Developmental Assets
Find Yourself Friday - New Year's Youth Dance
Join us for the first “Find Yourself Friday” Youth event of the New Year!!! The JAG Youth Council and Milford Youth Center will be hosting their sixth Find Yourself Friday event, on Friday January 27, 2012 from 6:00-9:00pm at the Milford Youth Center. The event will include, a DJ, music, dancing games, snacks and a New Year's ball drop at the end of the night!
This month, the youth decided on a New Years theme, to have youth be able to celebrate the New Year with their friends! The price of admission will be $3.00 per person. All proceeds will benefit the Milford Play Initiative, to purchase a piece of playground equipment for a new playground to be built at Fino Field. There will be a dedication on the equipment to the Milford Youth Center and JAG Youth Council!
We are also looking for volunteers for the event. If you are able to help out, please contact Youth Council Coordinator, Jen Ward at jenward24@gmail.com
Find Yourself Fridays are funded by the Juvenile Advocacy Group, the Milford Youth Center, the United Way of Tri-County, and CHNA 6.
Location
Fashion Show Meeting
Join us for an informational and sign-up meeting for our 4th Annual "Dressed Up, Not Messed Up" Fashion Show. The meeting will be on Tuesday, January 24th from 6:30pm-7:30pm at the Milford Youth Center. Please bring a signed copy of photo release form and sign up form to meeting. At the meeting, youth and their families, will sign up for hair and/or make-up and outfit times. The date of the fashion show is Saturday, February 11th at 6 PM.
The theme of our show for the fourth year will be “Dressed Up, Not Messed Up”. Through this event we plan to raise awareness about underage drinking and help teens become better informed about the dangers of alcohol so they can make healthy decisions throughout life. We also hope this event will increase youth self-esteem and attitudes toward their body image. Each year the show gets better and better, with more youth participating and community involvement!
If you have any questions, please contact jenward24@gmail.com
Location
Building Developmental Assets - November 2011
What are Developmental Assess?
Youth development research indicates youth need opportunities to contribute to their communities in safe, meaningful, and healthy ways. Research also tells us that if youth have an underlying background of family and community support they will be more likely to make good choices about unsafe behavior.
The Search Institute -a nonprofit organization that conducts practical research benefiting children and youth - has identified the building blocks of young people’s successful growth and development. These 40 “developmental assets” provide a common framework by which parents, caregivers, schools and the community can support youth. The Search Institute bases their work on the fact that all children and youth need support, opportunities, boundaries, expectations, and structure.
Research by the Search Institute confirms that strengthening developmental assets promotes academic achievement and reduces high risk behaviors. Community leaders and youth serving providers in Milford have embraced this framework as a way to nurture and mold the commitments, values, skills, and positive identity children need in order to grow up healthy and responsible.
The Attitudes and Behaviors Survey
Over 2 million youth ages 12-18 in urban, suburban and rural communities have answered questions about their thoughts on school climate, parent and school expectations, their use of structured and unstructured time and their behaviors in general, to help adults better understand the youth experience in their communities. The Attitudes and Behaviors Survey (A&B) assesses risks and “assets” to help kids succeed in school and in life. The more of these 40 developmental assets young people possess the less likely they are to get involved in problem behaviors such as substance use, early sexual activity and violence. Along the same lines, young people with many assets are much more likely to make positive choices, exhibit leadership qualities, maintain good health, value diversity, and succeed in school.
Community Support
The leading supporter of the Developmental Assets Framework in Milford is The Juvenile Advocacy Group (JAG) comprised of most youth serving organizations in the community. JAG was instrumental in conducting training in September 2011 through CHNA 6 on Developmental Assets Across the Age Spectrum. JAG has piloted the Attitudes and Behaviors Survey to 100 youth at the Milford Youth Center’s Find Yourself Friday Program. Find Yourself Fridays is an example of Developmental Assets in action. JAG has also invited the Director of Youth Ambassadors Program from South Boston Community Health Center to speak on Engaging Youth through Promoting Developmental Assets this December.
Taking Action
Parents and schools play a key role in building assets in a young person’s life. Whatever the age of the child, it is never too early or too late to start building the foundation a young person needs to succeed. All of us are engaged in many of the asset-building activities already. One goal is to match the areas where youth require more support with activities and evidence- based programs that promote these assets. For example, engaging kids in collecting emergency supplies for storm victims, collecting food for the local food pantry, participating in community clean- ups or creating art installation are some of the ways to promote assets. Schools can engage students in ways to promote achievement and connection through strong linkages with caring adults at school, promoting school pride and club participation to name a few. Parents can promote homework time with their children and participate themselves on civic and school projects. A full list of examples is on the Search Institute website http://www.search-institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets-adolesce...
We welcome your participation! For further information or to become involved with Milford’s efforts please contact Amy Leone at Community Impact communityimpactinc@gmail.com
- Jonathan Capece's blog
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Creating Caring Relationships in Our Community
What is support? Over the years of doing community work and individual therapy it has made me realize that young people need to experience the presence, care, help and love of their families and many others. They need organizations such as JAG Youth Council, the Milford Town Library, local sport teams, Community Use, and the Milford Youth Center, and our schools that provide positive, nurturing environments.
In my experience support is important for everyone, young or older. Everyone likes knowing who will be there for them and whom they can count on. We enjoy the company of those who make us laugh, who make us think, and who help us sort through tough issues. Recently a friend posted this status "Support is not only the glue that holds people together but also the glue that keeps us together on the inside" and it applied so much to what the JAG is doing focusing on the Developmental Asset - Support.
We all live in a hectic society with so many demands, that we sometimes forget the importance of noticing and connecting with one another. The result of this is that too many adults and young people feel isolated and alone.
This year the Juvenile Advocacy Group (JAG) is building community awareness around the 40 Developmental Assets which includes six support assets that have a great impact on the way young people grow up. Most people understand the important roles that families have in supporting young people; however some overlook the positive power of friends, neighbors, teachers, coaches, volunteers, grandparents, bus drivers, baby-sitters, aunts and uncles, and other people who are part of children and teenagers' lives.
This month take the time to make simple actions and gestures to help create an atmosphere of support within our community. Together we can make a difference creating caring relationships. We would love to hear how you made a difference with your simple actions and gestures feel free to email Amy Leone at so we can share your stories. Amy will be writing a monthly article in Milford PATCH discussing how individuals can build assets among their families, friends and community.
- Jonathan Capece's blog
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What Kids Need: The Building Blocks for Children and Youth
What are Developmental Assets?
This year the Juvenile Advocacy Group and the JAG Youth Council will focus their community efforts on Developmental Assets. The Developmental Assets are 40 common sense, positive experiences and qualities that help influence choices young people make and help them become caring, responsible, successful adults. Because of its basis in youth development, resiliency, and prevention research and its proven effectiveness, the Developmental Assets framework has become one of the most widely used approach to positive youth development in the United States.
Read the list of assets here.
Background on the Developmental Assets:
Since its creation in 1990, Search Institute’s framework of Developmental Assets has become the most widely used approach to positive youth development in the United States. The assets are grounded in extensive research in youth development, resiliency, and prevention. They represent the relationships, opportunities, and personal qualities that young people need to avoid risks and to thrive.
The Power of Assets:
The 40 Developmental Assets represent everyday wisdom about positive experiences and characteristics for young people. Search Institute research has found that these assets are powerful influences on adolescent behavior—both protecting young people from many different risky behaviors, and promoting positive attitudes and actions.
Who needs them? Why are they important?
Over time, studies of more than 2.2 million young people consistently show that the more assets young people have, the less likely they are to engage in a wide range of high-risk behaviors and the more likely they are to thrive. Research has proven that youth with the most assets are least likely to engage in four different patterns of high-risk behavior, including problem alcohol use, violence, illicit drug use, and sexual activity. The same kind of impact is evident with many other problem behaviors, including tobacco use, depression and attempted suicide, antisocial behavior, school problems, driving and alcohol, and gambling.
The positive power of assets is evident across all cultural and socioeconomic groups of youth, and there is also evidence that assets have the same kind of power for younger children. Furthermore, levels of assets are better predictors of high-risk involvement and thriving than poverty or being from a single-parent family. The average young person experiences fewer than half of the 40 assets, and boys experience an average of three fewer assets than girls.
How to get started building assets:
There are many ways you can start building assets for the children and youth around you, whether they’re in your family, school, or community. This year JAG will work with the search institute in promotion of our marketing campaign “Where do I get that asset?” as well as monthly articles regarding developmental assets including resources you can use to create a better world for the kids in Milford. These monthly asset will also be an aspect of the JAG youth council’s Find Yourself Friday events throughout the year.
If you are interested in getting involved please feel free to contact Amy Leone at communityimpactinc@gmail.com or go to www.jagnetwork.org
- Jen Ward's blog
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