Description
Healing the healer. Training the trainer. Restoring the leader.
The New Direction Leadership Empowerment Initiative: Curriculum Guide is a trauma-informed, culturally grounded resource created to support frontline workers, educators, and community leaders in violence prevention. Designed as the official facilitator manual for the Junior Violence Interrupter Program, this guide equips mentors and program staff to lead transformational sessions that restore, empower, and elevate both youth and the adults who serve them.
Developed by justice-impacted author Dr. Jamila T. Davis and civil rights attorney Angelo Pinto, Esq., in partnership with New Direction 360 grassroots leaders Khalil Tutt, Shadee Dukes, and Alia Clark, this curriculum brings lived experience and deep community insight into every page.
With this guide, facilitators will be able to:
- Deliver a 12-month leadership and violence prevention curriculum
- Create emotionally safe spaces for trauma healing and identity development
- Teach youth the principles of peacebuilding, purpose, and power
- Train and certify Junior Violence Interrupters to lead in their schools and neighborhoods
- Support long-term restoration for youth and staff through reflection and community care
Each unit includes detailed lesson plans, facilitator prompts, discussion guides, and experiential activities covering topics such as self-awareness, trauma recovery, financial literacy, civic engagement, digital advocacy, and more.
Why This Curriculum Is Essential
Frontline work is sacred—but it’s also heavy. This guide not only supports youth leadership development, it also provides strategies for adult practitioners to manage burnout, reconnect with purpose, and lead with intention. It’s a healing-centered resource built with the understanding that when we restore those who lead, we transform the systems they operate in.
Whether you’re running school-based programs, reentry initiatives, or community healing spaces, this guide is your roadmap to training the next generation of violence interrupters—while restoring the heart of the work.
This is not just a curriculum. It’s a call to rebuild, renew, and rise.
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