TOMORROW'S LEADERS WELCOMES YOU
Hope Is Where the Heart Is
OUR MISSION
Helen Wade-Lawrence is the Founder of Young Ladies of Tomorrow, Inc. (501c3 nonprofit) and directed the organization from 1993-2019. She is also the Founder of Tomorrow's Leaders.
Tomorrow’s Leaders (TL) is a youth development organization that uses a trauma-informed holistic approach to serve as an alternative to the juvenile justice system for adolescent youth coming out of underserved communities. Tomorrow’s Leaders (TL) program was created to service male, females and gender identity youth who are apart of family court social services. The organization’s employs this approach in its youth development programs to empower each youth in hopes of redirecting their course toward meaningful and productive futures. The program services as a Counseling, Life skill, Mentoring and Specialized Services for youth age 14-19. TL offers counseling, therapeutic recreation, job training, mentorship, and other services/opportunities for its participants.
TL fosters a community of empowerment and support for our youth to learn the essence of what it means to be a strong, and confident. Through the teachings and mentoring of our trained social workers and professionals, our youth are challenged to increase their self-awareness and develop mentally and emotionally. When youth come to TL, our first objective is to identifying the root cause of the issue. "Through relevant, creative, and personalized potential solutions, TL helps each participant work through prior emotional and/or physical abuse, intimacy with street life, teen pregnancy, addiction, or poor self-esteem. TL seeks to reduce recidivism, detention rates, and the number of program participants receiving referrals for service in the juvenile justice system.
OUR VISION
Our vision is to become an organization that is recognized by the government, federal agencies, community-based organizations, and foundations as an organization that supports adolescent
youth and their families who are at risk in the areas of:
having limited reading proficiency
having experienced abuse or trauma
having exhibited behavior problems
crime
unemployment
teen parenthood
Measures of family risk include:
poverty
a low level of parental education
a large number of children
single parenthood
welfare dependence
family dysfunction
abuse
HISTORY
The Background
The former Young Ladies of Tomorrow (non-profit) founded by Helen Wade-Lawrence in 1993-2019. The organization was formally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1999. Young Ladies of Tomorrow (YLOT) was a gender-specific program for young women ages 9-17.
In 2014 Mrs. Wade-Lawrence established Young Ladies of Tomorrow LLC t/a Tomorrow’s Leaders (T-Leaders) for the sole purpose to working with both male and female’s youth who are involved in the DC Superior Court Services Juvenal Justice system.
T-Leaders is the same Youth Development organization servicing at-risk youth from underserved District of Columbia communities. Mrs. Wade-Lawrence has partnered with the DC Superior Court Services Division (CSS) from 1993 to present, The Department of Human Services (DHS) from 2010 to 2017, Parent and Adolescent Support Services (PASS), the Alternative to Court Experience (ACE) Diversion Program, and The Youth Rehabilitation Services DC Youth Link from 2014 to 2016. In the school year of 2018-19, We added Meridian Public Charter School and Friendship Woodbridge Public Charter School as a part of our balance and restore to justice (BARJ) in-school program.
The mission behind T-Leaders programs is to improve the lives of our participants by providing positive youth development opportunities to improve educational, social, and emotional growth, to strengthen their confidence and self-worth, and to develop healthy behaviors. Tomorrow’s Leaders also emphasizes employment readiness skills including financial literacy. At its core, the program has used a trauma-informed holistic approach to serve as an alternative to the juvenile justice system who are coming out of underserved communities. The youth development
program empowers these adolescents to successfully transition into adult life.
Our programs are designed to prepare youth to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood socially, morally, emotionally, physically, and cognitively competent. T Leaders uses a positive approach to youth development which addresses the broader needs of youth when compared with deficit-based models focusing solely on surface-level limitations and shortcomings.
T-Leaders programs addresses the delinquency and risk factors facing youth between the ages of 13-17 who are a part of the juvenile justice system, Temporary Assistance for Needy Family, and foster care system to improve the lives of our participants by providing services to strengthen their confidence and self-worth, develop healthy behaviors, reduce risk factors, and build employment readiness skillsincluding financial literacy. T-Leaders uses a strength-based approach that promotes positive views of self and takes focus away from blame or judgement. It is a way of viewing youth as resourceful and resilient in the face of adversity with a focus on future outcomes and strengths that the youth being to a problem or crisis.
T-Leaders programs objective builds on the personal strengths of our participants’ talents, interests, and resources. Our activities are combined with afterschool programs consisting of workshops, homework help, STEM programs, mentoring sessions, and hands-on activities. The Etiquette Program introduces participants to the formal requirements governing one’s behavior in the workforce.
Additionally, we prepare youths to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood through a coordinated, progressive series of activities and experiences, which help them to become socially, morally, emotionally, physically, and cognitively competent.
HISTORY: ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Helen Wade-Lawrence
Helen Wade-Lawrence is the Founder of Young Ladies of Tomorrow (non-profit) and led the organization from 1993-2019. She is also the Founder and current Director of Tomorrows Leaders (TL). She has dedicated her life to personally providing opportunities for young ladies to blossom into healthy, well-adjusted women. Ms. Wade has more than 30 years’ experience working with adolescents involved in the juvenile justice and/or foster care system. Ms. Wade-Lawrence has partnered with the DC Superior Court Services Division (CSS) from 1993 to present, The Department of Human Services (DHS) from 2010 to 2017, Parent and Adolescent Support Services (PASS), the Alternative to Court Experience (ACE) Diversion Program, and The Youth Rehabilitation Services DC Youth Link from 2014 to 2016. Department of Employment Summer Youth Employment Service (SYEP).
Ms. Wade-Lawrence has provided direct care service as a therapeutic foster parent with the Department of Child and Family Services of the District of Columbia, Progressive Life Therapeutic foster parent agency, and Boys and Girls Town of America. Ms. Wade- Lawrence has partner with such organization as Arch Youth Opportunity Program, and Yayah’s Inc. “Strengthening Families”. In the school year of 2018-19, The program added Meridian Public Charter School and Friendship Woodbridge Public Charter School as a part of our balance and restore to justice (BARJ) in-school program.
Ms. Wade-Lawrence has completed the Government of the District of Columbia Executive Office of the
Mayor the office of Partnerships and Grants Development 2004-2005 Strengthening Partners Initiative
Program. Ms. Wade has also completed ARISE Life- Skills Certificate Training. She also sits on the
Alternatives to Secure Detention Subcommittee.