Episode 9: Anchors Outdoor Adventures-Isaiah Adams

Isaiah Adams, President and co-founder of Anchor's Outdoor Adventures shares how water action sports can help at-risk or neglected youth find hope and healing.

Isaiah Adams, President and Co-founder

Isaiah grew up doing action sports and knows first-hand the therapeutic benefits they can have. In college, Isaiah had the dream of creating an organization that used water sports to help at-risk youth. This dream lied dormant until Isaiah met up with a childhood friend, Trevor Gomez, who had a similar vision. The two began working on the project and Anchors Outdoor Adventures was born shortly after.

Research has shown that without access to recreation, young people find alternative, often destructive, ways of using their free time. Youth who participate in these destructive activities at an early age have a much higher chance of unlawful offenses. Research also supports the notion that outdoor recreation has considerable positive effects on mental health. By offering a safe, inclusive environment for at-risk youth to engage in action sports, Anchors Outdoor Adventures (Anchors OA) gives at-risk youth an outlet for the many trials they face elsewhere. Anchors Outdoor Adventures (Anchors OA) uses an anchor as a symbol of using Jesus Christ as an anchor for their lives.

You can learn more at https://www.anchorsoa.org

Episode 8: Transitional Youth-Rhona Mahl

Rhona Mahl, executive director of Transitional Youth, shares how a new mindset is required to truly impact Portland’s at-risk youth population.

Rhona Mahl

Ever since Rhona’s life was transformed at the age of 14, she knew she wanted to live for something more than herself. Having experienced life on the streets as a child, she knows first hand how hard it can be to break the cycle of poverty. Today Rhona oversees Transitional Youth, a nonprofit dedicated to loving at-risk youth and helping them find healthy transformation.

Rhona is also the executive director of Braking Cycles, a nonprofit coffee and bike shop in Portland that operates under the umbrella of Transitional Youth. Through its youth apprenticeship programs, Braking Cycles offers hope, tangible job skills, and real-world knowledge that will provide youth a place and opportunity to dream, reach, and achieve. The goal is that healthy self-sufficiency can become the new cycle.

Learn more at https://www.brakingcycles.org and https://www.transitionalyouth.org/