Morpheus Youth Project (MYP) is a nonprofit corporation founded in 2011 that provides educational workshops to at-risk youth in the Portland metropolitan area. Our mission is “transformation through arts and awareness”. MYP conducts workshops for at-risk youth who are either part of the juvenile court system or residents of the Portland metropolitan area. Our goal is to enable under-served youth to develop their lives in a positive direction through educational workshops in the arts, humanities, cultural and ethnic awareness and family oral history. Morpheus Youth Project was formed as a direct response to the significant number of youth who are either falling through the cracks in school or who are already enmeshed in the juvenile justice system. Our programs are both educational and charitable. In an effort to create positive change with at risk youth, we take an approach that is three pronged: 1. The first approach is prevention. MYP offers youth creative options through the arts as an alternative to self -destructive behavior. We build relationships that matter and help to guide youth into healthy and forward -moving directions. 2. Positive intervention is our second approach. For youth already enmeshed in the juvenile justice system we build relationships through creative and educational workshops, but with a stronger emphasis on building trust. This allows youth to step out of their comfort zone and realize new options in their lives as real alternatives to delinquency. 3. Practical assistance and mentoring is our third supportive approach for that difficult time when youth are transitioning out of correctional facilities and residential treatment programs. MYP steps in and offers a hand with basic needs such as obtaining a driver’s license or referring youth for employment, while providing guidance with difficult decision making during this period of transition.
