CONNECTFree Rein Youth Empowerment Program
Youth groups engage with nature, horses, and each other to achieve deep personal and relational growth. The program revolves around a specific theme from our proprietary curriculum. Themes include navigating trauma and grief, enhancing communication skills, building leadership abilities, managing anxiety and depression, and setting boundaries. The program promotes academic improvement, self-confidence, leadership, communication and social skills, teamwork, congruence, and essential coping skills.
What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?
Mental health
In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?
Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)
What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?
Free Rein Foundation deeply understands the challenges faced by disadvantaged youth, including those affected by adverse upbringings or educational disruptions, which can hinder personal development and academic success. In the past decade, we have seen firsthand how transformative our compassionate processes and unique combination of horses, nature, and guided outdoor activities can be for participants in our programs. One of our greatest successes has been our alliance with the Sunburst Youth Academy in Los Alamitos, CA where our tailored services create resilience, restores confidence, and promotes positive futures for our attendees. Through our proprietary program led by trained equine therapists and naturalists, and assisted by our dedicated team of over 100 volunteers, we are committed to expand our programs to support our community youth and our collective future.
Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.
Free Rein Foundation proposes to expand its Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) program, a cornerstone of our Youth Empowerment Program, to serve even more youth in Los Angeles. We desired to collaborate with more youth associations, such as the Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles, as we have successfully done with other youth organizations and clubs. Our programming offers 4-week sessions for 10-15 youths per group, integrating nature-based and gardening activities followed by guided interactions with horses (non-riding, ground-based equine therapy). Sessions focus on resilience, communication, and emotional management tailored to participant needs, and is based on our proprietary learning and outcomes-driven curriculum that “doesn’t feel like we’re in school.”
Funding will hire a dedicated program manager, and additional trained equine therapists and naturalists for personalized sessions. Funding will also cover materials, transportation, lunches and snacks, and a culminating event for community engagement. We aim to impact 500-750 youth annually, fostering tools for overcoming adversity, building confidence, and pursuing positive futures.
Evaluation includes pre- and post-program assessments, participant feedback, and observations measuring emotional well-being, academic engagement, and life skills. Expanding our EAL program with this grant continues Free Rein Foundation’s mission to empower and foster resilience among disadvantaged youth in Los Angeles.
Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.
By fostering emotional well-being, we aim to cultivate a future where all youth have opportunities to thrive and contribute positively to their communities. The expansion of Free Rein’s Youth Empowerment Program will transform Los Angeles County by nurturing resilient, confident youth. Participants gain crucial life skills, enabling them to build successful lives despite adversity.
Participants become part of the extended family of Free Rein Foundation, often experiencing healthy relationships for the first time with both humans and the healing horses. This initial seed of trust grows inside young people, opening their hearts and minds to more positive experiences. Our programming has successfully reduced youth dropout rates, decreased juvenile delinquency, and lessened involvement in criminal activity.
Strengthened youth, in turn, bolster our Los Angeles communities and ensure a brighter collective future.
What evidence do you have that this project, program, or initiative is or will be successful, and how will you define and measure success?
Free Rein Foundation measures the impact of our Youth Empowerment Program through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. We track participant outcomes using pre- and post-program assessments to gauge changes in emotional well-being, academic engagement, and life skills development. Qualitatively, we gather participant feedback through surveys and interviews to understand experiences and perceived benefits. We conduct follow-up surveys to track the progress of participants and invite program graduates to share their ongoing experiences. These efforts provide insights into the long-term effects of our program on emotional well-being, academic engagement, and life skills development.
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?
Direct Impact: 750.0
Indirect Impact: 1,500.0