Aim High Association

Aim High consists of people willing to change something in their surroundings. The Mission of Aim High is to promote young people, increase their self-confidence and help them reach for their dreams and take their own actions aimed to help other young people. The organization focuses mostly on youth coming from disadvantaged environments – small towns and villages in Poland as well as in other parts of the world. We believe that everyone can take full charge of their life and lead it the way he/she wants to. We work mostly with active methods – workshops and trainings. We teach leadership skills, creating and carrying out social projects, communication and group building. Aim High uses juggling and other circus activities as a metaphor of reaching the goal step by step. We try to show to young people that even things that seem to be impossible at first, can be achieved with a little faith, effort and persistence.

Programs

We run programs for different underprivileged communities in Warsaw (Poland). We work with children, youth, families, parents of young children.

Day-care programs for underprivileged youth and families

We run programs in marginalized city-districts in Warsaw (Poland) – Targówek and Praga Północ. We work in socially excluded, degraded areas where children and families face social problems.
For the last 10 years we have operated a continuous program in Praga Północ – a day-care center and groups for children run by streetworkers. Each year we help ca. 35 children aged 6-18.
In Targówek we started to work 4 years ago (in 2013). We run a streetworkers group. We extend our activities to a group of 15 children aged 7-12. In Targówek we also help children from a refugee camp that is situated in the neighborhood.
We work with groups of children using social therapy methods, youth projects, circus classes, bicycle workshops, we help with school assignments. We work with children over a long term (some of them have stayed with us for the past 10 years), we also reach the families and cooperate with schools.

Family Centers for Parents of Young Children

We offer our programs for parents of young children (aged 0-3) in 3 locations (Wawer, Praga Północ and Targówek).
There is an open cafe for parents, we organize meetings with psychologists / coaches / physiotherapists / healthcare specialists etc. to increase parental skills. There are joint activities for parents and children such as: music classes, art classes, yoga classes for mothers with babies at their side.
Family Centers are focused not only on developing parental skills, but also on integration and activation of parents in the community.
In the long-term perspective it prevents family crises, equalizes the children’s opportunities and develops a more active civil society.

Wilderness Therapy

We started this program in summer 2017. We are promoting
the Wilderness Therapy approach in the work with youth all over Poland. We take young people aged 13-18 on a 10-day trip into wilderness. We assist them as they learn about nature, about themselves and their peers. They come back home changed.

Mission statement & Main Goals

WE CREATE SPACE THAT INSPIRES CHANGE

Main goals of the Aim High Association include:
– supporting children, families and communities
– preventing social exclusion
– working towards equal opportunities for all children
– helping parents to develop as parents, develop parental skills and be happier with their role
– developing leadership skills
– empowerment of our participants
– creating a just and sustainable world

 

Partners, networking

In all our activities we promote working within a network of organizations, institutions, specialists, people. We co-create projects of Local Support Systems, on a daily basis we cooperate with 8 other NGOs, 3 public institutions and our local government. Our passion is to work directly with children and families, but we hold a broader perspective and want to bring about the change on the higher level

We have a good relationship with the local government that also supports the club through engaging pedagogues in different project and through direct financial support.

There are several people we invite to do performances or create workshops. Also we count on a big group of devoted volunteers.

Some of the ended projects

Girls Can, India

In India, Sasha Kiessling and Marta Kaszubska, invented and implemented a project for young, tribal girls being the first generation who go to school. ?Girls Can!? is a women empowerment programme which aims are to build self confidence and leadership skills among girls in order to promote gender equality. We are also doing the ?Girls Can? project in two Polish small towns: Garwolin and Włodawa.

Young Leaders Academy

In Poland we are leading an year long internet ?Academy for Young Leaders?. It is an innovative online course for youth who would like to start their own actions and projects in social field. The parlour Academy is being implemented in USA.
We are also getting involved in many actions. We are doing spontaneous juggling workshops for the street children who come from the poorest parts of Warsaw.