Paying Forward: Assisting The Next Generation

Wimbai Mutonono - Executive Director

Teenagers, especially high school students are currently facing challenges and hardships

that they are ill-equipped to deal with. The escalating high school dropout rates and

other statistics specific to the high school population reveal the immensity of the

problem. Through LEGACY Youth Development Institute, Gulf South Leadership Institute

in partnership with local professionals educates, equips and empowers high school

students through career and workforce readiness mentoring.

LEGACY Institute partners with the community to deliver a workforce mentoring program

that helps give young men and women the confidence, resources, tools and skills they

need to achieve their potential. By offering this youth career initiative, Gulf South

Leadership Institute is reinforcing what the education system is offering as well as adding

to the pool of resources available to high school students within the community.

THIS ISSUE

Assisting The Next Generation - E.D. P.1

Partnering with Professionals P.2

Developing Partnerships P.2

Smart Investment P.3

Office and Location Update P.4

The Core values that guide LEGACY

Youth Development Institute are:

Helping young people grasp basic

academic skills that facilitate graduation

from high school.

Assisting youth develop transferable job

skills to prepare them for the workforce

Equipping high school students with

interpersonal skills, knowledge, and

understanding of careers.

LEGACY Youth Development Institute Core Values:

Gulf South Leadership Institute

Spring - Summer 2012 News and Updates

Building Communities, One Leader At A Time.

Partnering with professionals to offer career readiness tools and life skills development:

Life Skills Development equips the

participants with skills that improve

eligibility for employment or pursuit

of post secondary education.

Career Exposure is delivered though

programs that provide information,

skills, and credentials required to

enter and advance in a field of choice.

Youth Development Initiatives include

any and all services that we can make

available to aid the youth in

overcoming individual challenges to

success.

LEGACY Youth Development Institute is a

strategy for helping young people succeed in school, work and life. The program is designed to a community model approach to youth career development. Gulf South Leadership Institute partners with the community to deliver a workforce mentoring program that equips young men and women with confidence, resources, tools and skills they need to achieve their potential.

High school dropout rates continue to escalate across the nation. The goal of LEGACY Youth Development Institute is to contribute to the process of lowering the dropout rates in our immediate community by engaging high school students in quality mentoring relationships with adults in various professional careers.

Research and statistics reveal the value of youth career development as a strategy to combat the dropout problem. The impact of the dropout problem affects local communities, states, and ultimately the nation at large. The LEGACY model for

LEGACY Youth Development

Institute Program Approach:

Otto Rojas (GSLI Board Chairman) and

Slidell’s Mayor Freddy Drennan with

LEGACY participants.

Kyra Turner and Kara Turner engaged

during a session of the LEGACY program.

Career mentoring and development takes into consideration some of the proven and successful methods communicated by the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, and these methods are applied with relevance in mind. LEGACY endeavors to mentor young people to become highly responsible citizens with a high degree of self-reliance, resourcefulness, positive character/ and the desire and skill to contribute to the economy.

The program offers caring mentors from the community, composed of men and women who trust and believe in the potential that is present in every young person, and who are willing to invest time and resources to tap into that potential. Youth Career Development Social Issue Report documents that students who drop out of high school account for an estimated loss in potential earnings of $65.8 billion for the United States, and the solution of the problem is collaborated efforts and projects. The Education system alone cannot tackle the problem. It is a problem that calls for community-based, school-based, online-based, and faith-based approaches to career development and exploration.

By offering this youth career development initiative, Gulf South Leadership Institute is not taking away from other programs already in place, but reinforcing and adding to the pool of resources for high school students within the community.

LEGACY Institute has a three-component

approach for youth career mentoring and

development: fostering applied skills,

exposing to a wide variety of careers , and

offering youth development services.

Building Communities, One Leader At A Time

LIFE SKILLS

DEVELOPMENT

CAREER

EXPOSURE

YOUTH

DEVELOPMENT

INITIATIVES

The success of LEGACY Institute is highly

dependent on quality program delivery

partnerships. One such partnership is the

partnership established between Gulf

South Leadership Institute and Slidell

Memorial Hospital (SMH) Parenting

Center. This partnership facilitates the

use of conference rooms and facilities for

workshops and seminars. The success of

this mission to educate, equip, and

empower teenagers to get them ready for

the workforce is a huge undertaking, and

as such it requires the collaboration of

resources.

Gulf South Leadership Institute values

each networking relationship that helps

make the process easy yet accomplishing

the goals set forth. As a result of the

partnership with SMH Parenting Center,

Gulf South Leadership Institute is able to

offer seminars and workshops at any of

the Slidell Memorial Hospital System

conference rooms.

Board of Directors

2012

A business professional with a

passion for combining business

experience and education to make a

significant contribution in the field of

education. Over 10 years of diverse

experience in higher education, and

the non-profit sector with emphasis

The process of developing teenagers through career and workforce readiness mentoring is a limited reality without the support of professionals, parents and educators. One of the basic ways to help young people today is by caring for them and LEGACY Institute is surrounded by men and women who care for the future of high school students in our community. For greater success, the network cannot be too big and LEGACY continues to stretch an open invitation to more parents, professionals and educators. “Alone We do so little; together we can do so much.” - Helen Keller

LEGACY Institute Program Partnerships

Building Communities, One Leader At A Time

PROFESSIONALS , PARENTS, AND

EDUCATORS

Otto Rojas

Board Chairman

Otto Rojas is a native of Honduras and has lived in the New Orleans area since 1979. He has a Paralegal degree from Tulane University, 20 years business experience in the commercial collection industry and currently works for Bios Technolo-gies in sales. Otto also served hon-orably in the US Marine Corps and is a veteran of Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He is a great proponent of leadership in the ministry circles. He has been a Ministry Leadership student of Gulf South Leadership Institute and a lay leader within the

Carlton Greene

Board Vice-Chair

Mrs. Dawn Kahl serves as the assistant to

Gulf South Leadership Institute’s treasurer,

her husband Jason Kahl. Her experience is

in accounting and administration, gained

from past employment positions. Dawn

Kahl is the proud mother of three girls who

keep her busy in addition to her role with

Gulf South Leadership Institute.

Bishop Eugene Wellington Sr. was born in

Bukavu, Zaire and at a young age his family

moved to Sierra Leone where he completed

his high school education. After graduating

from high school he moved to Poland on an

academic scholarship and earned a Master’s

degree in Agricultural Marketing. Bishop

Wellington moved to Washington DC in 1987

to work with the May Department Corp,

then later moved to Louisiana where he

received his calling to ministry. As an ordained minister with the

United Pentecostal Church, he founded The El-Bethel Apostolic

Ministry (T.E.A.M). He also serves as chaplain and is a board member

for a few of the community organizations in the area including Gulf

South Leadership Institute.

Hans Ngodock is a research scientist with

the Naval Research Laboratory at the John

Stennis space center in southern Mississippi.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree of Science in

applied mathematics from the University of

Yaoundé (Republic of Cameroon) and a

Master’s degree in applied mathematics

and computer science from Université

Joseph Fourier in France. He has worked as a research associate at

Oregon state university and the University of Southern Mississippi.

He previously served as volunteer campus ministry leader with

“Les Groupes Biblibques Universitaires” in France, as youth

pastor with a Spanish church in Corvallis, OR.

GULF SOUTH LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

1290 Seventh Street. Suite 5

Slidell, LA 70458

985.641.8427 Office gsli@gulfsouthleadership.org

www.gulfsouthleadership.org www.gulfsouthleadership.org/blog

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GSLINOLA Facebook: http: //www.facebook.com/LEGACYNOLA

Board of Directors 2012 (Continued)

in regulatory compliance, program administration, grant-

writing and fundraising, budget management, forming

partnerships and collaborations, attrition analysis and

improvement, program implementation, and adult

learning. Carlton has held director level positions at “grass-

root” community based organizations as well as held key

leadership positions in higher education. Carlton has

mentored countless youth throughout his career who have

predominately lived in underserved communities. Carlton

possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree from Auburn

University, an MBA from Troy State University and is

currently pursuing a Doctorate in Management. Carlton has

a passion for working with youth and one of his objectives

is to ensure that all youth are equipped with the necessary

resources to succeed in their academic pursuits and in life.

______________________________________________________

A decorated Veteran of Desert Storm

and Desert shield serving active duty

with the First Calvary out of Fort

Hood Texas. After being discharged in

1991 he started a school with his back

ground in AM/FM communications he

was certified in 1994 as a Novell

Engineer and Network Analyst, Jason

started with integrating hardware and software into K-12

then moved to private sector. He has worked with

information technology in Healthcare within the last 7.5

years as a Senior Project Manager and Senior Field Engineer

with a pharmacy and supply automation company. He was

side lined by a spinal cord injury in 2009, but remains active

in the community, he has served on the board of his

church, elected Vice President of the church's men’s club

and councils other veterans. Jason Kahl. Jason is supported

by his wife Dawn Kahl who is also very active in the GSLI

filling in for Jason when his physical limits are exceeded.

________________________________________________

P.O. Box 3352

Slidell, LA 70459

Carlton Greene

Board Vice-Chair

Jason Kahl

Board Treasurer

Dawn Kahl

Treasurer Assistant

Bishop Wellington

Board Member

Hansen Massoma

Board Member