Who We Are
Project 479 is a part of Reality Check Inc., an ADE Approved Professional Development and SRA certified program provider. Project 479 works with over 150 at-risk teens on a daily basis. Our staff and trusted volunteers work one-on-one with youth to provide training in skill development. These skills range from as simple as sewing on a button to as complex as developing a product and starting their own business. We provide students a safe place where they can come to be creative, while learning skills that can help them move out of poverty and become community minded. This allows them to gain confidence, learn healthy behaviors, and create a strong work ethic that teaches them how to be self-sustainable and to build stronger families and a safer community. We work closely with these students as they reach out to their communities through an annual bazaar, as well as community projects. These projects have included volunteering at a local nursing home, bracelet making for impoverished children in Nicaragua, or making shorts and dresses for children in Haiti. Project-based curriculum has been developed specifically for Project 479 and uses unique teaching strategies that focuses on helping teens build and strengthen their developmental asset shields; this creates healthier, safer, and more confident students and communities.
Our Story
Project 479 began in 2012 as an extension of Reality Check Inc., through a local alternative school. Project 479 started out of a conversation regarding helping students learn some basic personal skills that would help them become more self-sustaining. It grew from there as we began to add character and confidence building, through self-reliance and personal responsibility. We began to see some major changes in the student's personal choices, as well as in their interactions with each other and with the community as a whole. We also began to see improvements and increased focus in their schoolwork. As we continue to grow and mature as a program, we daily see students whose lives are changing as they build self-confidence, responsibility, and self-worth.