REAL (Realizing Excellence, Achievement, and Leadership) Rising Up

The Governor’s Prevention Partnership is partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Connecticut, My People Community Services, Waterbury Youth Services, and the Bridgeport Public Education Fund to build and expand the existing mentoring infrastructure to incorporate social-emotional learning (SEL) delivered by mentors in five communities that are disproportionately impacted by the opioid epidemic in Connecticut. The REAL (Realizing Excellence, Achievement, and Leadership) Rising Up model combines group and one-on-one mentoring using evidence-based mentoring practices with opioid and other substance misuse prevention strategies and mentor roles in teaching/coaching youth to improve their SEL skills. The goals are to expand youth and family partnerships and integrate SEL into training, technical assistance, and Mentoring for Prevention lessons; create the infrastructure for providing training and technical assistance to youth mentoring programs on the use of SEL in mentoring; implement targeted SEL training in a group format in partner mentoring programs and opioid misuse prevention strategies; raise awareness about the impact of opioids and the prevention role of mentoring; and improve outcomes for 210 youth ages 10–17 in Bridgeport, Hartford, Torrington, Waterbury, and Windham. REAL Rising Up will engage youth and their families throughout project design and implementation by expanding representation on the Advisory Council and incorporating family-led events focused on prevention.