Impact
MAES creates impact across three interconnected areas: community safety, education, and cultural engagement. Through workshops, partnerships, and public initiatives, the organization works to strengthen awareness, resilience, and responsible action in real-world settings.
Community Safety Impact
MAES has led community safety workshops that help participants build awareness, confidence, and practical response skills. This work has reached older adults, immigrants, and other community members through public-facing workshops focused on safety, de-escalation, and bystander responsibility.
Survey findings from selected workshops showed measurable results. Confidence in personal safety increased from 36% to 60%, while confidence in helping others in moments of conflict or harm increased from 32% to 77%.
Educational Impact
MAES’s educational work reflects the belief that martial arts can support more than physical training. Through initiatives such as Martial Mind®, the organization uses embodied practice to strengthen self-regulation, focus, character development, and awareness of behavior and decision-making.
This work helps connect martial arts principles with contemporary learning needs in schools, youth programs, and community-based educational settings.
Cultural Impact
MAES also extends its mission through cultural storytelling and public interpretation. Through short films, public dialogue, and related creative work, MAES helps connect martial arts with identity, resilience, and community life.
Recent work in this direction includes short film BRUCE, while earlier storytelling efforts have also helped broaden public engagement with martial arts beyond physical training alone.
Community Safety Impact
Community safety is one of the clearest public-facing areas of MAES’s work. Through workshops designed for real-world community settings, MAES helps participants strengthen awareness, boundaries, judgment, and practical response skills.
Survey Findings
The following findings are based on pre- and post-workshop surveys collected from selected community safety workshops.
Who We Reached
A total of 159 participants completed the pre-survey. Among surveyed participants:
- 62% were ages 66–85
- 76% were women
- 75% reported limited English proficiency
These findings suggest that the workshops reached populations that may face heightened barriers to confidence, access, or communication in public settings.
What Changed
Following the workshop:
- confidence in personal safety increased from 36% to 60%
- confidence in helping others in moments of conflict or harm increased from 32% to 77%
Participants also reported greater confidence in setting boundaries, stronger emotional and mental preparedness, and a stronger sense of safety after the workshop.
Bystander Readiness
The workshop also increased comfort with specific bystander actions:
- supporting the person afterward increased from 27% to 44%
- recording or documenting safely increased from 18% to 36%
- creating a distraction increased from 12% to 18%
- the share of participants who felt comfortable using none of the listed bystander actions dropped from 14% to 3%
These shifts suggest that participants left not only feeling safer themselves, but also more prepared to support others.
Being Seen
The 3S model addresses not only safety, but also visibility and recognition in community life. During the workshop:
- 73% of participants reported feeling moderately or very much that their identity and lived experiences were acknowledged
- 69% reported greater awareness of how invisibility affects AANHPI communities and others
- 63% said the workshop helped them reflect on moments when they or others felt unseen
Related Coverage
Featured Coverage: From Awareness to Action: Workshop Teaches Safety and Defense for Brooklyn’s Asian Community (BK Reader)
Related Inquiry
If your school, organization, or community group is interested in partnering on community safety education, MAES welcomes inquiries.
Educational Impact
MAES approaches martial arts as a form of education, not only as physical training. Its educational work is designed to help participants strengthen self-regulation, concentration, discipline, and responsible conduct through embodied practice.
This impact is reflected in initiatives such as Martial Mind®, which connects martial arts-inspired learning with self-awareness, character development, and present-focused attention.
What This Educational Work Supports
- self-regulation and emotional awareness
- focus and sustained attention
- character development through practice
- stronger connection between movement, reflection, and behavior
- practical use of martial arts principles in educational settings
Why It Matters
MAES’s educational work offers an embodied approach to development. By using structured physical practice as a learning tool, it helps translate discipline, awareness, and responsibility into lived experience.
Where To Go Next
For full program information, formats, and partnership options, please visit the Programs section.
Cultural Impact
MAES’s cultural impact grows out of its commitment to present martial arts as a living part of identity, memory, and community life. Through storytelling, film, and public dialogue, MAES helps people engage martial arts not only as training, but also as culture, history, and human experience.
Recent Work
A recent example of this direction is BRUCE, a short film connected to collaboration with the Bruce Lee Foundation and framed around immigrant identity, resilience, and cultural memory. The film has been selected by several film festivals, contributing to broader public engagement with its themes.
Watch Making of “Bruce”
Continuity
This work builds on earlier short-form storytelling projects associated with MAES. Together, these efforts extend martial arts education into broader public and cultural conversation.
What This Makes Possible
- broader public access to martial arts as a cultural resource
- reflection on identity, resilience, and memory
- cultural dialogue that connects tradition with contemporary life
- new partnerships across arts, education, and community sectors
Related Inquiry
MAES welcomes collaboration with schools, cultural institutions, and community organizations interested in screenings, talks, and storytelling initiatives.