Statements
Mission
To steer youth straight toward making sound, rational decisions through a learning experience that provides a message of reality to help them make positive, informed choices.
Background
Steered Straight is a 17-year proven program that does not explain drug prevention at school assemblies but TEACHES the reality of drugs and devises a prevention message the students implement themselves within their school system.
Steered Straight has become the number one booked program in America with assemblies focused on drug education prevention. Our program is primarily based on the uniqueness of the messenger, someone who has suffered the consequences of negative decisions. We have found that youth instantly identify with Michael DeLeon, or another of our speakers, as a changed, motivated teacher with a real-life story to tell.
Steered Straight does not simply educate students about the harmful nature of drugs and alcohol but provides the reality and deadly impact it can and will have on their lives. We remove the concern parents' have on how to help their kids and replace it with active solutions.
The Program
In just one day, our speakers provide multiple school assemblies for various schools - either in the same district or surrounding districts, addressing all age groups from kindergarten through 12th Grade. We also include an after-school staff workshop and a Parent Academy/Community event at night. We aim to reach all those concerned in the health and safety of our youth with our message.
We would love to impact your students with vaping, bullying, suicide, addiction, mental health, etc. Our website is www.steeredstraight.org where you will find some of our other topics for discussion, though we cater to your needs and the age and makeup of the student body along with regional information for assemblies.
This is our 17th year providing the very best in drug prevention school assemblies throughout all 50 states and we are now the #1 booked school presenters in America. We began teaching prevention on vaping in 2014 before anyone even knew about how bad it was going to become and everything we have predicted has unfortunately come true.
Our content is very current and relevant and we don't educate students about simply how bad it is, but also how deadly it will be to their lives. We change the perception of Parents and Staff from a concern to an actionable crisis. This is truly the worst health pandemic for this generation health-wise and will exacerbate the worst addiction crisis for decades. It must be stopped and our children are our only hope to make that happen.
Impact
This program works because we get emails, text messages, and phone calls from students, parents, and the community about how our presentation changed the trajectory of their lives by helping them understand the detrimental affects of drugs, alcohol, vaping, marijuana, bullying, suicide, and mental health. Students have stated that they no longer want to commit suicide because of something we said while others willingly give us or their teachers their vapes after our assemblies. One former student in Indiana is now a social worker helping others after being sexually abused by her stepfather and got help right after our assembly. That stepfather is now serving 115 years in prison for abusing 4 other girls in the community as well. We have youth come up to us after an assembly and tell us things they would never tell anyone else.
"Hello Mr. Deleon, I would first just like to thank you for coming to my school and presenting that amazing speech to my friends and I. The speech truly changed my life and I just want to let you know how much of an impact that it had on me. The speech was captivating and just left me speechless. Some of the statistics about vaping and marijuana are absolutely staggering and horrifying. It is just so sad to think about what America has come to. Thank you for making such a difference in my life, and for all those around you. I just wanted to let you know. THANK YOU. "Freshman Student 2020
"I just wanted to thank you so much for such an informative night! I am grateful for your time spent with us. I am definitely going to dig into your website and material provided. Since addiction runs in my family, and I know for a fact my son is vaping, I need to know as much as I can. "Parent 2020.
"Hello Michael,
I wanted to further thank you for your talk in front of our class this morning and further talks throughout the day in the community. I was the student who told you how your presentation has been way more impactful than prior years. My brother and mother both attended the freshman presentation and they felt it had a similar impact. Truthfully, I had a free period scheduled during your presentation and I had the thought of skipping out on it, but something told me not to. Your presentation truly sparked an interest for the cause you stand for. Thank you again and I wish you the best in your efforts." Senior Student 2019
"This will be our second time having Michael DeLeon as a guest speaker for our program. We originally heard Michael speak at a family day in North Brunswick, and decided we needed to book him to speak to our kids. He has a wonderfully powerful message to give, and the kids respond to him well. He is captivating and very "real", and the kids just soak up the information he puts out. The fact that he made the wrong choices and paid the consequences, and learned from his mistakes is not lost on them, and they appreciate his candor. "
Community Awareness Unit Middlesex County Sheriff's Office
To Darla DeLeon,
""Thank you so much for Michael's message at Central Valley Schools in Ilion, NY. The feedback was overwhelmingly (as in all) positive. And thank you Mrs. DeLeon for your remarkable testimony. The idea that you would stand by your husband in his darkest hour sent a powerful message to kids whose parents split over selfish and trivial things." Educator 2019
This is but a few of the many ways our program impacts the community.
Needs
Steered Straight is on a mission to reach every youth, their parents, and the communities they live in with the best information about drugs, alcohol, suicide, bullying, and mental wellness. There are schools who have little or no funding for music, art, etc., including programs such as this. Our essential need is monetary funding to reach each school to deliver the program and facilitate it. (We will not rely only on donations and grants and will build up revenue from our products and services as well)
We also need funding for the learning management system(LMS) that will deliver online learning for vaping, Table Talks & Dashboard Conversations curriculum, Back to the Classroom Curriculum, Straight Talk Bullying Program, and One Step Away curriculum for the incarcerated.
We have trained staff to handle these programs but will need operational funding to support adding staff for growth. In summary, we need adequate working capital to allow us to scale up to be able to deliver our programs to hundreds of schools and prisons across the country. For example, we now have the State of NY through BOCES, agreeing to fund our program for 750 school districts. This is incredible but we need to build up our infrastructure (such as an army of speakers) to be able to deliver.
CEO Statement
I have watched Steered Straight go from touching a few lives in the beginning to now reaching over 12 million lives with the truth about what can happen by making the wrong choices pertaining to drugs, alcohol, bullying, suicide, and mental health, As the child of someone who made these wrong choices, I was impacted greatly during my youth in several ways that include bullying, parental divorce, loss of my parent to alcohol that evolved into low self worth, self esteem, poverty, and other family issues. I was impacted by my husband's drug use as well as my own, and passed that impact to my own children. I have made sure that Steered Straight addresses all of these things and more. No child should have to go through life suffering the way I did. And, if I had access to a program such as this in school, I feel that I would have been better prepared with tools to help me process the trauma in my life and make better informed decisions about my life. THIS is the heart of what and why we engage youth, their parents, and the community every singe day.
Our mission is to steer youth toward effective educated reality every day. Our vision is to reach every child with the best information so they can make good choices that affect their entire lives. Our purpose is To reach youth and young adults through motivational speaking, life-sharing seminars and interactive curriculum in order to:
Provide youth with real-life examples of negative consequences that resulted from making poor decisions.
Impact the minds of youth to steer their lives in positive ways and encourage them to make positive life-choices.
Give kids the ability to develop a sense of understanding about the positive and negative choices in their lives.
Reduce the number of youth who end up in the criminal justice system due to making poor decisions.
There is no more important faction in our lives but our children. They are our future. We must prepare them for it.
Board Chair Statement
The purpose and mission of Steered Straight, as created and envisioned by our founders Michael and Darla DeLeon is simple and clear: communicate right now to our youth and communities the truth about drugs and thus empower those individuals to make ethical decisions that will help them survive and prosper into the future.
The above mission is urgent, and upon its progress depends the lives of thousands. Our Board of Directors then has a clear directive - to fundraise for and ensure the viability, growth and ethical management of the Steered Straight organization.
Helping Steered Straight achieve this goal is why each of our members has come on board - we are all proud to be part of the team, part of the movement, part of the dream to reach our youth and give them, at least, a fighting chance.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Education - Secondary & High Schools |
| Secondary Category: | Youth Development - Youth Development Programs |
| Tertiary Category: | Mental Health & Crisis Intervention - Substance Abuse Dependency, Prevention & Treatment |
Areas Served
Steered Straight travels across the country to educate youth on choices and consequences regarding drugs, alcohol, suicide, bullying, addictive substances, and mental health and wellbeing. We have also had the honor of speaking in Canada and in Her Majesty's Prison in the Bahamas.
| TN - Rutherford |
| National |
