Project Impact-Dayton, Inc. HISTORY

Project IMPACT, now Project IMPACT USA, was incorporated July 17, 1986 as a community based, youth interface counseling and job referral agency in Los Angeles, California. It was started in recognition of the traditional failure of many youth serving agencies that were unable to effectively reach and hold the interest of troubled youth.

Project Impact Dayton, Inc. (PID) presently located at 115 E. Third St., was established in May 1993 as the first satellite program outside the State of California. The local agency was developed in response to a community wide needs assessment showing that the many of the youth involved in aberrant behaviors such as: violence, drugs, illiteracy, and teen pregnancy, had a history of truancy. The assessment further showed that the majority of these crimes occurred during hours when the youth should have been at school.

In effect, the incorporation of PID, formalized successful youth/family intervention and support efforts, which had been offered by the Revival Center Ministries (PID’s parent organization) for over 10 years. It also linked the church with the formal health and human service system to address the growing needs of youth-at-risk. The Dayton satellite operated under the non-profit designation of its parent organization, Revival Center Ministries International (RCMI until it was independently incorporated in 1994).

In the first year of operation, PID was located at 323 Salem Avenue (across the street from the Edgewood Court public housing site) and started with 15 youth. The agency was strategically located in the area as a response to youth-on-youth violence known as the Christmas Massacre in 1992. The youths who perpetrated these crimes resided in this area.

PROGRAM

Using the Asset Model, developed by the SEARCH Institute, program staff discovered the prevailing cause of the youth’s anger, rebellion and violence was due to several factors. Chief among them were: a lack of parental involvement and guidance; low attachment to schools, and a skewed value system where drug dealers were more respected than traditional authority figures. Consequently, a program was designed not only to serve the youth but the total family.

Through a collaboration with the Juvenile Courts and the Dayton Public Schools, PID officially became a comprehensive substance abuse prevention service provider servicing entire families through it’s court diversion/family intervention program appropriately titled the Truancy Prevention Project. The program targets truant youth, exhibiting the above mentioned risk factors and their families. It is designed to combat those negative risk factors by providing positive guidance through role modeling, academic assistance, mentoring, educational leadership classes for parents and youth, and experiential family activities.

PID’s service model is family focused, engaging the total family regardless of size in the prevention/intervention process. Participants attend 24 classes over a twelve weeks period. Each session last an average of three hours. The Truancy Prevention Program has a completion rate of 69 percent. The national average for similar programs is 60 percent. Last year over 300 families were served, with more than 2500 served in the past ten years.

FUNDING

Fifty-one (51%) of PID’s funding comes from local government sources such as: Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Montgomery County, City of Dayton Parks and Recreation, Dayton Public Schools, Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services, Ohio Juvenile Courts, Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, Revival Center Ministries, Christ Life Sanctuary, Joshua Christian Ministries and Living Word Church. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of is provided by Revival Center Ministries International and private contributions from its members. The remaining twelve percent (12%) of our budget represents the value of donated facilities. Annually, local businesses (friends of PID) also help sponsor the Annual Family Christmas Celebration.

Management and Fiscal Oversight

PID’s Board of Directors consists of nine members representing, Project IMPACT USA, and local faith based, business, governmental and educational volunteers. The board meets several times a year and has a vested interest in planning, developing policy and in raising funds. Founder, Bishop Marva L. Mitchell, or her designee serves as the perpetual chair of the Board of Directors. The agency is overseen by a President who provides daily management and fiscal oversight.