Overview:
In 2002, the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Village (LGV) Program was initiated by the Institute for Human Growth and Development, Inc., under the direction of Dr. Francine Dove Hawkins.
The LGV supports, encourages, trains and promotes youth in the community within the contexts of families and supporters! As such, it embraces families, builds community, grows peace, and spreads love.
The LGV has as its specific mission “to develop and promote academic scholars, productive careerist, good citizens and extraordinary leaders.” Youth (Pre-K through Grade 12) and their family members are trained to be exceptional leaders and followers with unyielding integrity and commitment to service. These skills and attributes are developed through activities and experiences, such as goal setting, team building, career and academic skills development, leadership advancement, character education, and service learning.
Just as important as engaging the youth in the LGV is the involvement of the family into the program. In fact, parents, guardians or mentors are required to sign up for the program when they sign up their children. The underlying assumption of the program is that “It takes a village to raise a family.” This is based on the belief that children are born and raised within a context, which generally has some semblance to a family from which the children usually cannot be easily removed. Consequently, strengthening the family context is a goal of the program. When the family unit is strong, its children are strong. In this program, parents are not only encouraged to sit in on the lessons learned by the children, but are encouraged to teach life lessons, serve as career speakers, enroll in parent training sessions, participate in service activities, and organize activities and events.
The LGV runs from September to June during each year as do the public schools. Families are inducted into the program after attending 4 consecutive sessions. There are specific rules and regulations that must be agreed upon and signed off by the students and the parents/supporters as part of the induction process.
Annual enrollment fees for the LGV program per family is $150.00. Each family, however, is expected to be active in all fundraisers to support the Institute’s educational fieldtrip or pay a pre-determined assessment fee for each fundraiser. Each family is also expected to provide snacks 2-3 times each school year.
The LGV supports, encourages, trains and promotes youth in the community within the contexts of families and supporters! As such, it embraces families, builds community, grows peace, and spreads love.
The LGV has as its specific mission “to develop and promote academic scholars, productive careerist, good citizens and extraordinary leaders.” Youth (Pre-K through Grade 12) and their family members are trained to be exceptional leaders and followers with unyielding integrity and commitment to service. These skills and attributes are developed through activities and experiences, such as goal setting, team building, career and academic skills development, leadership advancement, character education, and service learning.
Just as important as engaging the youth in the LGV is the involvement of the family into the program. In fact, parents, guardians or mentors are required to sign up for the program when they sign up their children. The underlying assumption of the program is that “It takes a village to raise a family.” This is based on the belief that children are born and raised within a context, which generally has some semblance to a family from which the children usually cannot be easily removed. Consequently, strengthening the family context is a goal of the program. When the family unit is strong, its children are strong. In this program, parents are not only encouraged to sit in on the lessons learned by the children, but are encouraged to teach life lessons, serve as career speakers, enroll in parent training sessions, participate in service activities, and organize activities and events.
The LGV runs from September to June during each year as do the public schools. Families are inducted into the program after attending 4 consecutive sessions. There are specific rules and regulations that must be agreed upon and signed off by the students and the parents/supporters as part of the induction process.
Annual enrollment fees for the LGV program per family is $150.00. Each family, however, is expected to be active in all fundraisers to support the Institute’s educational fieldtrip or pay a pre-determined assessment fee for each fundraiser. Each family is also expected to provide snacks 2-3 times each school year.