Youth Guidance – WOW
Launched 2020
About
School-based, mental health support for young women
The Youth Guidance Working on Womanhood (WOW) program provides highly engaging school-based counseling and mentoring to promote social-emotional and mental health strong school engagement, and increased academic attainment for young women in Grades 6-12. WOW counselors work full-time in schools, delivering clinically-based individual and group services to students.
WOW and its companion program for young men – Becoming a Man (BAM) – were selected as GreenLight Kansas City’s first investment based on their proven ability to improve outcomes for young men and women of color through culturally-competent programming. External research has shown that WOW participants experience 73% fewer PTSD symptoms and 70% fewer depression symptoms.
BAM and WOW currently serve students in the Hickman-Mills (MO), Kansas City (KS), and Center (MO) School Districts and by 2025, will serve 1,000+ students annually.
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CEOMichelle Adler-Morrison
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Kansas City Executive DirectorGarrett M. Webster, Sr.
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National HeadquartersChicago, IL
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Email Contact
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Website
Launching Opportunity: Youth Guidance Kansas City
WOW’s Impact in Kansas City
729
students reached through BAM and WOW during the 2024-25 school year
79%
attendance rate of WOW participants (2024-2025)
students are participating in Becoming a Man (BAM) and Working on Womanhood (WOW) in Kansas City this year
What Our Community is Saying
“BAM and WOW are proven, evidence-based models that provide youth safe spaces to share their challenges, find mentorship and access support.”
Quinton Lucas
Mayor, Kansas City, MO
Join our work in Kansas City
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