S.K.I.L.L.S

Success through Knowledge and Innovative Lifelong Learning Skills is a mentoring program dedicated to embracing and empowering youth with the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to make good life choices. The program encompasses:

Faith Based Initiatives

• Coordinated Family & School Projects  
• Monitoring of Grades, Behavior & Attendance   
• Self Awareness & Motivational Workshops    
• Career Awareness Workshops & Job Shadowing   
• Teamwork & Leadership Skills    
• Community Service Projects  
• Abstinence Education  
• Field Trip & Planned Events   
• Dialog Journaling

Community Service Outreach

• CCMI- Soup Kitchen
• Habitat for Humanity
• Harry Chapin Food Bank
• Dr. Ella Piper Senior Center
• Society of St. Andrew - Gleaning Program
• American Red Cross, Hurricane Relief

Field Trips

• FDLE
• Echo Farms
• FOX 4 News
• Lee County Courts
• SW Regional Airport
• Six Mile Slough Preserve
• NASA Kennedy Space Center

Life Skills/Education

• FGCU - Girls Going Places Entrepreneurial Workshop
• Baby Think It Over - Partnership with Girl Scouts
• Project Reality Game Plan
• Navigator Abstinence Program

“Through structured group mentoring, we provide the support and motivation needed to help keep our kids off the streets, in school and away from drugs. Some of these girls are facing serious issues in their lives, but most of them are just teenage girls that need some direction. It amazes me how the smallest suggestions I make in their decision making process can set a whole new pattern of thought into motion. The girls involved in SKILLS are committed to breaking the negative cycles that perpetuate their community. Their commitment to doing so is inspiring to me. We’re not giving them a hand out, we’re giving them a hand up, but once they’re up, they are unstoppable.”

Veronica Barber | SKILLS Program Director

“There are a lot of issues that are just too uncomfortable to talk to friends or relatives about. Ms. Veronica doesn’t judge us. She’s been 15 years old before, and she lets us know that. Sometimes I think the world is ending, but she’s always there to put things in perspective for us girls. The important thing is that we make the right decisions in the present, for the sake of our future.”

Gabrielle | SKILLS Mentee

AFCAAM is a program of Catholic Charities - Diocese of Venice, Inc.