Our Story

Breaking Chains Academy of Development (BCAD) is a 501c3 community-based organization. Our mission is to provide at-risk youth with the tools and resources needed to deter them from criminal and gang activity, helping them successfully transition into adulthood. BCAD has three main pillars: education, work skills training, and mentoring. We feel that we don’t work with at-risk youth, but instead share our lives with them and they, in turn, share their lives with us. What makes BCAD so successful in reaching our goals is that we build sincere, loving RELATIONSHIPS with our youth. Understanding that our youth face a multitude of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), we work to build resilience in every student using a trauma-informed approach throughout our program. Breaking Chains Academy of Development is in the heart of the North Side of Nampa, an area with a low socioeconomic population, high crime rates, and gang activity. Families located here battle food scarcity and have minimal access to resources. BCAD students reflect these demographics and suffer from the same lack of resources as the rest of our community. Our target population consists of underserved youth ages 14-18 in Canyon County.