Our Work
Backstories Matter.
U-turn offers a compendium of services. These services include:
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Systems Trainings- We are contracted to facilitate trainings specific to various Systems that interface with children and youth and play instrumental roles in the school-to-prison pipeline.
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Teen Chats- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has said, “the world’s young people need safe spaces – both physical and digital - where they can “freely express their views” and “pursue their dreams”. As such, we create safe spaces for youth to be seen, heard, and validated. These spaces are non-judgmental and are curated for-youth-by-youth. These spaces allow room for civil discourse, vulnerability, creativity, and problem solving.
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Summits and Conferences-We host three (3) annual Regional Professional Development summits and conferences addressing the many layers contributing as Backstories to youth/gun violence. Our summits and conferences bring together all stakeholders who serve youth in the same space for idea sharing of best practices and out-of-the box thinking to ensure our shared vision of ALIVE, productive, successful, and wholesome youth.
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Consultancy Services-Very often, clients require more than just a single, annual, or bi-annual training and prefer to contract us for a series of trainings and/or consultation. We provide consultancy services ranging from 1-3 years.
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Community Engagement-We are committed to interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline and mitigating the community gun violence. To do so we must engage the community. U-turn is intentional about meeting the community where they are. This starts with our Turning Point Virtual Platform that is shared on Facebook and Instagram, and hosting, attending, and engaging in community events both in-person and virtual.
Youth Pillar
Our youth are in a state of emergency, and it is imperative that all those who serve youth know and understand the layered and multi-faceted reasons why so many young people are in a tailspin. U-turn is intentional and deliberate about highlighting the various, complex, ever-changing backstories, as well as the relatable tools necessary to not only identify the red flags, but to know how to proceed and address them. The tools offered as a guide are the book, The Backstory of a New Reality: Jaw Dropping Unmasking of Urban Youth Violence, and the supplemental workbook written by Dr. Shirley Plantin, the firm’s Chief Executive Consultant, This set contains a wealth of down to earth, relevant, and raw knowledge about the different components that are working together (parents, culture, mental health, socio-economic status, disabilities, social media, substance abuse etc.) driving young people to commit acts of violence, and, how understanding these factors can help save our youth.
Systems Pillar
U-turn is contracted to facilitate trainings specific to various Systems that interface with children and youth and play instrumental roles in the school-to-prison pipeline. Participants engage in a deep dive about the necessity of going beyond diversity, while considering the importance of acknowledging one’s backstories, biases, and the need for racial-social equity and inclusion; and how the lack of these factors contribute to our current youth state of emergency.
As a result of long-standing social issues, the firm’s targeted clientele are stakeholders who work with and within communities, in hopes of mitigating systemic injustices, improving social impediments, and cultivating spaces where all people are treated with dignity, humanity, and empathy. To effectively diminish the occurrence of future tragedies on scales both small and large (community gun violence or mass shootings), we must invest in and hold accountable our most precious asset: human capital, a Re-set is Needed.
Our Objectives
1. Advocate and give voice to youth and communities and their Backstories.
2. Educate and raise awareness about the intersection between social injustices impacting marginalized communities and the uptick in gun violence.
3. Encourage stakeholders to Elevate the quality of services provided to disenfranchised and disregarded communities.
4. Empower stakeholders to respect the diversity of the communities’ lived experiences while serving them with equity and empathy.
Our clients include:
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Governmental Agencies
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Law Enforcement
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Corrections, Probations, Juvenile Justice
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Social Service Organizations
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School Districts
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Colleges & Universities
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Churches
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Funders
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School Healthcare Professionals & Hospitals
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Mental Healthcare Professionals