Institute for Relationship Intelligence: Changing Minds, Transforming Lives
The Institute for Relationship Intelligence reaches thousands of teens each year in urban & suburban areas of NY/NJ with messages of healthy relationships, self-leadership and service to others. In the last decade, I.R.I. has reached more than 120,000 youth, helping them to focus on achieving their future dreams and avoiding the traps that could endanger their lives and goals!
Since 1998 when I.R.I. began to offer educational and after-school youth development programs in Jersey City and Paterson, birth rates among unmarried 10-19 year-olds in Jersey City and in Paterson dropped by 30% (1998 vs. 2001-2011). In demographically similar communities which had no risk avoidance education, the reductions were only 11% during those years. Overall, births to unmarried girls ages 10-19 in New Jersey dropped 21% in these years.