It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

5 YEARS & 5 DIFFERENT STATES - Over the past 5 years, through 5 different States, we've been told by more than 100 elementary school principals, teachers and parents that elementary school is where our services needs to begin. While we fully respect the creative art correlated to music, we also believe that if a child can recite the lyrics to some of today's most violent rap songs, that child should be connected to us.. Your financial support empowers us to build programs INSIDE of schools that supports the art of music while filtering and balancing fiction and fact. 

OUR FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL - In 2006 (Brownsville, Brooklyn) we contracted with our first NYC middle school. Since then we've learned that the middle school years are the years that a child is developing into who he/she will become. At GRAAFICS, we believe that if kids see more, they'll want to be more. Your financial support helps us expose children to more than what they see in their on their block and in their community. 

LAST CHANCE  &  ALTERNATIVE STUDENTS - Most high school students with discipline challenges attend a last chance alternative school. This environment offers students some form of accelerated educational plan to help them graduate. When contracted, GRAAFICS offers behavior intervention and attitudinal adjustment which strengthens academic retention. We also offer intense life skills services  which strengthens their ability to make good decisions after high school. Your financial support helps us show them that both they and their dreams matter. 

FACT: DATA FROM 70% OF SCHOOLS that have experienced one of our demonstrations have contracted with us for one school year. Not convinced? Give us a room. Give us one hour. Give us 25 of your most challenging students and witness behavior transformation in action.  Do you know a school that needs us? Purchase a 'LIVE' demonstration today and gift it to the school of your choice.  

"EMPOWER A MAN, HE'LL LEAD A NATION. EMPOWER A WOMAN SHE'LL CHANGE THE WORLD." The only exception, is when a woman is physically, emotionally or psychologically abused. The continued resources needed to introduce and help solidify a woman's independence, stabilize her security and empower her self-sufficiency requires support. Your financial contribution offers the women in our: Models For Non Violence, Girls-To-Women and our Domestic Violence programs the opportunities needed to become self reliant.

HOW DO KIDS FALL THROUGH THE CRACKS? - Data from 98% of schools that have contracted with GRAAFICS for a  minimum of one school year shows that school leadership, teachers, students and parents wanted us to return the following year. Unfortunately, when a school needs us, lack of programmatic funding doesn't permit our return. Your financial contribution helps to keep GRAAFICS in a school where its genuinely needed.

HAVING A PERSONAL MENTORING CAN BE A LIFE CHANGING.  Expanding the horizons of a young, growing adult's life means having a vastly diversified catalog of resources and options for them to choose from. Unfortunately, those experiences come with a cost. Take a minute to personally reflect upon just one experience that changed your life. Now, take another minute to realize that your most minimal experience is an urban child's dream come true. Your financial contributions help us to continue to provide one-to-one services to those teens that need us the most

REACHING AT-RISK YOUTH. The middle school years are of a child's life are the most impressionable years. It's this stage of life where children need the most guidance and positive reassurance. It's also the stage of life where the absence of guidance can very easily be replaced with alluring negative influences that result in life destroying decisions. GRAAFICS built it's reputation for success in this space. Our website is filled with REAL images from REAL children that we've helped through the years. Your financial contributions help us to continue to provide young children with the one-to-one services that introduces them to a balanced life.

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF THREE GENERATIONS. When asked, most people believe that the family unit is the gateway to life's balance. Today, more than ever, we are witnessing the continued and rapid demise of the family unit, especially the Black Family. When working with a child in one of our schools, we often discover that the child's parent(s) and older sibling(s) also need our help. We often want to help that child's family but the resources just aren't there. Your financial contributions help us to break the cycle of absentee parenting, under employment, unemployment, social-emotional household balance and justice involvement for a small family. 

THE UNDISPUTED POWER OF A DAD.   

A father is the male that shares DNA with a child, A dad is the man that is there everyday. Studies have shown that when dads are present, affectionate and supportive, it greatly affects a child's cognitive and social development. It also instills an overall sense of well-being and self-confidence. Additionally, children who grow up with an involved dad are: 39% more likely to earn mostly A’s in school, 45% less likely to repeat a grade, 60% less likely to be suspended or expelled from school, twice as likely to go to college and find stable employment after high school, 75% less likely to have a teen birth, and 80% less likely to spend time in jail. Your financial contributions help us to continue to provide programs that teach young fathers HOW to be great dads.

THE DEBT IS PAID, ITS TIME TO GO HOME.  Years of research have revealed that the process of reentry should begin at day one of incarceration. During a young adult's incarceration, correctional administrators, staff and facility programs should strive to help the the young adult acquire both, a pro-social world and community view. This is done via both hard and soft skills personal development programming. GRAAFICS partners with juvenile justice institutions, youth detention centers, correctional facilities and prisons to offer both efficient and effective pre-release services. Your financial contributions helps us continue to design the programs that effectively address recidivism. 

BASKETBALL  |  FOOTBALL  |  BASEBALL  |  SOCCER  |  CHESS  |  GOLF  |  TENNIS  |  PICKLEBALL  |  VOLLEYBALL. Extracurricular activities help kids develop the social skills needed need as adults. They provide opportunities for leadership, cooperation, and peer interaction. Clubs associated with diverse cultural backgrounds give kids the ability to interact with people different from themselves, expanding their world views. One study found that adolescents who participated in extracurricular activities demonstrated higher levels of satisfaction with life, optimism, lower levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Your financial contributions helps us to continue to allow kids to BE kids. 

WPIX Channel 11  |  WABC Channel 7  |  USA Today  |  The Washington Times  |  DNA Info  |  Fox News |  The Associated Press and several other syndicated media outlets have all covered the work of: Dr. Kai Smith and The GRAAFICS Program. When asked: "Why isn't this program in more schools?" The answer: "Funding. A school principal should NOT have to choose whether to use funding from her budget to update the student's science lab or to keep children safe." Your financial contributions address this challenge by providing the funding needed to keep our program in schools without the principal having to make a choice. 

WE CHANGE THE NARRATIVE OF A CHILD'S LIFE. Consistently engaging at-risk youth with educational and quality-of-life services while watching how they respond and how those services change their lives is a beautiful thing. In order to achieve measurable results, children should be engaged with GRAAFICS services while approaching the 9th grade. This package requires 4yrs of support. Four years give us (and the school) the opportunity to measure the data needed for continuation. Do you know a school that needs us? Purchase a four year outcomes package today and gift it to the school of your choice.

4th GRADE THRU COLLEGE - This 10yr package is a REAL difference maker. Complex Trauma and Social Determinants of Health are the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live and age. Less and low education is linked to lower income, which is linked to poorer health. Studies show that children who have access to quality education stay healthier than children who don’t. Not only does education give children a chance at upward mobility, it also keeps them better informed about how to improve the quality of life for both, them and the future of their families. Your financial sponsorship gives 25 kids 10yrs of measurable GRAAFICS services.