AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS
The LaunchPad After School program focuses on mentoring and modeling, by teaching and demonstrating leadership and other essential life skills. Our program helps students succeed in their academic and everyday life. Our program also offers morning tutoring classes for students who need extra assistance to improve their grades.
Our classes are centered on character education, financial literacy, leadership, life-skills, promoting mental stamina, challenge, competition, the power of education, technology, robotics, S.T.E.M., soccer, media/art, film, creative crafts, and much more!
Here are some of our classes:
“We work to instill leadership qualities into our students and help them develop a personal value system, to positively influence their choices in every area of their lives.”
– David Contreras, LaunchPad Founder,
FATHERHOOD INITIATIVE
Mission: Promote the well being of children and families through father involvement and fatherhood programs.
Vision: Establish father-focused programs and resources to equip fathers, because an involved father brings many benefits to mothers and children.
Core Value: We believe the committed, sacrificial love of a father, is the mortar that strengthens and holds families together. A father’s devout involvement with his children is a key for children to know their identity, flourish in confidence and have a greater sense of value and stability.
Create and implement a targeted comprehensive plan to support young fathers, equip current fathers and reunite fathers after incarceration
Initiate Fatherhood skill-building resources (core principals and morals, responsibility, discipline, leadership and income modeling etc)
Customize fatherhood programs to engage dads based on community needs
Develop interactive activities (sports, art, camping, etc) for team-building purposes
FATHERHOOD INITIATIVE STATS
In today’s society, we are unfortunately facing some terrible truths that we could have never anticipated. The number of single parent homes has doubled since 1960. One-third of all American children are raised without a father. And of those kids, they are severely above the national average when it comes to issues of crime, education, mental health and sex & drug abuse.
“People look at a child in need, in poverty or failing in school, and ask, ‘What can we do to help?’ But what we do is ask, ‘Why does that child need help in the first place?’ And the answer is often it’s because [the child lacks] a responsible and involved father,” said Vincent DiCaro, Vice President of the National Fatherhood Initiative.
So the question stands: where have all the fathers gone?
This year LaunchPad will be initiating a targeted effort to reach, unite and equip fathers and male caretakers with their sons and children. The “ALL In Fatherhood Project” is to promote the well-being of children and families through father involvement and fatherhood programs.
One of the goals will be to create and implement a targeted comprehensive plan to support young fathers, equip current fathers, and reunite fathers after incarceration. Another important component is to develop interactive activities such as sports, art, camping, etcetera, for team building purposes. We will be doing this to overcome the 4 major obstacles to father absence; work demands, the media, pop culture, and finances.
We are fully behind the ALL In Fatherhood Project, and we are hopeful it will be the first step to curing the ails of fatherlessness in the Rundberg and East Austin community.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
We believe, healthy communities are essential to healthy societies. Community Impact provides opportunities for us to build relationships with the parents of all students and establishes a presence beyond the school campus.
We do this several ways:
Community Block Party Event Celebrations – We invite the community to a free event with food, games, give-a-ways and fun for the whole family! These events draw hundreds of students and their families every year. We center around a particular topic for these events that are viable and important for our community—topics such as promoting and celebrating the role of the father and education regarding critical health issues.
Holiday Outreach – Another way we serve the community is to sponsor our LP students and their families for Thanksgiving and Christmas during the Holiday Season. We work with our local partners to sponsor families.
Back to school drive – at the beginning of the school year we provide school supplies to the students that live in the Rundberg area. Recognizing that school budgets continue to decline every year, this provides viable support to the teachers and students of the school.
Over the last five years LaunchPad has sponsored over 600 children, representing more than 300 families. LaunchPad has also set up an emergency fund for those LaunchPad families who are in critical need of support. Our core value is to serve those we work with every day and make a positive difference in people’s lives with compassion. We want are actions to prove that we care!
Hombre a Hombre Community Festival
“HOMBRE a hombre Community Festival is an important piece to our community, that will assist in bringing our males together in unity, fun and education.”
– David Contreras, Executive Director
We believe this event fosters, establishes, and celebrates the role of fathers and leaders within families and within the community. This event is only made possible by our wonderful and generous sponsors. Together, we are making a lasting impact in the lives of fathers and sons within our community by creating a healthy bridge between our community and law enforcement too!
