability for longevity, leadership, and revolutionary change is ideal for visibility and expansion of Chattanooga community goals. Nationally, it is competitive and cutting edge. This allows for the community to show mastery in its ability to rally around and support our youth in responsive programming that eliminates societal ills as well as enhances and develops our social and economic impact on a statewide and national level. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | After speaking with and agreeing to work closely with Judge Philyaw and the Juvenile Court System to identify participants, as well as working closely with community stakeholders such as DCS, Probation, local churches and leaders will help maintain sustainable community buy-in. Our program will connect with city and community partners and resources to provide data, feedback, and continued buy-in for this unique and necessary diversion program, building vital and necessary partnerships along the way. |
| Name | Jeigh Billing |
| Contact Information | 951-205-1164 |
| Name | Juvenile Court |
| Contact Information | 423-209-5100 |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | This project was thoughtfully crafted by well-known and vey intentional community mentor, leader, and businessman Johnny Martin, ISSA, NASM, NFPT and 200 Hr RYT; owner of Cage Fitness and Yoga Lounge and Young Yogaletts. Lovingly known by many students as, “Mr. J”, Johnny has a track record of decades of experience as a public servant and now leader in mental health and fitness providing therapeutic yoga across the county and in many Hamilton County Schools and school affiliates. Johnny shows his passion and qualification as a leader in this subject. He has partnered with the Hamilton County School System, area Child Care Centers, The Urban League of Chattanooga and Non-profit MySuspire, Inc; a grassroots mental health organization empowering people and their communities by providing tools: to achieve mental clarity, emotional stability, and a better quality of life through trauma informed mental health intervention, education, and awareness. This program is developed in partnership with MySuspire Executive Director, Jeigh Billingy, MSW, LCSW a trauma trained School Social worker and mental health clinician with over 9 years of Hamilton County crisis and trauma based intervention experience. She has worked with Youth Villages and alongside the YMCA YCAP program, Health Connect, and with various partners providing anger management to Juvenile Justice youth, She is also a national trainer and speaker on diversity, ethics, trauma and mental health service provision. Together, this program couples experience, professional leadership, and passion for a more healthy, mindful, and trauma aware community to create a diversion program that is one of a kind for Chattanooga and its juvenile justice youth. |