Youth Development Programs

Empowering youth to reach their potential

Every young person, regardless of their circumstances or history, has tremendous potential to achieve great things. Family Services’ Youth Development Programs help young people achieve their full potential by helping them harness their inherent strengths and abilities.

Our current youth development programs include:

  • ARISE is one of our newest programs. Details coming soon!

  • ESTEEM is a voluntary program for youth involved with the juvenile justice system. Through active engagement in self improvement through individual and group activities, ESTEEM helps young people rediscover their potential.
  • Big Friends Little Friends is a community based mentoring program matching children with positive adult role models who provide friendship, guidance, and the motivation to succeed in school and in life.
  • Stand & Deliver provides one-to-one academic mentoring in partnership with local businesses to help students graduate high school and move onto future academic and career success.
  • Success Mentors is a collaboration with the Mass Mentoring Partnership to implement an evidence-based model that targets chronically absent students and connects them with a school-based mentor in the communities of Lawrence, Springfield and Holyoke.
  • PREP is a curriculum-based school program for 12-19 year old youth that teaches abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. PREP also covers subjects such as financial literacy, career success, and healthy relationships.

Volunteer! Many of our youth programs rely on volunteers to maximize our impact in the community. You can make a difference in the life of a child by volunteering for one of our many programs.