In Phoenix at the end of October and in Toledo on Veterans Day, we were honored to join community stakeholders in two very powerful Helping Boys Thrive Summits. Hundreds of people came out for the events, and Michael Gurian, Tim Wright, and local trainers and leaders provided keynotes and workshops. Everyone came together to learn more about boys, the boy crisis, and especially, what we can all do to help our sons grow, learn, and live good lives. Our special thanks go out to the teams at Tim Wright Ministries in Phoenix and at St. John Jesuit Academy in Toledo for hosting, organizing, and making it all happen!
The Helping Boys Thrive Summit experience is now in its 7th year. It has come to dozens of communities and we hope you’ll bring it to your part of the world. To see what we did in Phoenix, click here: http://helpingboysthrive.org/phoenix/. For the Toledo event, click here: http://helpingboysthrive.org/toledo/. To see other past events, click www.helpingboysthrive.org.
About the events, Tim Wright said, “The day is simply electric. People come from all walks of life, all faiths and creeds, all kinds of schools and programs. Parents come to learn more and to share their stories. Parents of daughters come too, and advocates for girls see the balance, the need to help boys. There is something so unique about celebrating boys while also being honest about struggles they face. I hope these events will happen in every community.”
Superintendent of St. John’s Jesuit Academy and High School in Toledo, host of the Toledo summit, told Michael Gurian, “The interest and the passion in participants was so powerful. Our team was delighted to host this event.” St. John’s Jesuit Academy has been a Gurian Institute Model School for more than a decade, practicing boy-friendly teaching, character building, and social-emotional development strategies across the curriculum.
Our Helping Boys Thrive initiatives and events exist to help our nation feed its hunger not only to understand boys but to provide them with innovative parenting and effective education. In nearly every academic and behavioral marker, boys and young men are struggling. While some males get to the top of corporations and government quite well, millions of males are not thriving. In your own community, you may have felt the need to study and positively affect the developmental journey of our boys. In every community, we are seeing more and more boys who need our help, and want us to engage with them in successful ways.
The Helping Boys Thrive Summit® is a one day event that brings together professionals, parents, educators, and community stakeholders in just this task. The summit is a positive, life-affirming, science-based, and practically focused professional development and networking event. This may be the first of its kind in your community, one that brings together a national pioneer in the field of boys’ development, Michael Gurian, with regional and local pioneers in helping boys, young men, and families.
To bring a Summit to your community, please check out www.helpingboysthrive.org. You’ll see downloadable PDFs that explain the Summits. Contact gail@gurianinstitute.com, tim@boldrecklessgrace.org, or michaelgurian@comcast.net to bring us to you!
“Amazing! I learned so much, and I felt the plight of boys in my heart. I am inspired to go out and do my part to help boys thrive!” — Julie, Educator and Parent
“This was the most important event I have gone to in ten years. The information was so needed and I came away inspired to work with stakeholders in my community to focus on boys’ needs. We need a summit like this in every American city.” — Pat, Educator and Parent; Board member, local Big Brothers and Big Sisters
“I was blown away by the PET and SPECT scans of male and female brains. The differences between us do not make us unequal: in fact, understanding them help us to be equally focused on the how boys and girls both need us in gender-specific ways.” — Terry, Author, Parent, Academic
“Boys in America are not thriving. This Summit gave me tools to help them right now. — Angie, Parent, Business Owner
“We can’t have a flourishing civilization without taking care of our sons. This summit was life-changing for me. I finally understood what is going on and how I can help.” — Erin, Educator and Pastor
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