Support for Actively Rising Youth

Support For Actively Rising Youth (SFARY) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that focuses on:

•  Youth Development and Empowerment
•  Public Safety Career Exploration and job readiness
•  Community engagement and disaster preparedness

Our flagship program is the Firefighter Youth Academy (FYA) which was developed to address some of the social challenges that has been faced by high school students who reside in low income communities. We partner with local fire departments and school districts to provide resources, opportunities and support for youth who have the interest to explore first responder careers as an emergency medical technician (EMT), paramedic, firefighter or nurse, while serving the public safety needs of their community.

Many youth are naturally intrigued by the activities of firefighters and respect their presence in the community. We will use that curiosity as a way to draw youth to the academy, where they will learn about firefighting, receive mentoring and encouragement to graduate and pursue higher education. 

Firefighters and other positive role models from the community spend time mentoring, motivating, and inspiring youth to maximize their potential. Key performance indicators include improved academic performance, social behavior, and civic contribution. The anticipated outcome is that participants will become assets for their community, graduate from high school, continue their education, and increase their ability to secure meaningful employment as a first responder or medical provider. 

Our academy is built on best practices in youth development,  providing resources, opportunities, leadership, and  mentoring.  Our mission is to inspire the next generation of public safety professionals with a focus on academic achievement, community service, and responsible citizenship.  The Firefighter Youth Academy experience has a direct impact on the entire community. Student/cadets are empowered to become public safety ambassadors and support the local fire department and school districts by sharing important fire prevention and safety concepts to children and adults.  Through our Elementary School Fire Prevention and Safety Program, our cadets have trained over 5,000 school age children in the last two years. SFARY believes that our concept of empowering our youth to promote, embrace and provide direct support to revitalize communities will continue to have meaningful impact and make our communities more resilient. 

The Firefighter Youth Academy is different from many of the other programs that are made available to youth today. In addition to providing exploration into the career of firefighting and utilizing Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) concepts to serve their community, our curriculum further serves to develop the character of the participant. Positive role models from the fire department mentor cadets in a coaching style to promote some of the core factors that enable youth to become more productive, and socially responsible citizens.