Emotional Intelligence
Urban Initiative

Giving Underserved Communities Access
to EI Education and Training

Urban Initiative

(Co-founders & Co-directors; Paul Edwards and John Pellitteri)

The Emotional Intelligence Urban Initiative (EIUI) is a special program within ISEI that aims to promote the development of emotional intelligence (EI) and social-emotional learning to enhance the personal and social well-being of individuals, groups, organizations and communities in urban settings.  The initiative includes three major purposes: (1) to raise awareness of the importance of EI for human development and social relationships, (2) to disseminate information about how EI can improve human behavior, decision-making, social adaptation, motivation and conflict-resolution and (3) to provide EI training & education to expand the impact of EI in communities.

EIUI is based in New York City and targets community groups with diverse cultural and socio-economic demographics with a focus on under-served populations.  The purpose is to use emotional education to improve the quality of life and reduce some of the numerous risk factors affecting inner city populations. The initiative is developing goals in the following areas:  

  1. To provide training and education through workshops and programs in schools and community centers
  2. To improve community relationships (such police-community relations)
  3. To improve the quality of life for individuals and groups by skill training in social problem-solving, conflict resolution and interpersonal relations.
  4. To use psychoeducation (social-emotional learning) as a form of prevention and optimal development for particular at-risk population (re-entry population, veterans, adolescents)
  5. To encourage government, schools, community organizations leaders to use the principles of EI and to promote EI for their respective community constituents

EIUI aims to become a model program for urban settings to address and reduce the negative impact of risk factors in inner city communities.  In recent years EIUI provided training to inner city youth in the Van Dyke Housing Projects in the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, USA which is one of the largest housing projects in the United States as well as training in EI for New York Police officers through the NYPD Foundation.

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