Children First 2005 Conference Summary

Assets for Youth

Community Groups

          ▪ Involve youth in the planning of events and activities.  Get their feedback on what they like to encourage participation.

            ▪ Encourage church mentoring programs after school.

            ▪ Groups can donate money/supplies that can be used to provide incentives for youth to get involved in community service and other positive programs/activities.

            ▪ Take action in establishing larger network of volunteers.  Have sign-up rosters.

            ▪ Community groups can provide organized tutoring/education programs.

Educators

            ▪ Incorporate education on 'life-skills', including training in seeking and finding employment, in the curriculum.

            ▪ Provide some incentive for youth to participate in positive after-school activities.

            ▪ Establish more resources for pregnant teens and teen moms.  Establish ways of making education more accessible to them.

            ▪ Create a community service/work experience program that enables students to receive school credits for work or community service.

            ▪ Provide late buses or some form of transportation home from after-school activities.

Business and Employers

          ▪ Collaborate with the school system to create internship opportunities for high school students.

            ▪ Provide summer employment for youth that can be used towards school credit.

            ▪ Create job-shadowing programs for students.

            ▪ Offer more flexible time and job sharing with benefits to allow adults to be at home with their children.

            ▪ Offer incentives or time off for employees that have children to participate in school/community events, volunteer work, mentoring etc.

Children and Youth

            ▪ Create a method of getting youth involved in board and committee decisions and planning.  Establish a method of collaborating with youth for feedback and allow them to voice their opinions.

            ▪ Work on getting youth that are already involved in extra curricular activities to recruit more students and get more kids involved.

            ▪ Allow youth to create their own needs forum where they can safely express their ideas, struggles concerns etc.  Put the power of organization in their hands.

            ▪ Create a Resource Directory for youth that holds information on all the programs and services for youth in the area.

            ▪ Attempt to reduce the stigma attached to after-school activities.  Listen to students and develop a method of making extra curricular activities more appealing to students.

Elected Officials (Local, State, National)

            ▪ Provide more funding for programs for youth including substance abuse, mentoring, pregnant teens, etc.

            ▪ Collaborate with youth and listen to what they have to say.  Get feedback and ideas from them about what they think has been successful in the past and what they need.

            ▪ Allocate funding for late buses as transportation home from after-school events and activities.

            ▪ Mandate High School education for youth up to the age of eighteen to reduce the drop-out rate.

            ▪ Provide funding for youth job training and summer employment.

Families (parents, step parents, grandparents, siblings, etc.)

            ▪ Empower parents by providing education opportunities on how to communicate with their children as well as child, especially parent with teenagers.

            ▪ Create a family column in the newspaper.

            ▪ Have a celebratory parent gathering focusing on what is being done well to foster proactive parent involvement.

            ▪ Families can provide feedback to educators, service providers, community groups, etc. about current programs and what is or is not working.

            ▪ Get families involved in community collaboration.