Providing opportunities for troubled and at-risk youth for more than 25 years, Rite of Passage developed and now operates a robust continuum of programs. The programs offered by R.O.P. include community-based services, day schools, academic-model facilities, gender-specific treatment and secure facilities. With an emphasis on evidence-based practices and positive skill development, combined with a supportive therapeutic approach, R.O.P. is highly respected by industry experts and researchers.

One of the unique features of R.O.P. programs is their consistent and positive use of physical activity and sports. Sustained physical activity – within a positive coaching and mentoring milieu – has a strong impact on health and well-being, for youth at risk of justice involvement or recidivism as well as any other person. Physical discipline can systematically nurture character building, teamwork, goal-setting, and perseverance. As a leading residential program, Rite of Passage, incorporates regular exercise into their youth development model for court-involved adolescents.

Operating multiple residential facilities and community-based programs across the United States, the core tenets of the R.O.P. approach include the recognition that programs must provide youth with the skills and opportunities for change, interventions must be appropriate to the developmental needs of adolescents, and young people can learn life lessons that are mutually beneficial to self and community. Rite of Passage began as an alternative to youth incarceration and focused upon counseling and athletics as a means for building self-esteem and a personal history of prosocial achievement. More recently, Rite of Passage has implemented evidence-based practices and a restorative justice approach to accompany athletic, academic, and vocational achievement.