Project Alpha is an Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. National Program. Project Alpha will be conducted once per year during the “Rites of Passage” weekend (4 days beginning on Thursday). It is designed to provide education, motivation and skill building on issues of responsibility, relationships, teen pregnancy/fatherhood and sexually transmitted diseases for young males’ ages 12-18 years. Designed to provide young men with current and accurate information about adolescent issues to include teen pregnancy prevention, Project Alpha will consist of a series of workshops/informational sessions conducted by members of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
There will be four (4) key workshop sessions:
Responsibility, Respect and the Role of Males in Relationships
Adolescent Pregnancy and Fatherhood
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Decision-Making and Conflict Management within Relationships
Program Goals
Project Alpha is an educational program for adolescent males conducted by the men of the Omicron Alpha Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. The program is performed collaboratively with the “Rites of Passage” Organization of Spotsylvania Virginia whose mission is to inspire, enable, challenge and empower boys and young men to realize their full potential by putting forth their maximum efforts to become responsible, healthy, productive and successful members of society. The overarching goal is to provide information and assist young men with making responsible decisions.
This program encourages participants to increase healthy lifestyle behaviors by learning about the consequences of pregnancy, relationships, and the importance of fatherhood. The program has three main components: knowledge building, encouragement, and communicating knowledge gained by taking the message back to friends and the community.
Project Alpha seeks to create a safe environment where young men can learn about and explore their relationships, manhood and issues that can affect their future. This provides the foundation for reaching the program’s three goals:
Sharing Knowledge - combating ignorance and fear with factual information
Changing Attitudes - providing motivation toward positive changes in sexual behavior
Providing Skills - creating a sense of empowerment and self-esteem
Program Objectives
This project is where we make clear the expectations of young men. While we respect their right to make their own choices about any of the subject topics, we expect them to behave responsibly and always think about the consequences of the choices they make. In order to support the stated goals of the Program, Project Alpha will implement the following three objectives:
Provide an open and safe forum to exchange information
Provide factual data to enhance understanding of life circumstances
Provide an understanding of the “Decision Making Process”
Program Objective #1
The first objective of this program is to provide an open and safe forum consisting of four workshop sessions that seeks to provoke meaningful interactive discussion. Project Alpha will be combined with the Rites of Passage Program that already provides a safe environment for young men. The workshop sessions will be in a classroom environment where only those who are involved with the Program will have access. Each classroom will offer the opportunity for visual aids and space for role play. The Facilitators for each session will be trained on Do’s and Don’ts, as to provide a comfortable environment for sharing. They should feel empowered to ask the questions on their mind and steer the direction of the discussions, topics, and activities. Within the program, there will be a positive atmosphere of encouragement, so young men will leave the session(s) feeling good about who they are.
Program Objective #2
The second objective is to provide factual data that should help toward decision making. The factual data or information should assist in improving adolescent’s behavior and decision making. We believe providing young men with real facts about life circumstances, and supporting it with testimonies, will assist them toward making better decisions. Doing so will also help change attitudes and ultimately allow the young men to grow with respect to the choices they make.
Program Objective #3
Last, the third objective is to teach the young men about the “Decision Making Process’. Project Alpha seeks to help young people understand the decision-making process, which is a seven (7) step process. Decision making is the process of making choices by identifying a decision, gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions. Using a step-by-step decision-making process can help young men make more deliberate, thoughtful decisions by organizing relevant information and defining alternatives. Additionally, young men will also learn how to manage conflicts peacefully. Providing these skills increase the chance that young men will choose the most satisfying alternative possible.
Workshop Sessions
Each workshop session will be one hour long, which will include videos, role-play, group discussions, and lectures. Every session will allow youth to speak out to their peers and the adult mentors about issues of concern.
The Program will start with a viewing of the S.T.A.T.S (Sex, Teens, AIDS, Take ‘em Serious) video. S.T.A.T.S. is a custom-designed twenty-minute videotaped docu-drama highlighting issues of concern to young males. The viewing of the video will touch on each topic area identified in the four workshop sessions. The video will serve as a lead-In to the discussion for each session. Each Workshop session will have a Facilitator, description of the session, and activities that will be performed during each session.
