Extra-Ordinary Life (XOL) is a Washington DC based charitable program established to nurture and enrich the lives of teen girls living in foster care environments. With a belief that:

" the only difference between an “ordinary” life and an “extra-ordinary” life is a little “extra”.

XOL provides the “extra”…the extra exposure to people, places and opportunities that enables them to see beyond their immediate circumstance and inspires them to achieve their full potential. 

OUR PURPOSE
Every child deserves the love of a caring adult.  Yet every year, thousands of abused and/or neglected children in the District of Columbia are in need of safe, permanent, nurturing homes. Too many children spend years moving from one temporary home to another with no family to call their own.  There are a number of agencies and community organizations that work tirelessly to lead these youth to safety, restore their hope and facilitate healing.  XOL seeks to augment these efforts by providing aspirational experiences that challenge, invigorate, and expand a child’s view of life’s possibilities and therefore inspires them to pursue a positive direction for their life. 

OUR PROGRAMS
XOL programs are both local and global in scope and are designed to augment the functional/life skills training currently available to foster children.  XOL programs seek to “shake things up” and ignite a spark of curiosity that entices our girls to try new things and let new experiences “flip the script” on their perception of life. 

We target teen girls, age 13-18, as they still are impressionable and tend not to be a focus since the odds of adoption are low as a child get older in age.  Yet, they are transitioning to young adulthood and in most need guidance as they begin to make important life decisions and “age out” of the foster care system.  XOL programs:     

Through local and global experiences XOL exposes participants to exceptional people and opportunities that fuel their dreams and inspire them to make a reality despite challenging circumstances.

I. LOCAL EXPERIENCES

• Extra-ordinary Workshops – activities that interface our girls with people who have excelled in a variety of traditional and non-traditional fields (i.e. business, sports, philanthropy); people who have defied odds to be successful; those that have made a tremendous contribution to their community or society; or a visit to a special, unique, motivational or seemingly unattainable such as the white house, an Embassy dinner, lunch with a female CEO’s, or a college tour.
• Future Paths Programs – We expect all XOL girls to matriculate to a college program. As such, we seek to forge relationships with organizations and programs that will position our students to be accepted and successful in college and beyond. Additionally, XOL will establish internship opportunities with local companies to create a link between professional/career aspirations, goals and the paths to achieve them.

II. TRAVEL EXPERIENCES

XOL will use travel as a vehicle to reinforce the belief that “world is their oyster”. For foster girls – most of which have not traveled beyond the beltway—a national or international trip is journey is eye opening and potentially life changing.

For its inaugural journey, XOL took 8 talented young women on an exciting 10 day journey to South Africa during the final week of the World Cup. A global event of this magnitude was the perfect backdrop to a broader in-country learning experience that immersed them in cultural, educational, recreational and community service activities. They interfaced with several different groups of South African teens inJohannesburg, Benoni and Durban – living as orphans and facing similar challenges; and gained valuable perspective on how people live in other parts of the world, their pride in country, sense of joy and generosity beyond material wealth and the rewards of giving. Our young ladies blossomed over the 10 days. In subsequent years, XOL will travel to other unique destinations that provide an equally illuminating experiences.

XOL partnered with Child and Family Services of the District of Columbia (CFSA) to select trip participants via a competitive process based on academic performance, interviews, an essay and letters of recommendation. Upon selection, the girls participated in a series of workshops focused on travel, culture and etiquette in preparation for the journey.

Additionally, the girls were paired with South African teens through the Johannesburg Child Welfare Society (JCWS), several months in advance of the trip. They enjoyed discussing teen topics and beginning to “see”the country through the eyes of other teens. The JCWS ladies joined us for a Welcome dinner and we conducted a community service project together at a school in Soweto. We have no doubt these friendships will continue to grow beyond the trip.

Journey for Change founded by Malaak Compton Rock www.angelrockproject.com

Trip participants are required to serve as XOL Ambassadors for one year following the trip. This enables XOL to continue to nurture and mentor the girls so the momentum and energy of the experience is not lost upon returning home. This aspect of the program is modeled after the successful “Journey for Change: Global Ambassador Program” founded by Malaak Compton Rock. Our goal is to supplement their current foster care support system and positively influence the major life choices they face as they approach graduation from high school. In the role of an XOL Ambassadors, the girls will speak at schools and planned events, blog, participate in service projects and encourage other foster care teens by sharing their experience.


Click here to read the "Time for Kids" Magazine article on Malaak Compton Rock and the extraordinary work that she is doing through the Angel Rock Project and Journey for Change.