ABOUT STANDING ON COMMON GROUND (SOCG)

85% Decrease In Suspension Rates "Being a part of the Transition Institutes was an amazing and refreshing experience. Mr. Rubine's innovative program provided a safe and nurturing environment that allowed students and teachers to make connections with each other. This newly created relationship was an integral part in Santee Education Complex's 85% decrease in 9th grade suspensions." Alan Tuazon Psychiatric Social Worker Santee Education Complex Los Angeles Unified School District

Founded in 1991 in Los Angeles, California, SOCG is a company that has provided powerful, cutting-edge human relations programs to over 100,000 students, staff and parents and community members in more than 2,500 schools throughout the United States.

From single-day trainings and weekend retreats to week-long intensives and year-long initiatives, SOCG has always supported participants in tackling the "big issues" at their schools and in their communities; challenges that threaten campus cohesion and thwart student achievement.

SOCG has accomplished this by empowering school stakeholders to embrace their responsibility as viable, thriving members of the school community and to serve as catalysts for change in their lives and their school.

The methodology is eclectic, interactive and grounded in constructivist and experiential education theory and practice. (see Theory & Philosophy). Embedded in SOCG programs and contents are elements of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, Costa’s Habits of Mind, the Search Institutes’ Developmental Assets, and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

SOCG puts participants front and center in their own growth process—all for the well being of the campus – and provides ample opportunities for them to practice their newly developed craft, whether it be the art of facilitation or forgiving and apologizing. Simply put, people learn quicker and more deeply by doing and teaching others rather than listening and being receptacles of information.

Facilitators Ron, Keicher with Holocaust Survivor - Albert Rosa

High School Students and Staff Bonding at Alpine Camp In Arrowhead, CA

Based in Los Angeles, the SOCG team has the depth and breadth to work with any audience anywhere. The first priority of our professional and committed team, all of whom hold advanced degrees in their respective areas of expertise from respected universities, is to create a safe and secure space in which participants can be themselves, express their feelings openly and honestly, and consider other ways of looking at the world.

The vast majority of SOCG's early work was to provide school-based diversity and multicultural training to address the myriad challenges associated with the shifting demographics of our diverse school populations and communities, especially in Southern California.

While still holding true to our initial focus, SOCG has expanded the work to include a repertoire of programs that provide personal growth process and content, character education, and projects that focus on building self-esteem and efficacy, taking into consideration the culturally relevant and responsive pedagogical nuances of each respective SOCG client.