Life Pieces To Masterpieces

Life Pieces to Masterpieces strives to reach the goal of having 100% of our apprentices graduate high school and go on to secondary education as well as grow into responsible, intelligent, engaged gentlemen, scholars, artists and athletes who are able to create their own destiny. The goal of the LPTM human development system is to create positive, forward thinking decision makers who are able to overcome difficult situations. Our artistic system strives to allow our apprentices to release their emotions and experiences through artistic expression. The goal of the educational system is to advance our apprentices and engage them in higher education.
Life Pieces To Masterpieces educates our apprentices to be global citizens as well. Our young boys and men learn that they are part of a far-reaching community and are introduced and exposed to different cultures.

Life Pieces To Masterpieces’ work is based on the theory that any human being with a strong foundation (purpose, premise and process) and the proper tools has the power to create his or her own destiny.

LPTM Human Development System is a concrete set of beliefs that address the challenges that our young people and their families face through artistic expression, increased self-awareness, and positive decision-making. It is a proven system that has elevated our apprentices to discover a more positive perspective focused on preparing for their own future and giving back to their communities.

The LPTM Shield of Faith, inspired by the color wheel, is a decision-making tool that reminds apprentices, mentors, staff members and volunteers of the core values of Life Pieces To Masterpieces. Each value is associated with a color, so that when an apprentice sees a particular color throughout the day, he is reminded of LPTM values. Values include loving, giving, language, arts, discipline, leadership, spirituality and meditation. The Shield serves as a behavior management tool for the young boys; for the older boys it is a jumping off point for deeper discussions about values.

Our Process: LPTM 4 Cs
Life Pieces To Masterpieces employs the 4 Cs as part of our curriculum:

• Students connect to themselves and to their classmates.
• They create -- homework, artwork, and poems.
• They contribute -- sharing their work and their thinking with a greater community.
• And they celebrate their successes.

Our core expertise is in comprehensive youth development for African American boys and young men. We strive to deepen the impact on the academic and life achievements of our young men and boys by teaching them the self-awareness and leadership skills in addition to offering our young men opportunities in art, tutoring and academic enrichment. Our curriculum combines daily participation in art and creative expression with academic tutoring, mentoring, leadership and youth development as well as meditation activities, yoga, volunteering and service experiences. Our proven methods address four specific, critical needs for our young men – Positive role models, closing the achievement gap, artistic expression and knowledge of self – in order to create lasting improvements in the lives of our apprentices. Meeting these critical needs leads to our apprentices being fully receptive to academic learning and achievement.

Our work supports apprentices in turning the many challenges in their lives into opportunities for success, self–reliance, and resiliency. Our entire staff has received extensive training in the District of Columbia’s Advancing Youth Development (AYD) outcomes. Of these outcomes, we track self-efficacy, temporal orientation, safety and structure and membership and belonging. Our curriculum is the vehicle through which our youth development outcomes are achieved. Our methodologies have been recognized by The Catalogue for Philanthropy since 2003, we have been featured in a book called Rhetorics for Community Action by Dr. Phyllis Ryder of George Washington University, and we are currently a finalist of for the Mayor’s Arts Award in the Innovation in the Arts category.

We partner with DC Reads of American University, Education Pioneers, The George Washington University Neighbors Project, Maya Angelou Public Charter School, ARCH Development Organization, and The Washington and Lee University Shepherd Internship program.

We formalized and completed our 5-year Business Plan for Growth (see attached) to achieve our long term goals. Over the next 5 years, we will focus on increasing our number of individual donors from 10% of cash flow to 50% over 5 years through our implementation of the Benevon model. We plan to also:

1. Sustain LPTM by codifying its human development curriculum and methodology so that LPTM’s methodologies can be shared on a broader scale. Georgetown University is partnered with us on this project
2. Leverage and expand art sales and earned revenue through Corporate Art by Life Pieces

100% of our students have graduated from high school and have been accepted to college or post-secondary training.

100% of parents show satisfaction with our program and say their children are more confident, make better decisions, and speak in a positive manner about their future.

90% of apprentices demonstrated improved behaviors

95% of adult alums are employed.

1,000 masterpieces have been created by more than 1,000 boys and young men since our founding in 1996. The artwork has been exhibited in embassies, corporate galleries, and as far away as France and Northern Ireland.