Help Rochester’s Youth Prosper!
Who We Are
ProsperRochester, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, facilitates collaborations between youth service organizations and schools to guide youth in getting and keeping jobs. At its core, programming focuses on social and emotional learning and essential business peer-to-peer job training, which youth translate into their style and culture through the arts.
What We’ve Been Up To
Wellventions: Turning Heads and Making Headlines
Our innovative initiatives for students are capturing attention, and the news has taken notice. Check out some recent segments featuring the exciting work we’re doing!
Channel 8 - Anti-Bullying Week Coverage
Our Products
Our Products
Active Initiatives
Social Emotional Learning Courses
We’ve developed a free curriculum designed to help teachers, parents, and other caretakers facilitate their own SEL activities/workshops to meet the diverse social-emotional needs of school-age children, especially those who struggle with emotional regulation, anxiety, or self-expression.
We’ve divided our Social Emotional Learning courses into modules. Each module provides information on a facet of social-emotional learning and step-by-step kid-approved activities to use in groups or 1-1 settings.
WellVentions
Over the past 10 years, we have delivered programming to 750+ Rochester youth from a variety of city, suburban, and charter schools. Our youth entrepreneurs field train and operate their “Mini Me Mart” at the Rochester Public Market. There they sell their specialty food products, print on demand masks and T-Shirts, and acquire the confidence, business skills, and stamina to successfully transition into a work environment. To date, over $200,000 from pasta, sauce, smoothie, mask, and puppet sales have been reinvested in training, student stipends, and new product development.
Business & Life Skill Training
Getting a job is hard enough, but keeping a job is one of the biggest challenges youth face today. WellVentions youth internalize our job training modules by interpreting what they learn into workshops, games, products, and media to share with their peers.
Self Awareness In Nature
Developing self-awareness skills are essential to business training. Youth in our program first experience the quiet power of nature, connect with their surroundings, then open their awareness to observe their own behavior. As youth learn to understand their emotions, they become aware of the consequences of their actions and how to manage their behavior with others.
Innerspace
Self Awareness is key to success both personally and in business. WellVentions young entrepreneurs learn about their emotions, and create ”edutainment” style programming to share what they learn with their younger peers. They branded their new programming and product lines “Innerspace”, and through the process of developing curriculum and inventing products focused on Social Emotional Health, students not only learn valuable business and leadership tools to help manage their emotions, but also inspire their family, friends, and the broader community to take the journey with them.
Student Testimonials
Kwan Moore
WellVentions Alumni 2015
Fashion Designer, Non-Profit Leader
”WellVentions inspired me to build leadership skills and I took with me in my life. I was able to stop a young individual from committing suicide so I traveled to be interviewed on national news stations like Good Morning America and radio shows to talk about the aftermath I formed a non-profit organization targeted to people who have suicide issues. I have a fashion line called Calvino collections and just got a gig where I will be styling Jacob Latimore, a famous actor and song writer. WellVentions helped me believe that I can be a leader and a role model in my community.”
Selena Ragland
WellVentions Alumni, 2016
Facilitator - Baden Street Settlement House
”WellVentions showed me how to accept and work with people from all walks of life. By working with the program at the Public Market and the Rec Centers, I experienced first-hand the importance of building community and collaborations.”