Programs
Collective Impact in action
Network Connect organizes our work around five service areas: Family and Neighborhoods, Healing and Recovery, Violence Prevention and Intervention, Well-Being and Mental Health, and Youth Empowerment.
These areas reflect the conditions people and communities need to move forward. They also reflect how life actually works. Needs overlap. A young person may need a safe route to school, support managing stress, and a path to employment. A family may need food today, help navigating services tomorrow, and stronger support for the long term.
That is why our programs are built to connect across needs rather than operate in isolation.
The Future Culture Creators (FCC) is a workforce and leadership development program for high school students who need stronger connections to school, work, and community. Through professional development, personal brand building, civic engagement, design thinking, mental health awareness, and job placement, young people build confidence, practical skills, and real-world experience.
The Community Well-Being Ambassador (CWA) Initiative is a community-driven, place-based prevention strategy to bring trusted, community-based support directly into Delaware neighborhoods. CWAs help individuals and families identify what they need, make a plan, and connect to mental health care, substance use support, youth resources, essential needs, and other services that can help.
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RACE to Wellness is our suite of mental health and ACE Awareness programs that focus on helping youth and families understand and reduce the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences through culturally responsive mental health and wellness programming. RACE reaches young people at school and in the community through after-school programs, summer camps, RACE Days, and RACE kits that build coping skills, awareness, and access to support.
Recovery Cafe is a welcoming healing and recovery community in Dover for people navigating substance use, trauma, mental health challenges, grief, isolation, and other life struggles. Through relationship-based support, Recovery Circles, coaching, activities, and connection to resources, people build stability, belonging, and support for the long term.
The Wilmington Street Team is a community-based violence prevention initiative working directly in Wilmington neighborhoods. Through credible messengers, conflict mediation, outreach, nonviolent dispatch response, and neighborhood hubs, the team helps de-escalate conflict, reduce retaliation, and connect residents to practical resources and support.
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The Bridge Initiative The Bridge Initiative creates an affordable, flexible path to higher education for adults and young adults through Network Connect’s partnership with Indiana Wesleyan University. (IWU). The IWU Bridge Initiative offers over 30 bachelor's and associate's degree programs across various disciplines. Classes are 100% online and are offered at a reduced tuition price.
MicroSchool is a short-term, high-support learning program for students whose education has been disrupted. Created with Freire Charter Wilmington and STRIVE, the program combines small-group learning, academic support, coaching, mentoring, and social-emotional support. Students rebuild routines, strengthen accountability, and reconnect with learning in a structured environment designed to prepare them for a confident return to full-time school.
Network Connect’s Food Pantry initiative helps individuals and families across Kent and New Castle Counties access nutritious, culturally responsive food with dignity and consistency. In partnership with the Food Bank of Delaware, the program provides fresh produce, meat, canned goods, beverages, and other essentials through trusted community locations in Dover and Wilmington.
