Live Empowered is a non-profit charitable organization 501(c)(3) founded by Linda McIntosh in 2008, located in Red Bluff, California.
After working with young people across the nation for nearly ten years, Linda found that, although the young of our nation have many privileges and often live very well, it has come at a great cost to the young people themselves - their self-esteem, self-discipline, self-confidence and the hope of a dream.
The American Dream is now defined by our young as wealth...which is unattainable in most of their eyes.
In the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence, the original Dream, is stated. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Hapiness." And in James Truslow Adams' book The Epic of America, which popularized the term American Dream, he defined it this way, "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement."
The American Dream was and is about a better life for our families and according to statistics each and every generation has experienced a better life. If that is the case then what is missing? It appears that we forgot that wealth is a by-product of - not a requirement to - success and happiness. In our drive to reach our dreams, we left our kids to make their own assumptions and it appeared to them that we were reaching only for wealth. Since the early 70s, we as a society have gone from two-parent homes, to one-parent homes, and, now, it is not surprising to find young people being raised by their grandparents or raising themselves in empty homes. The result? Fearful, discontent, emotionally and socially lost young people.
When a person feels as if dreams are not possible on any level, the feeling of being a failure sets in and hopelessness follows close behind. When the perception is that there is nothing to hope for, drugs, alcohol, lying and crime do not seem like bad alternatives.
This is a national issue which Live Empowered! intends to see changed.
It has been our experience that when young people feel they belong and are surrounded with ecouragement, they quickly learn to respond to the challenges that face them in more productive and healthy ways. With this in mind, we offer classes/trainings that fill in the gaps created by budget cuts at school and parenting at home. Our intent is to strengthen young people and in turn strengthen families. Our Unique Training Methods (UTMS) create an unusual learning environment in classes the young people will be eager to attend and will talk about for years to come, shaping who they become. We also provide training for leaders who want to replicate Live Empowered in their own regions, as well as those who simply want to become more successful in working with young people.
At Live Empowered, Success Stories are our goal. They are defined as young people who choose to contribute to society in positive ways, those who have learned to take initiative and responsibility for their lives and are demonstrating a life lived powerfully. They may look like everyone else - entrepreneurs, athletes, innovators, college students, employees or simply wives or husbands - but their lives are marked by self-confidence and forward motion; they are people who make things happen. They vote, they learn, they grow. They give of their time, they help others. We measure our effectiveness by Success Stories.