Bench Mark Program

Bench Mark Program started in 2014 as an after-school fitness-based mentoring program for young adults who were looking for a place to work through life changes. Today we operate as a system of mentoring programs across various sites that support at-risk youth throughout their adolescence. We focus specifically on youth involved in the juvenile justice system and youth who have experienced a high degree of childhood trauma. Our core purpose is to provide our students with a long-term support network that they can leverage to achieve their dreams.

A critical part of that long-term support includes opportunities for our students to develop workforce skills and earn income while attending Bench Mark Program. Since 2019 we've operated our Student Leadership Program, which allows successful program graduates to return to the program as peer mentors, helping to operate our Open Gym Program and earn a part-time wage for their time. Because we can only employ six student leaders at any given time, and those spots are always full, we need other creative opportunities to employ our students. This year we've launched our first social enterprise: Bench Mark Apparel. A fully operating screen-printing shop where our students can learn how to produce customized branded apparel using screen printing equipment, manage inventory and sales, and budget individual order costs. The skills practiced within our screen printing shop are transferable to almost any other job!

Bench Mark's primary goal is to set our students up for long-term success, and while we always work to meet their immediate needs, we can now use in-house social enterprise to teach them skills that will last a lifetime. This Extra Give, 100% of your donations will go towards the acquisition of additional screen printing equipment, stockpile of fresh screens, ink, and demo t-shirts, and additional software to expand the enterprise and create more job opportunities for our students. Together, we can expand this one-of-a-kind business opportunity for students to learn valuable workforce skills, earn a fair wage, and transform themselves into a young professional ready to enter the job market!

Who We Are

Bench Mark Program is a strength-based family of mentors who use exercise, academic coaching, and career counseling to propel at-risk youth toward successful futures. We provide a free gym space where young women and men between the ages of 14-24 can work out their energy through weight-training, yoga, and boxing. Our consistent hours of operation, 5pm-8pm Monday-Friday, help bring youth into a supportive, family environment that they can depend on.
Most importantly, Bench Mark Program focuses on building student leaders who take responsibility for the gym facility and its daily operation. Our sustainability depends on our ability to empower our students to lead and mentor. In the coming year, we hope to make more part-time (paid) student-employee positions available to our participants. If we show respect to our students by offering them ownership of the gym space, they pay it forward by investing their time and energy in serving others.