Programs
Community Development
The Grassroots Connection™ is our community outreach and enrichment program through which we offer workshops, seminars, activities and special events that improve the quality of life of the individuals and families within our community here in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, Orange, and Riverside counties.
All workshops and seminars are taught by professionals within their respective industry. This program includes:
- Dance Instruction
- Financial Management Training
- Health & Wellness Awareness
- Family Services
- Etiquette Workshops
- Relationship Seminars
- Environmental Solutions
All events and activities are open to the public and will be posted on our Calendar.
Youth Empowerment
Steppin' 4 Life™ is an arts-in-education program wherein we partner with Southern California grade schools to enrich and improve the quality of life for youth by teaching ballroom dancing to inner-city 5th & 6th graders.
Children are a product of their environment and the majority of the schools that we serve and intend to serve have a predominantly Hispanic and African-American student body. At home, a majority of these children are exposed to gangs, drugs, violence, neglect, and poverty, and have never ventured outside of their element. That is why we are going to them. We are bringing Chicago Steppin' to their classrooms and after school programs.
In the likeness of Dancing Classrooms featured in the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom and the movie Take the Lead starring Antonio Banderas, Steppin' 4 Life™ brings Chicago Steppin' to the classroom preserving and raising awareness of the culture and dance art form of steppin' while reducing stress, building self-esteem, respect, creativity, and promoting full-body wellness, team building, and community development amongst our students. Our students learn more than just a ballroom dance.
Steppin' 4 Life™ uses the rhythm and movement of Chicago Steppin' to foster a fancy of mathematics and science amongst students as they're made aware of the kinetic energy of the body and its effects on our mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Our students learn how to be better, more confident people as we stimulate their concentration skills, coordination, and begin psychologically breaking down the male-female relationship barriers in the classroom that will spill over onto their campus and into their homes. Our students learn about themselves and their classmates as they begin to step.
Over the course of a 10-week session (2 classes per week), students will learn about the history, people, lifestyle, etiquette, and music of Chicago Steppin' while being taught the dance by legendary master instructors and prominent steppers within the community.
Steppin' 4 Life™ commences January 2010 and we have invited six Greater Los Angeles grade schools from the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Inglewood Unified School District to participate during the 2009-2010 school year. We intend on serving 30-150 students per campus without expense to the individual schools.
Steppin' 4 Life™ is a fully contained program offered without cost to the schools. We provide teachers with an opportunity to bring an exciting and bonding element to their curriculum that their students will look forward to participating in weekly that builds classroom camaraderie and creates a more inviting learning environment week after week. At the end of the school year, students will display their progress at a school-wide assembly and may elect to compete for scholarships and awards in a city-wide steppin' competition against students from all schools participating in Steppin' 4 Life™.
While California is experiencing a cutback on teachers, classes, books and the like due to the budget crisis, SAAF is doing its part to stand in the gap and positively impact our students and teachers, their well-being, and their positive influence in our global community. The Arts tend to be the first classes cut in budget deficits and low performing schools, but can prove to be very beneficial in the children's growth and the possible element necessary to compliment and improve student's overall academic progress.
Steppin' Across America Foundation would like to become a fixture in your school's pride year after year. If you are a principal, teacher, or program director and would like to bring Steppin' 4 Life™ to your campus please complete the Class Request Form and fax it to us. We will contact you within 24 hours to schedule a planning meeting.
The Steppin' 4 Life program costs $6000 per 10-week session for up to 30 students. SAAF raises these funds for each interested campus. If you would like to become a Partner or Sponsor of a campus, click here or contact us by phone or email.
Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ is a 10-week summer program providing vocational training to high school seniors and juniors in an effort to assist the entertainment industry in diversifying its audience and talent pool.
Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ continues our mission of improving the quality of life for our youth by exposing inner-city youth, with or without experience, to sectors of the entertainment industry that they may not have known existed or didn't know how to get their foot into the door. Our youth are products of their environment, and only know what surrounds them in their immediate neighborhood or what they've been exposed to outside of their box. When it comes to the entertainment industry, most only dream of being seen in front of the camera. We're here to change that. Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ allows youth to explore the possibilities and genius on the other side of the lens, below and above the line. We aim to spark infinite possibilities for these youth who are 1-2 years away from stepping out into the world on their own. Some will go off to college. Some will begin working. Some may drop out of school...but all that come through Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ will be equipped with a viable vocation.
This is no ordinary summer internship. It's an intensive, fast-paced BOOTCAMP! A work-study program.
We don't find jobs for the students nor do we only train them to find jobs. We recruit 20-30 promising and dedicated youth and fill the open positions in our very own production company exclusively created for our participants. Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ allows our participants to explore teamwork, achievement of goals, build self-confidence, and define their unique identities while developing an affinity for a new vocation, building a credible industry resume with IMDB credits, and the first addition to their professional reel. Participants also build lasting relationships amongst their peers and mentors that they may call on for future projects.
Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ provides at least one mentor for each student wherein they receive hands-on training in tag-along situations that instill the necessary skills for the student to partake in the Bootcamp's collective film projects. Students will be required to attend production meetings wherein they will receive further training and information about the business of the entertainment industry. Over the course of the 10 weeks, with staff assistance, participants of Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ will develop, produce, shoot, and screen their very own film that will go on to be submitted to film festivals, and shopped for distribution.
Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ is similar to the very successful Y.E.S. to Jobs program of which Steppin' Across America Foundation's President & Chairman, Yausmenda Ali-Bey, is an alumna. As a junior in high school, Y.E.S. to Jobs placed Yausmenda at Warner Bros. Records as an intern to the VP of A&R Black Music and that was a spring board for her eventual full-time Executive Assistant position and her success in providing independent marketing, promotions, publicity and project development services for her many clients.
It is the intent of SAAF to have this same effect on the high school juniors and seniors through Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™, an experience that will last them a lifetime. The benefits of this bootcamp can be seen and measured immediately by the participants and viewing audience of their film project.
This program was developed under the inspiration of Mr. Bill Duke, director/actor, Yausmenda's instructor. In the words of Mr. Duke...
"What are you waiting for?"
...He asks his students this repeatedly. With the growing assimilation and use of new media in the film and television industries, a window of opportunity is now open for new, up and coming filmmakers thirsty to see their work materialize. Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ is the "what" that are youth needs to motivate and assist them in capitalizing on their hidden talents. They get to see the fruits of their labor with...
LIGHTS...CAMERA...ACTION!!!
Positions to be filled by Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ participants will include, but not be limited to, the following fields:
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If you are interested in becoming a Partner or Sponsor of our Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ program click here or contact us by phone or email.
If you are interested in being a Mentor contact us by phone or email.
If you are interested in supporting our Behind The Scenes Bootcamp™ program please click here.
