Reentry to Resilience (R2R) Visionary Vault

April is Second Chance Month, a designation from the federal Office of Justice Programs that aims to raise awareness of the importance of providing justice-involved people opportunities for second chances, including education, employment, and housing. Throughout the month, Communities In Schools of North Carolina (CISNC) has engaged youth involved in our Reentry to Resilience (R2R) program at Youth Development Centers (YDCs) throughout the state.

Over the past few weeks, we held a good-natured competition at YDCs all over the state. We call these “Shark Tank”-like events the “Visionary Vault”. YDC youth were encouraged to step into the spotlight and pitch their products to a panel of judges. These young people put their all into their projects, coming up with all sorts of interesting ideas, inventions and improvements. From mobile trade school boxes to automatic fishing rods and even ways to make mental health resources more accessible to everyone, their ideas were informed by their passions and the needs they see in themselves and their peers. Winners from each YDC earned their place on the R2R Youth Advisory Board to help shape the future of the program.

“You know, I think they’ve been doing very well.” Says Dr. Ebony Stewart Knight, who served as one of the judges at the competition at the Cabarrus YDC “(The) ones who went first, you’re first, so you really don’t have the ability to see what everybody else is doing. You don’t know what to expect, so they did good. But every presentation is getting better and better and better.”

Jill Cox, CEO of CISNC, also served as a judge and was impressed by the creativity that these young people brought to the table. “The products have been really interesting to watch and I love the grandma’s cane, a poop picker upper. I don’t need the cane yet, but I love not having to lean over and pick it up. It was easy and simple, and even had a security feature. They thought through what would be a really interesting feature for their target market age group on that one. I thought that was great too.”

These young people interacted with business leaders in the wider community and got advice from them, giving them avenues to explore. The judges. along with R2R staff, provide the mentorship these youths need to be able to grow into the person they hope to be, and isn’t that growth the whole point of second chances?