Heros and Cool Kids

Heroes & Cool Kids is a school-based mentoring program that was co-founded 17 years ago by the legendary NY Jets running back, Bruce Harper. We have been impacting the lives and childhoods of students ever since. Our locallybased (NJ/NY) program combines experiential learning inspired by professional athletes with leadership development and mentoring. Our program directly impacts young lives by raising awareness about peer pressures, school violence, intolerance, unethical behaviors, as well as reducing the use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco, and delaying the age of experimentation.In 2015, the program involved over 24,000 students, 2,800 student leaders, and 350 teen influencers (coaches, teachers, parents, faith leaders). It was a year in which we placed renewed focus on drug abuse prevention as a result of the growing heroin epidemic among young people in our area.Independent research by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that students in the program - as compared to a control group - showed significant improvement in setting goals and taking responsibility for the achievement of those goals, with 53% of students demonstrating a positive shift. Students also showed significant improvement in taking an unpopular but necessary stand. 40% of students demonstrated increased understanding of this concept, 39% displayed an increase in problem solving ability. As a nonprofit organization, H&CK maintains the highest standards of ethical leadership, fiscal integrity, transparency and cost efficiency. Our administrative cost is 18%.