The SEW (Social & Emotional Wellness) NOLA Project
The Project
Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the SEW (Social & Emotional Wellness) NOLA project is a 7-month long school based social and emotional learning program that seeks to address disparities that exist for low income minority youth, growing up in the post-disaster recovery environment of New Orleans. The SEW NOLA project addresses these disparities by providing school aged youth (pre-kindergarten - 8th grade) with the following skills: 1.) self-awareness, 2.) self-management, 3.) responsible decision-making, 4.) relationship skills and 5.) social awareness. Collectively, by cultivating these skills, SEW NOLA aims to improve school behavior, enhance interpersonal relationships and to address disparities in academic achievement with the overall goal of cultivating the underpinnings of successful outcomes for low income, minority youth. The project is in its second year and has been implemented at 4 public elementary & middle schools.
The SEW NOLA intervention is implemented weekly, in the classroom setting, in 1 hour time increments. Participants are divided into small groups and visit the following three centers in 20 minute increments for the duration of the hour long intervention: 1.) skills center, 2.) yoga/meditation center and 3.) technology center (web based social and emotional learning activities). SEW NOLA utilizes the psychosocial stage of development of the target population as the framework for cultivating social and emotional intelligence. SEW NOLA weekly session interventions utilize the peer group as source of encouragement to reinforce the social and emotional developmental skills being cultivated. The intervention is facilitated by licensed mental health professionals.
SEW NOLA weekly session interventions utilize the peer group as a source of encouragement to reinforce the social and emotional developmental skills being cultivated. Each session will build on the previous session. We utilize movement, art, images and creativity, role plays and engaging activities to sustain the interest of the participants. School leaders receive weekly reports of the goals for the week and the interventions that will take place to accomplish session objectives.
Our Impact
Since 2015, we have provided social and emotional wellness service to nearly 500 school aged children. In our 2016/2017 programming year, teachers reported improvements greater than 50% in all of our targeted outcome categories (emotional regulation, focus, empathy and attention).
66% in emotional regulation
70% in focus
54% in empathy,
64% in attention
In our 2016/2017 programming year, the average growth in each outcome area was as follows:
emotional regulation 86% growth
focus 85% growth
empathy 41% growth
attention 75% growth
Participating Schools
Crocker College Prep 2016/2017 & 2017/2018 academic years
Sylvanie Williams 2016/2017 academic year
Noble Minds Institute for Whole Child Learning 2017/2018 academic year
James Singleton 2018
