In April 2021, our team at Project REAL sounded an alarm: As kids return to school after being at home for over a year, they are at extremely heightened risk of acting out. Some might want to make up for lost time. Others might have taken an adult-like turn to nihilism, having seen a world where a deadly disease was killing hundreds each day. After spending a year confronting mortality and being socially isolated, we predicted youth would act out with dangerous risk-taking behaviors.
We responded by creating #NVReturnReady: a guide designed so adults would require no training, yet could lead 30 minute conversations with the young people in their lives that would dramatically reduce their likelihood of getting into avoidable trouble with the law.
Fast forward to the present, and we’ve seen what we predicted last year come to pass. There’s been a nationwide jump in student-on-student and student-on-teacher violence. Last fall, property destruction became a playful prank in the form of the #DeviousLicks TikTok challenge, and in some cases those ‘pranks’ resulted in felony property destruction charges.
This isn’t a Las Vegas or Reno problem. This isn’t a Nevada problem. This is a national matter. Fortunately, we are here to help. We’ve renamed the guide REALReady and are asking adults to use it twice a year with the young people in their lives. Every National Law Day on May 1st as part of our #NVSummerReady initiative and every National Constitution Day on September 17 as part of our #NVReturnReady initiative, we call upon all adults to hold a REALReady conversation with the young people in their lives – especially if they are enrolled in Grades 5 – 12.
Clicking on the REALReady book cover will begin a download of a guide. That guide will help you hold a brief conversation about ‘thinking within the law’ with any young people you know.
Please also be sure to return here after you’ve held those conversations, and use the brief form below to complete our survey – this helps us keep track of how many #REALReady conversations have taken place.
Thank you for your commitment to getting Nevada’s Youth #REALReady
Teachers, Admins, & Education Professionals:
We hope this material will be formerly taught in Nevada’s social studies or health classes one day, with teaching standards, content correlations, and the works. Until that day comes, we would still greatly appreciate your support by having the chance to distribute our books to your students. We’ll provide free print-copies of Government, Adult Interactions, & You and free pdf copies are always available on this mini-site, as well as the more student-friendly https://projectrealnv.org/relationships/ Please contact us to get this material into your school as quickly as possible.
Parents, Guardians & Other Concerned Citizens:
There is no cost to any community that wishes to get the Government, Adult Interactions, & You guide into the hands of the youth you’d like to help prepare for adult relationships. Our challenge is getting it into their hands! You can help by contacting school administrators, health & civics instructors, and even your state law makers. Asking them to help make sure this no-cost educational resource is readily available to Nevada’s students can and will have an impact if enough of you get involved. If you’d like to do more, please contact Project REAL to see how your energy can be put to
Other Invested Stakeholders:
Politicians, Activists, and Nonprofit Leaders from all across Nevada – we want to work with you! With invaluable input from SAFE House and Cupcake Girls, we’ve created a slim-yet-direct textbook filled with information that can save lives. The best part? It’s free! While we may seek out funding support for print copies, there is no cost to downloading a free pdf, and we have made our guide available for use to all Nevadan’s for free. There’s no licensing fees, no barriers, no tricks. As some well known poets once said “The best things in life are free, but…”. We can make the book free, but it’s potential for impact relies on you! Please, contact Project REAL to see how you can apply your influence and position in the community to protect Nevada’s young people from the dangers of domestic violence this year, and for many years to come.
