HCHY List: Community Youth Strategy

Fri Jan 16 17:56:01 CST 2009

Hi 

in the same vein, here in Portland OR a process took place and a childrens bill of rights was created and now there are 2,000 mini grants available to work on the rights.

It is exiting seeing this grow

cheers Angela
NWDSA

-----Original Message-----
From: John Yap <john.yap at yfes.org>
To: sholl2000 at aol.com
Cc: mafernandez at stanford.edu; Heather Storer <heather.storer at yfes.org>; Healthy Communities Healthy Youth <hchylist at lists.search-institute.org>
Sent: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:26 am
Subject: Re: HCHY List: Community Youth Strategy

Hi all,

Great work from everybody.? I'd like to share some work that's being done here in San Mateo County, California (San Francisco Bay Area).

1) The San Mateo County Adolescent Report 2007

This report includes data from a youth-led, youth-created, youth-distributed, youth-analyzed, and youth-completed survey that collected over 1400 clean, usable surveys from High School students from across the whole county.? The surveys were distributed at public, private, charter, and alternative schools.? The survey was called the youth Needs Assessment and was the project of the San Mateo County Youth Commission.? They did this because they saw the virtue of ensuring that any course of action that they, and the county, would take regarding youth policy would actually be comprised of youth voice.? 

Of course, throughout the process, great adult allies and partners from the County Board of Supervisors, Health Department, school districts, and other key community stakeholders helped turn the project into a reality.? The Adolescent Report also includes data from the California Healthy Kids Survey.

Beyond the data, the Youth Commissioners also created key policy recommendations based on the needs assessment and qualitative/anecdotal data from Fishbowl Focus groups on the main topics of the Needs Assessment.? The Adolescent Report was approved by the Board of Supervisors and they initiated meetings with heads of all County departments to plan for implementation.

That report showed that youth and adult partnerships can and do work.? Because of the commitment of the youth to ensure youth voice and impact on youth policy and of the adults in the community that made sure the project was completed (by funding, by educating youth on public health research, etc.), San Mateo County was honored with the top youth award by the National Association of Counties (NACo) Acts of Caring Awards 2008.

The report can be found here:
http://www.smhealth.org/smc/department/home/0,,1954_5352214_1029463596,00.html

2)? As a follow up to the Adolescent Report, the Peninsula Partnership Leadership Council in San Mateo County, that comprised of County department heads, leaders from large county NPOs, key city leaders, and Youth Commissioners, created and passed the San Mateo County Children and Youth Bill of Rights.? Each right is followed up with short-term and long-term implementation strategies.

That can be found here:
http://www.smhealth.org/smc/department/home/0,,1954_5352214_1029463596,00.html

3) Redwood City Community Youth Development: One of our larger cities in the county has committed to a long-term Community building plan based on Youth Development and Youth and Adult Partnership methods.? This strategic plan calls for city departments, agencies, families, schools, neighborhoods, policy makers, and youth to work together to ensure that all facets of the city are taking responsibility for the development and inclusion of their young people as current and future leaders of the city.

It began with a convening event at a high school that aimed to bridge the gap between youth and adults in the community especially considering that many households reported having no youth.? It evolved into a collaboration of community stakeholders realizing that sincere follow-up to that event needed systematic and structural support.? Youth were involved in helping with creating a vision for Redwood City and will be involved in finalizing the Strategic Plan and implementation.

We're still finalizing our long-term Strategic Plan, but I would be happy to answer any questions or guide you to the best people to discuss this effort.

**
There are other great things happening here in San Mateo County, but I thought those three options would be a good mix of examples.? Please let me know if you have any questions.? Thanks!

John Yap, MSW
Youth Development Coordinator
Youth Development Initiative
Office: (650) 401-8617 ex. 11
Fax: (650) 401-7755
http://www.BetheDifference.org

Youth and Family Enrichment Services (YFES)
610 Elm Street, Suite 212, San Carlos, CA 94070

Strengthening Communities

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