Intervention Hypothesis
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See also: ILI Program Theory
  The mission of ILI is to improve academic and social success for students by reducing racial tensions in schools by promoting cultural understanding through inter-cultural experiences at the grade school level.
 

The ILI hypothesis is

IF:

  • We intervene in the elementary grades with training that positively affects social interaction by connecting youth with each other,

  • We enable students to connect to their community through service learning projects,

  • We provide experiential, hands-on activities for interpersonal discovery and exploration,

  • We focus on building positive assets in our youth,

  • We focus on conflict resolution skill building activities,

  • We allow our youth to mentor peers and younger students,

  • We teach our youth how to facilitate our curriculum,

  • We allow students to play and have fun with each other,

  • We teach these experiences in a manner that addresses different individual and cultural learning styles,

  • We teach these experiences in a forum that breaks down the traditional geographic/political/cultural boundaries that exist in our community,

  • We teach these skills and lead experiences as adult role models who are representing our diverse cultures,

  • We build support for this project with equal representation at all levels from within our community,

  • We do not veer from our focus to enable students to discover their self-worth and positive attributes and how they are reinforced by their participation in our program, and

  • We can replace old, negative “rural myths and legends” with new, positive experiences based in reality,


THEN

  • Students who participate in this prevention effort will develop skills to manage conflict resolution and negotiate and mediate cultural misunderstandings with peaceful results.

  • We will have the basis to truly make a systemic change in the way students view themselves and each other, regardless of race, and we will reduce racial tension at the high school and beyond.

  • Our youth will discover their own strengths and powers, as a group and as individuals, and these influences will protect them from negative risk behaviors.

  • Our communities and schools will view the diverse cultural energies of our youth in a light that enables the strengths from all to contribute to the strengths of the individual.

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