School & Youth Programs

We empower youth to actively transform their communities.

Bring ProAct’s innovative youth service-learning programs to your school and connect your students to our network of corporate mentors and local nonprofits.

Become A Partner

How We Work With You

We work directly with a designated contact at your school, whom we call a school champion, to provide support, training, and resources to help alleviate some of the burdens on your volunteer engagement and management initiatives.

Our methodology equips youth to positively impact the lives of those around them and in the process, fuel their personal growth, positively develop their character, and position them to acquire the 21st-century skills they need to be successful in post-secondary education and the workforce.

COLLABORATION

Collaboration

We help students build a network of civic-minded peers. Over the course of a year, small cohorts of students work on multiple projects together, fostering teamwork, collaboration, and consistency.

COMMUNICATION

Communication

We foster an appreciation for diversity by working within neighborhoods filled with people of various cultures, religions, and backgrounds to give our youth unique opportunities to communicate and learn with diverse populations.

CRITICAL THINKING

Critical Thinking

Through hands-on learning, we help students acquire valuable life, critical thinking, and leadership skills while learning ways to be more tolerant and empathetic of others.

CREATIVITY

Creativity

We teach students about various socioeconomic issues plaguing our city, including homelessness, immobility, poverty, neighborhood decay, and race relations. We discuss the roots of these challenges and creatively collaborate as we innovatively seek solutions.

OUR SCHOOL AND YOUTH PARTNER PROGRAMS

Geared toward students in grades 5 through 8, Kids in Action teaches the importance of community service through weekly character education workshops and monthly community service projects.

This immersive service-learning experience teaches youth how to plan and execute human-centered service projects. Youth travel to another city in the US to compare how and why social issues are being addressed differently than here in Indy.

Teens in Action provides students with hands-on service opportunities throughout Indianapolis. While acquiring valuable skills and building relationships, participants build both confidence and selflessness.

School and Youth Partner Benefits

1. Cohorts of 15-20 students

Students are recruited by educators at each partnering school. ProAct strives to instill the confidence our vulnerable youth need to reach their full potential and lead bigger, fuller, and more meaningful lives.

2. Facilitated Curriculum

ProAct offers weekly character education/social equity workshops to help build students’ 21st-Century skills of communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.

3. Geographic Exposure

Youth apply the skills and knowledge they learn during weekly workshops in monthly service projects with our community partners who address the social issues our youth learn about each month. Our youth engage with vulnerable populations who are affected by the societal issues they are addressing to teach empathy, compassion, and social change orientation.

4. Corporate Facilitators

Youth cohorts are facilitated by corporate employees participating in our Rising Star Leadership Program. These Rising Stars are group mentors supervised by our Community Impact Concierges.

5. Legacy Projects

Every program year concludes with a legacy project where each cohort of students creates, plans, and implements a service project to demonstrate skills they have learned, leaving a lasting impact on their school, and generating interest for ProAct’s youth programs among younger peers.

What do others say about ProAct?

I was somewhat skeptical of these types of projects, so I was shocked and surprised at the overall staff response. It is worth the investment.

Senior Executive

Community Reinvestment Foundation

I can’t thank you enough for helping [Pack Away Hunger] recruit volunteers for our Giving Tuesday event; the ProAct Indy family SHOWED UP! The students and young adults made the event that much more dynamic and diverse.

Abigail Harlan

Executive Director, Pack Away Hunger

I struggled with poverty myself and joining ProAct gave me the opportunity to give back to other people and really show compassion to people who experience what I experienced.

LeAsia

Student Participant, Teens in Action

We felt like we’d hired a full-time consultant to help us with this, so it made everything much easier on our HR Director. [ProAct] provided clear, detailed information to share with our people. Even the safety challenges were addressed.

Senior Executive

Fineline Printing Group

What I really appreciate about doing service shoulder to shoulder with young people with ProAct, it shows me that we have a lot to be hopeful for in the future.

Tim Nation

Executive Director and Co-Founder, Peace Learning Center

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ProAct Indy announces partnership with YWCA Greater Lafayette to provide comprehensive diversity, equity & inclusion strategy leveraging youth voice

May 2, 2023