Vanguard Initiative, Inc.

Enhancing Young Lives Through Recreation. Vanguard Initiative is based in Phoenix, AZ. Our objectives include providing young men with constructive mentoring, life skill development resources, recreational activities and community vitalizing objectives. Social awareness is prioritized into our agenda with emphasis on the current and past injustices and generational circumstances regarding melanoid people of African descent. Research shows that youth that have developed a healthy ethnic identity (sense of belonging), are more likely to achieve positive academic, psychological, and social outcomes. ​ The adverse effects of the prison-industrial complex, poor education, work-life imbalance, and limited access to constructive community based outlets has diminished the development of many youth and young adults abroad. Our approach intends to prepare the next generation of productive leaders to appropriately navigate the realities of adulthood and develop a model community which is ideal to work, live, and play. Participants will be encouraged to embrace the challenges of executing economic solutions for the benefit of themselves, their families, and the community.