Elevating Attendance. Transforming Mindsets. Strengthening Communities.
Project Elevate was created in response to the rapid growth of Future Leaders California’s school-based programs and the urgent needs emerging across our campuses. Schools today are navigating rising chronic absenteeism, behavioral challenges, youth violence, and widening opportunity gaps. Too many students are disengaging from education, not because they lack intelligence or ability, but because they lack consistent mentorship, emotional tools, and a compelling vision for their future.
When students disconnect from school, the impact extends far beyond the classroom. Chronic absenteeism increases the likelihood of justice system involvement, deepens reliance on public assistance systems, weakens workforce readiness, and slows long-term economic growth. The school-to-prison pipeline often begins with disengagement, unmet emotional needs, and the absence of future orientation. Education should not feel like compliance; it should feel like possibility. Project Elevate exists to create that shift.
At its core, Project Elevate is a comprehensive, mentorship-driven initiative that addresses the root causes of disengagement through attendance support, violence prevention, emotional development, and economic empowerment. Every program operates through Future Leaders California’s proprietary Four E’s of Life Coaching curriculum and mentoring model: Existing (understanding current reality), Envision (developing a compelling future), Execution (building disciplined action and skill), and Evaluation (measuring growth and accountability). This framework does more than provide services, it transforms how young people think about themselves and their education.
Project Elevate helps youth see school as an investment rather than an obligation. It reframes attendance as access to opportunity. It teaches emotional regulation as a leadership skill. It introduces financial literacy and entrepreneurship as pathways to independence and generational impact. In doing so, it creates a paradigm shift, changing identity from “at-risk” to at-promise.
Community Attendance Assistance Program (“CAAP”) — Chronic Absenteeism Prevention & One-on-One Mentorship
The Community Attendance Assistance Program is a chronic absenteeism prevention and one-on-one mentorship program designed to increase school attendance, strengthen academic performance, and promote positive behaviors among youth. Through individualized support, each participant receives consistent one-on-one mentorship, proprietary curriculum delivery, goal setting and progress monitoring, attendance intervention strategies, and behavioral guidance with structured accountability. CAAP addresses the root causes behind truancy and disengagement, recognizing that students miss school for many reasons, including family instability, community violence, academic struggles, or a lack of connection. Our whole-person approach is personalized, trauma-informed, restorative, and proactive. CAAP is not simply about improving attendance records; it is about restoring belief, rebuilding structure, and re-engaging students before the justice system does. Since 2014, this program has averaged a 75% success rate, demonstrating a consistent ability to generate positive student outcomes.
Concrete Roses & Concrete Soldiers (“Concrete Programs”) — Gender-Based Violence Prevention Programs
Inspired by Tupac Shakur’s powerful metaphor in The Rose That Grew from Concrete, the Concrete Programs reflect the resilience of youth who rise from challenging environments and still choose to grow. The Concrete Programs, including Concrete Roses and Concrete Soldiers, are gender-based violence prevention programs designed to teach emotional regulation and positive self-expression. Through structured guidance and group mentorship, these programs help youth develop emotional intelligence, practice healthy communication, replace aggression with self-regulation, build confidence and leadership skills, and strengthen peer relationships. Concrete creates safe spaces where students can unpack trauma, confront harmful social norms, and develop constructive coping strategies. By addressing emotional triggers and identity formation early, the program reduces the risk of violence, retaliation, and destructive behaviors, while building the internal strength students need to make disciplined, self-aware decisions. Recent data shows that 94% of participants engaged in zero additional fights during program enrollment, and 81% engaged in zero additional behavioral incidents overall during program enrollment.
Future Founders — 12-Week Financial Literacy & Entrepreneurship Workshop Series
Using understandable, practical financial principles that are digestible for youth and transitional-age youth, Future Founders is a 12-week financial literacy and entrepreneurship workshop series designed to teach foundational money management and wealth-building skills. Throughout the program, students learn budgeting and money management, including the 50/30/20 rule (50% for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings and investments), as well as credit and financial responsibility, business development fundamentals, branding and innovation, and leadership and presentation skills. Future Founders shifts the mindset from survival to ownership by helping participants transform ideas into income-generating ventures. Students begin to see themselves not just as consumers, but as creators, leaders, and future business owners capable of building long-term economic stability for themselves and their communities.
Project Elevate is not a short-term intervention. It is a long-term community investment strategy. When students attend school consistently, regulate their emotions, and develop economic skills, graduation rates increase, workforce readiness strengthens, public safety improves, and reliance on social welfare systems decreases. Successful students become productive earners, business owners, taxpayers, and civic contributors. Communities stabilize. Local economies grow. Public administration systems experience reduced strain.
Project Elevate partners with school districts, county agencies, municipal leaders, and community organizations committed to measurable, preventative impact. Together, we can reduce chronic absenteeism, curb the school-to-prison pipeline, strengthen campus climate, and build pathways toward economic mobility.
When we elevate a student, we strengthen a family. When we strengthen families, we stabilize communities. And when communities are stable, the economy thrives.
Project Elevate is more than a program. It is a movement to reshape how young people experience education, and how communities experience their future.
Future Leaders California 