G.O.T.S The G.O.T.S. Program  (Get Off The Street) was originated in the spring of 2007 through the “Focus on Youth Initiative” and the Toronto  District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board.   The goal of the program is to provide a fun, stimulating and safe summer experience while creating a leadership training mentorship program between older and younger youth. Our highly acclaimed program has been housed at schools within the identified  prioritized communities within Toronto with high numbers of disenfranchised youth.  The Program runs seven to eight weeks in the months of July and August and usually averages 30 kids per day. The Youth have ranged from the ages of 9 through to 19 years of age.  By participating in this program many of the high school youth are able to earn their volunteer hours for high school, as well as learn the foundations of teamwork, leadership and most importantly what it means to be a leader and not a follower. The G.O.T.S. Program is based on the principle of intervention for youth by youth.  It’s a proven fact that gang members, drug users as well as those involved with the Criminal Justice system will not change their habits because of someone telling them that they need to.  Youth need to find solutions that fit their needs.  Regesh staff is responsible for facilitating the structure in which this happens, not teaching or telling the youth what they need to do.  Each youth in the G.O.T.S. Program has a specific desire which needs to be met and every youth is different.  With identified individual goal plans the youth are set up to succeed, not to fail. Although a structured program is put into place, it is the youth who lead the programs and discussions with what they believe is important to them.  They are given the opportunity to speak out in a group where they can be heard and other youth are able to give them feedback or let them know that they are not alone in what they may be going through.  The space where the program is run becomes a place for self discovery where the youth can learn who they are and what potential they truly have.   The goal for the GOTS program is to set youth up for success when in any other circumstance they may fail.  By intervening in their current states we are more capable of preparing them for a safer and healthier lifestyle where they will be able to give back to a community that has given so much to them.   To view pictures about the G.O.T.S. program, click on the following link: GOTS Click on this link to see our latest G.O.T.S Newsletter