About Prodigy®

Every day, over 24.6 million youth in America leave school and go home to an empty house due to the cost on after school care and transportation. Lack of supervision after school hours can lead to unintended crime. Youth who are most vulnerable often engage in delinquent behaviors and usually lack the encouragement, social shaping, and life skills that are essential to becoming healthy and productive adults.

History

In the year 2000, the University Area CDC (UACDC) launched the Prodigy® Cultural Arts Program (Prodigy®). The Prodigy® program is a researched-based prevention program for youth ages 5-17. Prodigy® is primarily funded by a partnership between UACDC and the Department of Juvenile Justice to provide programming across West Central Florida. The purpose of the program is to equip youth with life skills that will develop lifelong positive habits for future success. Prodigy® has served a bit over 46,000 youths in its 25 years of existence and since it has offered programming to adults and seniors in recent years.

Creativity

Prodigy® provides a safe arena for youth to learn effective communication, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills through visual and performing art classes taught by professional artists. Participants are encouraged to explore their self-worth and learn the values of others and the communities in which they live. Through this process, they can understand and express their inner thoughts, feelings, and values. This helps them connect with their community and become productive and socially responsible adults. And for adults and seniors who participate in Prodigy led classes sponsored by limited county funding in Hillsborough, the program allows them to learn new forms of expression through the arts, develop new talents, and socially interact with other participants.

Discovery

Prodigy®’s unique approach to life skills infused art-programming makes it possible for youths to:

  1. Develop life skills and social competencies, including problem-solving, communication, and anger management.
  2. Enhance empathy for others and form a connection within the community.
  3. Build interpersonal skills by creating art as a form of self-expression.
  4. Recognize and value their own unique talents and abilities.

Prodigy® classes foster creative thinking through visual and performing art forms. Participants are encouraged to attend 3 hours per week at a minimum to ensure new skills are gained and to establish mentoring relationships with the professional art instructors. Through this model and based on funding opportunities, Prodigy® serves an average of 1,000 youths yearly by delivering approximately 7,000 hours of life and leadership skills instruction at over 20 partnering program locations in seven counties, including Prodigy Moves! (mobile program).

Classes may include:

  • Drawing-painting, media or technical arts, photography, and sculpture.
  • Traditional, contemporary, hip-hop, and urban dance.
  • Instrumental-vocal performances, composition, and production.
  • Acting, creative writing, staging, and costuming.

Statistics

Prodigy® participants experience a significant decrease in anger, depression/anxiety, sleep disturbances, while improving the ability to control their behavior after program completion. Prodigy® contributes to preventing at-risk youth from entering the juvenile justice systems. According to 2024-25 fiscal year statistics, 100% of youth do not get in trouble with law enforcement while they are in the program and 100% remain out of trouble 12 months after completing the program. It is estimated to cost approximately $214,000 to arrest, process and incarcerate a juvenile in the State of Florida while it only costs $2,000 per youth to be served in Prodigy®.

Sources on Cost & Savings

  • Juvenile Law Center – “New Study High Cost of Florida’s Hidden Taxes on Children” by Katy Otto – published on 2/9/2023
  • FY2024-25 Budget Summary: Corrections and Youth Justice by the Florida Policy.org
  • Juvenile Justice Hub – www.jjie.org
  • www.fftllc.com – “Sticker Shock 2020: The Cost of Youth Incarceration”
  • Functional Family Therapy – “Can States Reduce the High Cost of Youth Incarcerations?” posted on 1/5/2023