Awareness
Recognize the choices in front of you — and the doors each one opens or closes.
We empower young people to make better, wiser decisions — knowing when to say no, who to walk with, and how to turn today's choices into tomorrow's reality.
"The decisions made now can affect the rest of their lives."
— Smart Choices guiding belief
Mentoring
One-on-one guidance
Life Lessons
Field trips that teach
Job Ready
Interview prep
Senior Support
Funding assistance
Our Mission
Smart Choices understands that the decisions made today can shape a young person's entire future. We educate youth to identify who they should associate with, to be mindful of the stigmas tied to demeanor and apparel, and to think before they post on social media or speak to the world online.
Knowing when to say no is the key to staying free of peer pressure — and free to chase the dream.
Recognize the choices in front of you — and the doors each one opens or closes.
Know who you are, who you walk with, and how the world reads you before you say a word.
Make appropriate choices about what you publicly display on social networks and phones.
Dreams are real. Smart choices, made consistently, are how they show up in your life.
What We Do
One-on-one and small-group mentoring rooted in honest conversations about peer pressure, identity, and the long view.
Real-world experiences that turn lessons into lived memory — youth go places, see things, and come back changed.
How to walk in, how to talk, what to wear, how to follow up — practical job-readiness training for the moment that counts.
Senior year shouldn't be the year a student misses out. Direct funding assistance for high-school senior expenses.
Sometimes the most important thing an adult can do is shut up and listen. We take time with the youth, on their terms.
From the Founder
"Because we know that dreams are real, our mission is for young men to know that can be a reality in their lives."
Rodney C. Peete founded Smart Choices to walk alongside young people — and the single parents raising them — through the moments that quietly decide a future. The work is plain, personal, and built on showing up.
Mentor, volunteer, partner, give. Every door we open for a young person starts with someone deciding to show up.