September 2010–The Concept:
“Find The Courage,” a one-page plea asking youth to use the same courage they use on the court, field, stage and classroom to be kind and help others is written. This letter is now called “The Letter to a Bystander”
October 2010–March 2011 – Phase I Pilot Program:
Find The Courage five-lesson Pilot Program is piloted in three New Jersey High Schools and two Minnesota middle schools.
April 2010–May 2011 – The Courageous 7:
The Courageous Seven, which are seven diverse and effective strategies to positively impact a situation when someone is mistreated, is created.
June 2011–March 2012 – Phase II Pilot Program Development:
Find The Courage ten-lesson Pilot Program based on The Courageous 7 is developed. Current and former professional, Olympic, and collegiate athletes, as well as musicians, donated their time to be filmed sharing personal and heartfelt stories that relate to each lesson.
April 2012–June 2012 – Phase II Pilot Program:
Find The Courage ten-lesson Bystander Program is piloted in a high school in New Hampshire and an elementary school in Vermont. In addition, two high schools in New Jersey, as well as a high school in Oregon had teachers implement an abbreviated version of this program. Special thank you to Julie Hertzog from the PACER organization who made significant contributions to the development of The Courageous 7 and Find The Courage.
November 2011–Present – Bystander Positive Impact with Teams, Events:
As teams became interested in the Find The Courage program, the Bystander Positive Impact Program was implemented in small workshops with collegiate and high school teams in the Northeast. These teams then visited local elementary schools spreading the Find The Courage message and also were involved in special events. Check out the Past Events page to see young leaders in action!
September 2012 –December 2012 – The Official Organization:
Find The Courage was organized as its own nonprofit corporation in New Hampshire. Find The Courage has filed for 501c3 status (status is currently pending). Find The Courage was chosen as the youth oriented organization to receive a generous donation from the Chatham Booster Club at their annual Cougar Classic tournament.
December 2012–January 2013 – Phase III Pilot Program:
Find The Courage piloted an updated Find The Courage Bystander Positive Impact program at Hanover High School in Hanover, New Hampshire to one hundred students. Each student received ten hours of Find The Courage training. Find The Courage ran six months of pre and post testing with students.
May 2013–June 2013 – Phase III Pilot Program: Find The Courage ran a six-lesson Find The Courage Bystander Positive Impact program with White River Elementary School, White River Vermont. FTC had collegiate student-athletes visit during class in a mentoring capacity with 3rd graders. In addition, Find The Courage ran an abbreviated three lesson pilot program to 100 students over the course of three days, as well as full 3-day workshop with a volunteer group at Hanover High School, Hanover, NH.
June – August 2013 – Find The Courage Events: Find The Courage was the proud partner at Ultimate Events and Sports Project 120 Tournament. FTC received a very generous donation, a direct percentage of the tournaments registration fees, as well as met with teams throughout the weekend about the FTC message. FTC piloted phase II of FTC leadership talks geared specifically for athletes and teams during the weekend, and throughout the summer at other athletic events. Other events included Blue Chip Tournament (Philadelphia, PA), Upper Valley Lacrosse Camp and Cheyney Team Together Camp in Cheyney Pa. For more information visit our events page:
September 2013 – August 2014 – Find The Courage Phase of FTC Program: Find The Courage continued to research, improve and pilot its 5-Lesson FTC Program, FTC 6-Hour Workshop and FTC College Mentor Program in NH and VT. FTC also ran its leadership workshops with Girls Summer Leadership Program in Wellesley Massachusetts.
September 2014 – July 2015 – Find The Courage Phase IV of FTC Program Find The Courage continued to research, improve and finalize its 5-Lesson FTC Program, FTC 6-Hour Workshop and FTC College Mentor Program in NH and VT. Find The Courage registered as a foreign non-profit in NYC! Find The Courage is currently running summer programming in NH, MA and NYC in the summer of 2015 and is looking forward to being back in action this fall!
Thank you to the wonderful organizations and people supporting Find The Courage!