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A tool kit for educators and those serving youth to help children from every background reach their full potential.
Developing agency is the alternative to the debilitating “blame the system” and “blame the victim” narratives. Children can be empowered to develop agency through the four pillars of FREE: Family, Religion, Education, and Entrepreneurship.
FAMILY is society’s first and most vital mediating institution. Married, two-parent households are overwhelmingly linked to positive outcomes for children.
RELIGION is a force for good in the world and has a unique capacity to speak moral authority into children’s lives and fortify societal institutions.
EDUCATION is essential for creating a society defined by opportunity and at its best opens doors for all students and allows them to take ownership of their learning.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP calls on each individual to take ownership of their personal growth by practicing healthy risk taking in partnership with responsibility.
A suite of resources intended to assist teachers, parents, and those who work with youth in building and promoting agency in children of all backgrounds
Take the Agency Self-Assessment.
Welcome to Agency Tool Kit! The FREE Initiative and I could not be more pleased to resource you with the tools you need to inspire agency in the next generation. Youth receive so many competing messages every day. Some tell them that they are beholden to systems and structures that may or may not have their best interests in mind. Still other voices tell them that they alone bear the weight of responsibility for their successes or failures, and they must struggle to achieve the good in life. The first message is demoralizing and the second message is draining. Thankfully, there is a third option: the message of agency.
I define agency as the force of your free will guided by moral discernment. Youth have a say in what they do and who they want to become, but to understand what is worth doing and what version of themselves is worth becoming, they require wisdom. That’s where families, schools, churches, and communities come in; these institutions are best positioned to offer the guidance students need to thrive. But how do we practically achieve this? I have been asked this very question as I have travelled throughout the United States talking to communities about agency, and it was this question that inspired the creation of this suite of resources.
It is my hope that as you explore these resources, you are inspired and equipped to build agency in the lives of the youth in your life. Thank you for letting us come alongside you as you serve the next generation!
“I have observed that those who are able to break the cycle of disadvantage have a strong sense of self-determination over their own lives and engage four building blocks as guiding moral forces of their free will: family, religion, education, and entrepreneurship.”
Stories Of Impact
When equipped with free will that is guided by moral discernment, we have incredible power to make decisions that lead to a promising future. Share with us how the message of Agency has been an empowering force of change in your life or others’.