Ignite the Promise: Real Stories, Real Change

Format

Individual Presentation

Presenters

• Matthew J. Adkins, iCan Dream Center, NFPFollow
• Evisha Ford, iCan Dream Center, NFPFollow
• Alexandria French, Sandy Hook Promise, NFPFollow

First Presenter's Institution

iCan Dream Center, NFP

First Presenter’s Email Address

matt@icandreamcenter.com

First Presenter's Brief Biography

TEDX speaker Matthew J. Adkins is a passionate educator, seasoned youth advocate, and creator of the Ignite framework for educators—a relational approach that transforms defiance into engagement and leadership. Widely recognized as a “Teenage Chaos Wrangler,” Matthew serves as Student Success and Belonging Specialist, pioneering trauma-informed practices that help educators connect deeply with students diagnosed with oppositional defiance. Through Ignite, he has guided alternative education instructors to nearly a decade of 100% graduation rates and zero physical altercations, producing first-generation high school graduates and college attendees.

Second Presenter's Institution

iCan Dream Center, NFP

Second Presenter’s Email Address

evisha@icandreamcenter.com

Second Presenter's Brief Biography

Evisha Bio: Dr. Evisha Ford, LCSW is a mother, wife, TEDx Speaker and the Founding Executive Director of iCan Dream Center, a therapeutic school in Illinois that serves neurodiverse learners and their families. Dr. Evisha is the author of the book Benches in the Bathroom: Leading a Physically, Emotionally, and Socially Safe School Culture.

Third Presenter's Institution

Sandy Hook Promise, NFP

Third Presenter’s Email Address

alex.french@sandyhookpromise.org

Third Presenter's Brief Biography

Alexandria French serves as Associate Vice President of Research & Evaluation at Sandy Hook Promise, where she leads the development and implementation of data-driven strategies that measurably enhance school safety and violence prevention nationwide. With deep expertise in program evaluation and research methodology, Alexandria transforms insights into actionable policies that empower youth, educators, and communities.

Submitter

I am submitting this proposal as one of the presenter(s)

Location

Sloane

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance

This presentation is highly relevant to the NYAR 2026 conference aims because it demonstrates the power of Sandy Hook Promise’s Start With Hello program and iCan Dream Center’s relationship-driven approach work together to build protective HEART factors—connection, compassion, and belonging—in youth communities. By providing free, accessible resources, Start With Hello equips educators to foster inclusive environments where all students feel seen and supported, directly advancing youth resilience and safety. Real stories and proven strategies will be shared, showing how the power of authentic connection not only strengthens engagement but also drives effective violence prevention for diverse learners, aligning perfectly with the NYAR mission to inspire safer and more resilient schools for every student.

Brief Program Description

This session highlights how authentic connection is the foundation of effective youth violence prevention. Drawing on real stories and proven strategies, presenters will show how compassionate leadership and relationship-driven approaches empower students to embrace Sandy Hook Promise programs, strengthen resilience, and build safer school communities through genuine engagement and youth buy-in.

Summary

Ignite the Promise: Real Stories, Real Change is an innovative initiative designed to foster inclusive, connected, and violence-free school environments by marrying the transformative methodology of the Ignite Framework with the research-proven efficacy of Sandy Hook Promise’s Start With Hello program. Led by nationally recognized experts from iCan Dream Center, including Dr. Evisha Ford, a TEDx speaker, equity designer, and celebrated author. The program integrates relational strategies backed by decades of impact, academic scholarship, and ground-level evidence to inspire systemic improvement.

At the heart of this approach is Matthew Adkins’ Ignite Framework. A relational model with over 6 years of success with 100 percent graduation rates in an alternative school environment, which encourages teachers and students to break down hierarchical barriers through the practices of individuation, breaking the fourth wall, and adopting the Archimedean point. This evidence-based model deepens engagement, critical thinking, and personal growth—attributes consistently linked in published studies to higher academic achievement and improved mental health outcomes for youth. For example, belonging-focused interventions have reduced GPA gaps by up to 79% and improved graduation and retention rates among high school students.

Start With Hello complements this relational approach by empowering youth to actively prevent social isolation, marginalization, and rejection with three simple, actionable steps: 1) See someone alone; 2) Reach out and help; 3) Start With Hello. Research shows that these steps have trained over 7 million youth and adults and are credited for averting school violence and saving lives through increased peer intervention and enhanced student agency.

The program is reinforced by the research of Dr. Evisha Ford, whose work, including the widely referenced "Benches in the Bathroom: Leading a Physically, Emotionally, and Socially Safe School Culture", serves as both a practical guide and a vision for equity. Her scholarship and resilience-centered leadership are referenced nationally and published in sources such as Solution Tree and academic journals.

By anchoring the power of relational connection in inspirational stories and rigorously documented successes, Ignite the Promise challenges educators and youth advocates to transform school culture through actionable belonging, compassionate leadership, and real partnership, laying the foundation for safer, more inclusive schools.

Evidence

https://www.otb.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Benches-in-the-Bathroom-EXCERPT.pdf

“Benches in the Bathroom” by Dr. Evisha Ford provides both inspirational narratives and research-backed frameworks for creating physically, emotionally, and socially safe school cultures. The book details how trauma-compassionate leadership, people-first strategies, and staff wellness initiatives can measurably reduce educator stress, burnout, and attrition, leading to improved student outcomes and a more positive school climate.

https://firearminjury.umich.edu/publication/the-effectiveness-of-the-say-something-anonymous-reporting-system-in-preventing-school-violence-a-cluster-randomized-control-trial-in-19-middle-schools/

The referenced study provides rigorous, peer-reviewed evidence that the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System (SS-ARS) significantly improves school safety outcomes. Conducted as a cluster randomized control trial across 19 middle schools, the research demonstrates that SS-ARS increases students’ self-efficacy and intention to report warning signs, while also boosting perceptions of safety and reducing exposure to school violence at nine months post-intervention. This data-backed validation confirms that Sandy Hook Promise initiatives, when implemented with fidelity, can measurably enhance safe school climates and empower students as proactive upstanders.

SHP Report 2024

https://sandyhookpromise.app.box.com/v/SHPAnnualReport2024

The Sandy Hook Promise Annual Impact Report serves as authoritative, current evidence of the organization's broad reach and effectiveness in school safety and violence prevention initiatives. With more than 7 million youth and adults trained, the report documents at least 16 credible planned school shooting attacks averted, 686+ lives saved, 285+ acts of weapon violence prevented, 268,000+ anonymous tips submitted, and 5,800+ students helped through a mental health crisis.

https://icandreamcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMPACT2024.pdf

The report shows the efficacy of the Ignite framework at iCan Dream Center. Over the last seven years iCan Dream Center has consistently achieved a 100% graduation rate for seniors in its Accelerated High School Completion Program. This report represents data gathered in 2024—an exceptional outcome for an alternative setting. Additionally, overall class engagement and attendance rates are significantly higher than typical national averages for alternative schools, demonstrating the success of their individualized, trauma-informed approach.

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to demonstrate the ability to use a connection building activity to develop deeper relationships in their professional environments.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will demonstrate the ability to implement compassionate leadership in their professional environments by writing down one commitment to implement when they return to their teams.

Learning Objective 3

Each participant will demonstrate the ability to create a 1–2 sentence “Promise” connecting belonging to safer schools.

Keyword Descriptors

Compassionate Leadership, Inclusion, Youth Empowerment, Relational Strategies, School Safety, Trauma-Informed, Agency, Violence Prevention

Presentation Year

2026

Start Date

3-2-2026 10:15 AM

End Date

3-2-2026 11:30 AM

Recommended Citation

Adkins, Matthew J.; Ford, Evisha; and French, Alexandria, "Ignite the Promise: Real Stories, Real Change" (2026). National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference. 6.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2026/2026/6