Introduction to Project Venture

Course Description:

Project Venture (PV) is the flagship program of the National Indian Youth Leadership Project (NIYLP). This sequential, year-long program is a unique combination of experiential education, outdoor adventure, service learning, culture and positive youth development. Incorporated through in-school, after-school, weekend and vacation times, the PV program has gained recognition as an evidence-based program model by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices.

Geared toward youth in grades 5-12, Project Venture was originally designed by Native Americans for implementation in Native American communities. Today Project Venture is implemented a wide range of communities in over 70 sites across the US and Canada. PV is currently being evaluated as an effective approach for suicide prevention and for use in residential and day treatment agencies.

The program emphasizes teamwork, problem solving, collaboration, connection with nature, positive risk and challenge and incorporates activities such as hiking, backpacking, rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking, horse assisted growth and healing and ropes courses. Each PV implementation site selects the activities that make sense for them. The experiential approach allows for the incorporation of biology, science, social studies, history and geography.

In response to the growing interest and success of PV beyond Native American communities, NIYLP is partnering with High 5 to expand accessibility to training, consulting and program materials.

We are happy to announce that High 5 will be hosting “Introduction to Project Venture Programming” on October 4-6, 2011 at our facility in Brattleboro, VT. This is the first time this workshop has been offered as an open-enrollment workshop in the Northeast.

If you are interested in a high-quality, sequential experiential education or adventure based program or are seeking an evidence-based program to qualify for government funding, you’ll want to join us.

For more information about NIYLP and their 29 years of experience, go to their website: www.niylp.org.

What you'll learn:

In this workshop, NIYLP’s training staff will empower you and others to:

• Learn about the core components of Project Venture.
• Learn strategies for implementation.
• Discuss fidelity as related to implementation.
• Be introduced to experiential education, outdoor education and service learning as related to the Project Venture model.
• Participate in and learn about culturally relevant programming.
• Experience NIYLP’s approach to group development.
• Learn how Project Venture is being implemented at other sites.
• Explore the implementation readiness of your community.
• Begin to develop a year-long, sequential plan for implementation.