The noise from the crowd was growing louder. With the bases loaded, the stadium was filled with energy as the Cincinnati Reds worked for a comeback. The pitcher took his signs, began his windup, and released the next pitch. That’s when the most powerful moment of the game happened. Just in front of me, blocking… Read more
Hanna Firstenberger, Back2Back staff, held a bucket of water in one hand and a tangerine in the other. She smiled at the faces gathered around her on the floor as she dropped the tangerine into the water. They watched together as it floated to the surface. “Why did it float?” she asked her class, and… Read more
The island in the middle of the kitchen and the round, white tables just outside it are becoming sacred ground. What was once simply a church in Price Hill has become a gathering space for children after school to play games, eat food prepared specifically for them, and to connect with both their peers and… Read more
I’m unwanted. I’m ugly. I can’t do things by myself – I’m dumb. The printed words on scraps of colored construction paper bore an honest pain. Back2Back Cincy staff read them with sensitivity and then folded them into a loop, adding them to a growing paper chain. A paper chain of lies students were believing… Read more
“We believe in going through the hard with young people.” It’s a statement Back2Back Cincy staff, Michael Sickles, spoke honestly. It is at the core of the work staff are doing in Cincinnati within a system where minority teens need representation and advocacy. “We want to get to the real reason why bad behavior and… Read more
you asked for truth But I don’t believe you really want it Because more often than not when you ask for the truth they cant accept it They change the channel, ignore it, anything not to face it Three years ago, the team at Back2Back Cincinnati met a young man named Jay through Rising Leaders,… Read more
A regulation technique we teach is to answer the question: “How’s your engine running?” If the answer is “slow”, they turn a dial on a paper plate speedometer to blue; if the answer is“too fast”, the dial goes to red. If all is calm, and they’re just right, the dial lands on green. For teens… Read more
Self-regulation is a tool every Back2Back Cincinnati staff member is equipped and ready to offer the teens they serve. While the phrase itself may sound complicated, how to reach self-regulation can actually be easy. For the children and teens in Cincinnati, it starts with mints and gum. When a child who is dysregulated chews on… Read more
A normally clamorous basketball court sits empty and orange balls sit idle outside the Back2Back Cincinnati Academy downtown. The teens are waiting patiently inside for another type of game – one sitting opposite a safe adult over a cream and brown checkered board. Chess may seem like an unlikely after-homework activity, but it has been… Read more
Getting Through it Together Skylar* looked around the new space where he was learning. He didn’t recognize any of his new “classmates” and no one from his own neighborhood was present. He was used to being surrounded by people who looked like him and his older brother. The people around him today were from another… Read more