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"It Takes One To Succeed and Others Will Follow"
Take One Community Program offers a wide variety of opportunities to elementary, middle, and high school students. Everyday in the United States as many as 15 million children leave school with no place to go. Many of these children become involved with activities that are negative and cause problems for them and their families, drugs, alcohol, gang activity or become sexually active. Some are low achievers academically and don't fit in at their school environment. What options does this leave for our youth? Take One offers many programs such as our after school program where children can engage in enriching activities and establish healthy relationships that increase confidence and encourage success in all areas of their lives, school, home, and community involvement.
Our programs provide comprehensive after school programs that are fun, lively, and creative in a safe and secure environment. On a daily basis our youth will experience programs that nurture their minds, bodies, and spirits that incorporate skills such as independent thinking and learning to help them achieve success in school and life.
Take One Community Program Media and News
PRESS RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Margaret Hall, Collaborative Programs & SDVG 248.227.0096
Yohannes Bolds, Take One 248.842.9540
Immediate Release
Bloomfield Hills, Pontiac Organizations Collaborate to Fight Against Child Abuse
Youth, Educators, Parents, Legislators, Law Enforcement and
Advocates are encouraged to attend community forum and discuss the issues.
Southfield, MI. (1 March 2011) ? April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month a time to raise awareness about child abuse and neglect and create strong communities to support children and families. Southfield Domestic Violence Group, in collaboration with Take One Community Program, will host a community symposium titled, ?Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention ? on April 20, 2011, 6 p.m. at United Methodist Church of Madison Heights, 246 E. 11 Mile, 48071. The keynote speaker will be Brittni Kellom. Ms. Brittni Kellom is the CEO and Founder of JUST SPEAK, INCORPORATED. Ms. Kellom started the organization in 2003, after suffering four years of severe sexual and emotional abuse from her biological father.
The public is invited to attend the free event and dinner, sponsored by the church; Rev. Jean Snyder is the pastor. The theme, ?Child Abuse and Neglect Our Children Deserve Better?.
Brittni, was sixteen years old an honor student at Cranbrook Schools when she decided to speak out about her abuse. Her own understanding of the importance of speaking out has compelled her to travel sharing her story of pain and healing with others.
The civil courts (Child Protective Services) charged her father with sexual child abuse describing him as a known pedophile. Yet, he has never been prosecuted. Ms. Kellom has become more aware of the number of offenders who remain free. She is determined to educate and encourage action, so pedophiles/predators receive appropriate punishment and/or treatment. More importantly, she is compassionate about empowering victims to thrive as survivors.
?Children are being attacked and neglected said Margaret Hall, founder of SDVG, a nonprofit advocacy organization against domestic abuse founded in 2006. ?Listen to the news reports and you know there is something horribly wrong in the lives of our children. Some are getting shot, poisoned, abandoned, and killed where does it end? ?A shared commitment has to take place, in the community to strengthen families to support intervention and prevention.? For more info, visit www.meetup.com/Domestic-Violence-Survivors/ or www.takeonecommunityprogram.org.
?The well-being of children is universally understood and valued; and raising children in surroundings which ensure healthy, safe and nurturing experiences should be supported by the actions of every individual and every community?, states Yohannes Bolds, Ceo of Takeone Community Program, an organization that provides services for youth, in Pontiac and the metropolitan Detroit area.
Every 10 seconds a report is made about child abuse. Almost 5 children die every day as a result of child abuse and more than three out of four is under the age of four according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. April is National Child Abuse Prevention month. For more information about the event call 248 227-0096.
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Helping out one youth at a time
By DUSTIN BLITCHOK
Special to The Oakland Press
PONTIAC An Ohio native has made a career out of making a difference in his adopted city. Yohannes Bolds founded the Take 1 Community Program in 1999, an education technology nonprofit, and is working to expand it into an umbrella organization for community development and youth-at-risk programming.
Take 1 executive board members are Peter Arabo, Larry Dixon, Sam Hanna, Krystal Johnson, Oakland Circuit Judge Denise Langford Morris, Sue Schweim and state Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, whose district includes Pontiac.
Hanna, of Grace Property Management, says that Take 1 helps children in the city with no place to go and that it has reached out to parents, as well.
Dixon, owner of Larry's Towing in Waterford Township, has donated a vehicle to the nonprofit. He says that Bolds tries to help every person he comes in contact with.
Bolds has been involved with the Baldwin Center and Boys and Girls Club of Pontiac. He serves on the executive board of the North Oakland chapter of the NAACP, and works with organizations such as the Detroit Parent Network, the Southfield Domestic Violence Group, Angelica Impact, the Anti-Defamation League, HAVEN and the Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency.
Take 1 works to close the digital divide of Internet access in the inner city and has installed computer labs at multiple sites in the city of Pontiac.
Trinity Health Systems, the corporate owner of St. Joseph Mercy hospitals in Pontiac and elsewhere, donates computers to Take 1 1,100 and counting whenever it upgrades its computer systems.
Keith Teller, at the Oakland Technical Center in Pontiac, loads software onto the donated computers en masse. Other Take 1 programs include teen domestic violence counseling, a drama club and homework help.
Bolds, who moved to Pontiac in 1994, used to work in radio broadcasting and, in Pontiac, worked as the late Judge William Watermans personal assistant.
He says, Judge Waterman kept me on point as far as teaching me a lot of different things about the law and about making good decisions and connections.
I used to be a functioning drug addict, Bolds said. I had to make a decision did I want to get high or get paid. I quit drugs in 1997 and started working in the schools.
Bolds later worked as a legislative aide for Melton. He says that its by the grace of God that I can do what I do. I've been surviving through donations.
Bolds is currently seeking help with grant writing.
Take One's headquarters are at 42 E. Fairmount Pike in Pontiac. Call 248-454-1416
Detroit Pistons "Pack the Palace for Charity" -- Take One ... Community Program
November 17, 3:55 PM
Detroit Pop Culture ExaminerGarrett Godwin
PONTIAC, MI: For the past decade, the Take One Community Program has been dedicated to helping the children of Michigan achieve their full potential in the process of being part of the solution to the state, not the growing problems of crime, politics, and corruption that has been giving the Motor City a bad name thanks to the media as well as mostly due to disgraced former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. "The purpose is for children to get an education, be productive citizens, and get them off the streets" said executive director Yohannes Bolds, who created the non-profit foundation in 1999.
Its humble beginnings were of a after-school program, which then led to being a yearly program of developing after school leadership skills, activities like air hockey and drama, and several programs such as "Closing the Gap", where children go online for free to study, send emails, learn how to write resumes and cover letters, and more. "They do research, homework, job search: anything they want to do online. It's a good program. Nobody has that around but me" Bolds stated.
Thanks to a community partnership with State Rep.Tim Melton (District 29), Trinity Health Services (St. Joseph Hospitals) donated the computers, as Microsoft donates over $230,000 worth of software, and Oakland Teach provides technical support and upkeep of the computers.
Besides learning to use their minds, the Take One participants can also learn the importance of respecting one another, especially where domestic violence is concerned. "Domestic violence is like an elephant in the room that nobody wants to know" Bolds continued. "We tell the kids that a black eye doesn't mean 'I love you'. We tell them not to argue and work with them through "Conflict Resolution" and "Character Education". As we all know, character counts. With education & technology, we will keep the kids occupied."
The organization is in the works of finding to give lessons in karate, but it's isn't easy due to the belief that martial arts is about fighting and violence rather the spiritual philosophy behind it. However, Yohannes said: "But I have someone trying to incorporate into self-defense lessons. You just can't have any self-defense without discipline. You gotta be patient."
Hitting the double digit this year, Take One is in conjunction with the Pistons-Palace Foundation for the annual "Pack The Palace for Charity" on Thursday, December 10 at the Palace in Auburn Hills, where the Pistons goes against the Denver Nuggets, as upper-level tickets are at a discount with $20 (original price is $40), follow by lower-level tickets at $40 (original price is $65). Starting a week from tomorrow, with each ticket bought and paid for, the Pistons will be donating $10 to Take One for their funds. We are asking for donations & assistance for out organization to keep our doors open.
"We've been blessed so far. I'll keep doing what I've been doing, and He'll [God] keep on blessing me" Bolds praised.
If interested in donating, contact Yohannes Bolds at 248-842-9540 or 248-454-1416. More information can be found at www.takeonecommunityprogram.org.
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that teaches, character, is educational and provides recreational activities for children and youth and young adults.
