“Hair Me Out,” the mobilization project designed to strengthen the involvement of barber and beauty shops in S.O.S.’s anti-violence work, provided shops with goal sheets for their young clientele to fill out during the first week of school.  Goals include “increase my school attendance,” “join after school programs,” and “do my homework every day,” with suggested tasks such as “set my alarm for earlier in the morning,” and “ask for help when I’m not sure how to complete an assignment.”  

One of the participating barbershops

Clients who fill out a goal sheet are given an S.O.S. backpack, notebook, and pair of sunglasses. “So many members of the community want to help young people stay focused on their goals.  It’s our hope that having the barbers and beauticians work with their younger clients on their goals sheets and then check with them on how they are doing during their next appointments, they can be an additional encouraging adult in the student’s life, “ said Program Director Amy Ellenbogen . “Sometimes people want to ‘be a part of the village that is raising the child’ but they aren’t quite sure how to do it, and they also want to mind their own business. These goal sheets will provide barbers and beauticians the tools they need to become a positive presence in the lives of young people and the excuse to be involved.”