New Horizons Maritime Center (NHMC) was formed exclusively for the charitable purposes of providing a dynamic hands-on, apprentice-based learning environment, designed specifically for youth development and community betterment. These programs have been developed from a concern for at-risk and troubled youth who struggle to succeed in the traditional educational system and who often drop out of school before graduating from high school.
NHMC will offer after-school programs, educational workshops, apprentice possibilities, and a safe place to pursue productive and useful life changing educational activities. Through the restoration of donated boats needing repair, and under the careful supervision of NHMC staff and volunteers, youth groups and other interested people in the community will learn a wide variety of trade and social skills necessary for success in today’s competitive world. Participants will gain a greater sense of tradition, respect, and societal values as they tap into the rich maritime traditions our country has to offer. New interests will be developed and innate potential realized.
Programs will begin in the Spring of 2013 with the restoration of a fleet of Star sail boats, as well as scratch building of the Bella 10 rowing boat. Using the Star and Bella boats as a learning/project platform, the focus of NHMC will be to teach trade skills to youth. The restoration / building projects will provide opportunities for scholarly research as well as all of the various facets of yacht restoration including reading lofting plans, collecting research data, photo documentation of the restoration progress, welding, woodworking, painting, marine electrical systems, navigation instrumentation, and safety requirements. These trade skills will require the practical application of math, physics, science, language comprehension, problem solving and technical drawing. Self-esteem and feelings of success will be natural by-products as benchmarks are completed. Not only will the youth involved feel the impact of this project but it will also be felt by community leaders, correctional institutions, tradesmen who serve as mentors, friends and family of the youth as well as the extensive worldwide sailing community. These life altering stories will be documented, filmed and written about for future generations.
Upon obtaining 501(c)3 status we will institute the following 5 phases of development. Interwoven throughout each phase will be an emphasis on research and documentation of participants.
It is anticipated that NHMC will receive additional donations of sailing vessels in various stages of repair, as well as the equipment and tools needed to provide continual learning opportunities for apprenticing students.
All donated funds will go toward the furthering of these programs and organizational overhead costs. It is anticipated that administrative costs can be minimized and the vast bulk of funds used in pursuit of its mission.
The restoration of each sailing vessel will be documented and made available to the public through NHMC’s website (presently, not public domain), on-site tours and e-newsletters that will be continuously updated to feature historical data and restoration work in progress. These “outreach tools” will help further the educational goals of the organization and provide transparency to donors wishing to know how their contributions are being used. Our film documentary will also play a large roll in fundraising, public education, worldwide interest and hopefully a PBS documentary. These tools will not only chronicle the progressive restoration of the sailing vessels, but more importantly, the transformation in the lives of those involved in the process. The rescue mission of saving historically significant sailing vessels is compelling, but the bigger vision of rescuing our at-risk and disadvantaged youth is at the heart of what NHMC desires to accomplish.