Lift with Boys Town is a powerful initiative designed to provide ongoing support and community-based early intervention services to schools struggling with student misbehavior, absenteeism, parental disengagement and negative culture. Lift brings together educators, students, families, community partners and Boys Town experts to address at-risk student's social-emotional needs. In 2022-2023, we piloted two Lift programs in these South Florida schools: West Gate Elementary School in Palm Beach County and Stirling Elementary School in Broward County*. With the integration of two full-time Boys Town School Support Specialists at each school (Santiago Jimenez at West Gate Elementary and Victoria Velez at Stirling Elementary) both campuses showed positive results in decreasing student disciplinary referrals and absenteeism and increasing parental engagement in comparison to the previous school year. A total of 145 students received direct services to cultivate student capacity to manage difficult emotions, establish goals and effectively navigate conflicts. Also, both schools saw an increase in parental engagement and an encouraging decrease in student absenteeism. An additional 72 students were also positively impacted by having Lift in the schools as they benefited from brief interventions and interactions with the School Support Specialists.
“Training must emphasize the positive side of the child's character. It must capitalize on capabilities and the normal, socially healthful trends which every child exhibits, if only we take the time and trouble to look for them."
-Father Edward Flanagan Founder of Boys Town