Project Reclaim made its facilities on Miller Street available for a one-day regional seminar for LYFE facilitators training on Monday, June 2, 2025.
“We were honored to have been asked to host this event,” said Ron Anderson, Executive Director of Project Reclaim.
What is LYFE?
“LYFE focuses on teaching healthy relationships, self-regulation, and life skills through interactive programming,” said Dr. Amanda Shackelford, executive director. “LYFE was created to promote positive youth development and to build awareness of consequences for at-risk behaviors for today’s vulnerable youth, such as children in foster care, children in poverty, and children in juvenile detention centers.”
“Prioritizing our most at-risk youth first, our goal is to expand statewide and provide our positive message to all students throughout Louisiana,” Dr. Shackelford continued, adding that “LYFE works with schools, non-profit and faith-based organizations, parents and the community to teach goal setting, leadership development, character building, and integrity.”
The training of facilitators was broken out into three sessions, Living Our Best LYFE, Experiencing the Curriculum, and Planning for Facilitation. The three-person training team included program managers Tressa Dunbar and Rachael Dorman.
“LYFE” is a holistic development for adolescents 10-19 years. According to Dr. Shackelford, those are really important ages. “We’re just hoping to make better citizens in Louisiana and the world…to break generational curses.”
According to its web site, Louisiana Youth For Excellence (LYFE) works to promote positive youth development and lower the epidemically high statistics of teen births and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). LYFE works diligently to do this by equipping youth with the education and skill sets needed to increase their self-esteem, enhance life coping skills, and improve refusal skills in innovative ways. With the help of federal funding through Title V Abstinence Education as a part of the Social Security Act, LYFE is able to provide extensive resources and services to the community. These include, but are not limited to:
– Educational workshops and seminars for youth and parents,
– Educational brochures and motivational books for youth and parents,
– Community resource guides and materials for youth and parents,
– Peer mentoring groups within organizations, and
– Abstinence-centric curriculum, Real Essentials (Endorsed as a leading evidence-based, medically-accurate abstinence approach to teen pregnancy and HIV/STI prevention)
In order to further assist the youth of Louisiana, LYFE seeks to provide financial support to established organizations that align with LYFE’s mission. In doing so, LYFE can expand its efforts to promote positive youth development outcomes while also empowering youth and instilling a strong sense of self-efficacy.
For more information on LYFE, contact Ron Anderson of Project Reclaim in Minden, or Dr. Amanda M. Shackelford at 225-342-3423 in Baton Rouge.
