About Prodigy®

Every day, over 16 million youth in America leave school and go home to an empty house. Youths who are most vulnerable often engage in delinquent behaviors and usually lack the encouragement, social shaping, and life skills that are essential to becoming healthy and productive adults.

History

In the year 2000, the University Area CDC (UACDC) launched the Prodigy® Cultural Arts Program (Prodigy®). The Prodigy® program is a researched-based prevention program for youth ages 5-17. Prodigy® is primarily funded by a partnership between UACDC and the Department of Juvenile Justice to provide programming across West Central Florida. The purpose of the program is to equip youth with life skills that will develop lifelong positive habits for future success. Prodigy® has served nearly 45,000 youths in its 24 years of existence and since it has offered programming to adults and seniors in recent years.

Creativity

Prodigy® provides a safe arena for youths to learn effective communication, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills through visual and performing art classes taught by professional artists. Participants are encouraged to explore their self-worth and learn the values of others and the communities in which they live. Through this process, they can understand and express their inner thoughts, feelings, and values. This helps them connect with their community and become productive and socially responsible adults.

Discovery

Prodigy®’s unique approach to life skills infused art-programming makes it possible for youths to:

  1. Develop life skills and social competencies, including problem-solving, communication, and anger management.
  2. Enhance empathy for others and form a connection within the community.
  3. Build interpersonal skills by creating art as a form of self-expression.
  4. Recognize and value their own unique talents and abilities.

Prodigy® classes foster creative thinking through visual and performing art forms. Participants are encouraged to attend two 90-minute classes per week to ensure new skills are gained and to establish mentoring relationships with the professional art instructors. Through this model, Prodigy® serves an average of 1,000 youths yearly by delivering 7,000 hours of life and leadership skills instruction at over 20 partnering sites and mobile locations.

Classes may include:

  • Drawing-painting, media or technical arts, photography, and sculpture.
  • Traditional, contemporary, hip-hop, and urban dance.
  • Instrumental-vocal performances, composition, and production.
  • Acting, creative writing, staging, and costuming.

Statistics

Prodigy® participants experience a significant decrease in anger, depression/anxiety, sleep disturbances, while improving the ability to control their behavior after program completion. Prodigy® contributes to preventing at-risk youths from entering the juvenile justice systems. According to recent statistics, 99% of youth do not get in trouble with law enforcement while they are in the program and 99% remain out of trouble 12 months after completing the program. It is estimated to cost over $80,000 to arrest, process and incarcerate a juvenile in the State of Florida while it only costs $2,000 per youth to be served in Prodigy®.