Monday, December 27, 2010

What is MLK Day of Service?

January 17 marks the 25th anniversary of a holiday that recognizes a person who helped significantly change our country for the better – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On this day, organizations across the nation will lead or participate in MLK Day of Service projects. This milestone is a perfect opportunity for all Americans to honor Dr. King’s legacy through service. Whether you spend the day reading to children at a community library, or helping organize food at a local food shelf, take some time to serve your community. Click here to find a project in your area. Or if you’re interested in planning a project for this exciting day of service, click here. If your agency is hosting a service project and could use some additional help, feel free to comment on this post and tell us more about how you’re spending MLK Service Day!

Here are some organizations in Minnesota who have service projects planned and are seeking volunteers:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?” We’d love to hear what you’re doing for others.

Friday, December 17, 2010

December Member of the Month: Northwest Youth and Family Services

Northwest Youth and Family Services (NYFS) is happy to announce a new program called The STEP Program. STEP stands for Service + Tutoring Equals Pride, and is a free program designed for youth who are not reaching their full academic potential and/or may be struggling socially. NYFS has partnered with Americorps, Minnesota Alliance with Youth and the Mounds View School District to offer the youth in our community a safe and caring environment, enabling them to spend their time connecting with caring mentors. Through the resources that the program offers, youth are challenged to stretch themselves academically, pursue leadership and service opportunities and to learn more about planning for college and post-secondary educational opportunities.

STEP operates at three different sites: NYFS, Highview Middle School and Edgewood Middle School. All three programs are coordinated by Americorps Promise Fellows. At NYFS, STEP is offered three evenings a week. Two of the three evenings are focused on academic tutoring sessions and educational activities. The goals of this program are that each student improve their grades by one full letter grade, have better study skills, learn time management, gain leadership skills, learn about future career paths/educational opportunities and understand the importance of helping others. Student in this program even have the added bonus of receiving transportation to and from the program should they need it!

The youth in their program have received the opportunity to participate in interest-based field trips such as a visit to the Shoreview Community Center's indoor water park, which was a highlight of the program. They are also planning field trips to go bowling, play at Eagles Nest Indoor Playground, visit Mall of America's Nickelodeon theme park and so much more! Additionally, they are providing their youth the opportunity to serve a Christmas meal to senior citizens and their families at Presbyterian Homes of Arden Hills on December 8th and 9th. Through this event, they anticipate the youth will learn leadership skills and get a glimpse of future career paths they may want to embark on in the future. Within the next month, they will also be providing tours of local colleges (Century College and Bethel University) so their youth can begin to plan for the future.

Of course, they want their youth to be well rounded, and be equipped to better serve their community so they have designed some service-learning opportunities to assist them in this area. They are in the process of having their youth participate in a Hunger, Homelessness and Poverty unit, where students were given the opportunity to tour Simpson Housing Services in Minneapolis. They are planning more shelter tours and eventually would like to have a fundraiser to raise money so they can donate food, as well as serve a meal at a local shelter. While participating in such a unit can be emotional, the AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, Holly “believes it is very important to have [their] youth realize the tragedies that exist in [their] community.” In Minnesota alone, each shelter turns away approximately 1,000 individuals each night. Holly’s hope is for the youth in her program to realize they can make a difference. During her childhood, there were economic struggles that often made it difficult for her mother to put food on the table. Despite this, she persevered, and to this day her mother is her role model. When Holly was 13 years old her mother had her volunteer at their church for the entire month of December, and it was during that time that she begin to realize that she could make a difference. At their church, they offered a shelter in the basement for those in need; she remembers the first night, when she began to understand the power of helping others. It was this experience as a child that has pushed her to want to help others such as the youth in STEP to realize that they, too, can make a difference.

Although Holly has only been in the position of serving as a Promise Fellow since August, she says that “it has been one of the greatest challenges and most rewarding experiences [she has] ever had.” She feels fortunate to have the support of the NYFS family and Promise Fellows on her School-Community Partnership team. Although she was not expecting to see much success very early on in the program, recently one of the STEP youth asked her what she wanted to do when I “grew up.” She told him she wanted to be a counselor and help others. His exact words were “you are already a counselor. You continue to help me, even though I am a challenge. You haven't gave up on me yet.” AmeriCorps Promise Fellows do make a difference in the world.

Friday, December 10, 2010

March 3rd, 2011: Rally for Youth Day at the Capitol

On Wednesday of this week, the Youth Policy Alliance (YPA) began distributing some important materials to help prepare you and your youth for the 4th Rally for Youth Day at the Capitol! Many of you may have already received your application and Frequently Asked Question sheet via email or snail mail, but if you haven’t yet don’t fret! Applications and other information will be sent to you in the days, weeks and months to come. YIPA members can expect to receive their application materials on December 15th, 2010.

The YPA is a coalition of youth serving organizations, associations and alliances with a statewide presence working to ensure sound youth policy in Minnesota. The YPA has come together to create a framework of support that ensures all children and youth move into adulthood ready for life.

On behalf of the YPA, MN Youth Intervention Programs Association (MN YIPA) welcomes you, your staff, and your youth to join us on March 3rd, 2011 as we seek to educate our policy leaders about the need for a comprehensive youth system of services. If your organization houses a program that provides services for youth in any of the following areas, please consider working with the YPA to arrange meetings with your legislators:

Homelessness Prevention
Mentoring
Out-of-School Time
Youth Intervention
Workforce Development
Juvenile Justice

This day-long event will be organized in a way that will help youth familiarize themselves with the Capitol, the legislature, and communicating openly and honestly with legislators about issues involving them. Youth services do not exist or work in an exclusive, solitary environment to meet the needs of young people. We must engage communities and enact policies, which promote a comprehensive approach to youth policy ensuring that all young adults are ready for life.

If your organization wishes to participate in the full day's activities and has not received an application, please comment on this blog or contact me (Rachel) via email at promisefellow@mnyipa.org! We are asking that all applications be returned by January 21st, 2011. If you have any additional questions or need more information about the rally itself, please contact Lindsey Carlson at lindsey.carlson08@gmail.com.

Click here to RSVP to our facebook event!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

November Member of the Month: Benefits of Hosting a Promise Fellow

Minnesota is in the middle of a “perfect storm." At the same time baby boomers are leaving the workforce, we also see major changes in youth demographics. Youth of color and low -income youth make up a growing percentage of total school-age children, yet many of these youth are most at-risk of dropping out. If we are to adequately prepare a highly trained workforce and remain economically solvent as a state, we need to turn the tide. Dropping out of school is a process, not a one-day event. Using the research on early warning signs, we can identify the youth most at risk and use evidence-based intervention strategies to prevent youth from dropping out.

We know that when communities come together, they can meet the challenges of the dropout crisis head on – but it often requires the added capacity of staff to support their efforts. And that is precisely why hosting an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow through the Minnesota Alliance with Youth can benefit both your organization and your community.

AmeriCorps Promise Fellows serve for one year with schools and organizations across Minnesota to mobilize volunteers, create new after-school programs, build mentoring and tutoring initiatives, and engage youth in service-learning. AmeriCorps members allow schools and communities to pilot strategies and programs on a small and cost-efficient scale, and then seek long-term local funding. Promise Fellows receive significant training and experience that helps grow and strengthen the youth development field in Minnesota. This year, the Minnesota Alliance with Youth placed 80+ Promise Fellows in schools and organizations across the state of Minnesota, and next year they are looking to increase this number to reach even more youth!

There are currently six Promise Fellows serving at three different MN YIPA member sites, and all six are doing great things for our communities. Shane Thompson from the Seneca and Odawa Nations is the Education Coordinator Promise Fellow with the Ginew/Golden Eagle program based out of the Minneapolis American Indian Center. He works closely with Rachel Greenwalt who is the Volunteer Coordinator Promise Fellow also serving with the Ginew/Golden Eagle program. They serve American Indian youth ages 5-18 and offer groups for various age groups four nights a week, providing a meal and transportation to and from groups. According to Rachel, “it has been such a great opportunity to get to know all the kids in our program. We currently have just over 80 kids enrolled in the program and we are continuing to recruit more families to be involved at Golden Eagles.”

Other YIPA sites that are currently hosting one or more Promise Fellows:

If you know anyone who is interesting in becoming an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, refer them to the Minnesota Alliance with Youth website.

To achieve goals and support students, the Minnesota Alliance With Youth invites schools, community organizations, government agencies, and other nonprofits to apply to host one or more AmeriCorps Promise Fellows to support their School Community Partnerships.

If you are interested in hosting a Promise Fellow for 2011-2012, please go to the Minnesota Alliance with Youth website for additional information about writing a letter of intent. And keep in mind that the deadline for Letters of Intent is right around the corner: December 15th, 2010.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Survival Skills for the Youth Service Worker, by Steve Zvonar

On December 3rd, 2010 YIPA has the honor of hosting Chiropractor and Wellcoach, Dr. Steve Zvonar, as he discusses early signs of stress within yourself, the staff you work with, the volunteers you coordinate and youth clients you serve. If you're interested in taking part in this seminar, look to our website for additional information. Below you'll find a guest blog by Dr. Zvonar!

After 25 years of practice in a natural health care field that involves lifestyle change, discipline and perseverance, the question that continues to throw itself at me is, “What does it take to get a person to make tough changes in their life?”

After all, we do live in a country of immediate gratifications, short cuts and “if it’s too hard to do, forget it”. I think that is one of the reasons we have a drug crisis in our country. It’s flat out easier to take a drug than to exercise, eat right, or to take time to recover with a walk in the woods.

So, why do some people change and others don’t? What fuels people to rise up and discipline themselves to change their diets, quit drugs or alcohol or proactively deal with the chronic stress in their lives? Ask a person who has done it, they will tell you that they found a reason and purpose beyond themselves that inspired them to persevere. Just think of the woman who can’t seem to quit smoking, then “magically” quits after she becomes pregnant. Yes, she has some purpose or now someone who is bigger than her own self interest that becomes the fuel for positive but difficult change.

During our seminar, Survival Skills for the Youth Service Worker”, we will be talking about the popular topic of recognizing and dealing with stress. What will be unique about this seminar is that we will be teaching how to deal with stress in our own lives as well as others around us from a coaching perspective. We will particularly be focusing on the foundations for healthy change, specifically as it pertains to our stressful lives. C.S. Lewis calls these three foundations “The Laws of Human Nature”. They are: healthy relationships, balancing ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and finding purpose and passion in life. The techniques we will discuss will be wonderful tools in dealing with the stress of coworkers, youth and of course, most importantly, ourselves.

Yes, after over 25 years of practice, hundreds and hundreds of training and seminars, when people come up to me and ask “how” do I get rid of this or that or feel better (or get more sleep, or be less depressed, etc. etc.), my first question to them is “why” do you want to feel better? Contemplating the “why” is the first, deepest and most potent step to healthy and usually difficult behavioral change. However, once the “why” is clarified and solidified, the “how” becomes much, much easier.

Friday, November 19, 2010

The Time is NOW, by Executive Director Scott Beaty

Wow! What two years will do in the ever changing political world! Not only has the Federal political landscape changed but so has Minnesota’s!

We know that the Republicans now have the majority in both the MN House and Senate for the first time in decades and it looks likely that Democrat Mark Dayton will end up as our next Governor. So what does this mean? Some say chaos, some say gridlock, some say smaller government, and some are even predicting good things will happen. Only time will tell!

What is still clear is that there is a huge budget deficit to fix…probably in the $5 to $6 billion range. We also know that after many years of budget deficits there is no low hanging fruit which means cuts to government supported programs will be deep and sharp even if the Governor and Legislature can come to some agreement on raising revenues.

One thing I do know is that in order to keep the Youth Intervention Program and other youth programming from being severely reduced or eliminated we all have our work cut out for us. What do we need to do, you may ask? For starters I say educate, educate, educate! There are a lot of new legislators out there and it needs to be our job and focus to teach them about the important early intervention work that you are doing for youth and their families in your community. Every one of your legislators need to know you personally and what you and/or your organization does to keep our youth from entering or progressing further into the costly juvenile justice system. Make sure you show them the results and outcomes of your early intervention or Youth Intervention program(s) and personally give them a copy of the Youth Intervention Program SROI (available to download free for members in the Members Only section of the YIPA Web site www.mnyipa.org ).

With the new Republican regime I believe that there will be an attempt to reform and shrink government. This is where all of us can and must help them. We have the research and the outcomes on our side. Using the SROI and other recently completed research we can now show that not only can we save the State money immediately but also in the long term. We can also show them (using the outcome data that the Office of Justice Programs has been gathering from the Youth Intervention Program grantees for the past year) that these programs are effective in changing youths lives for the better. These programs work and we need make sure every legislator (new and old) receives and understands this message.

Between now and the end of the year is the perfect time to meet with your legislators. Call them up and ask for a meeting. Invite them to your organization so they can see firsthand what you are doing for our youth. Let them know your funding issues and the importance of having stable State youth intervention funding that also leverages community funding. Let them know that the funding is very well administered by the Office of Justice programs within the MN Dept. of Public Safety. Get to know these people. Believe me when I say they are legislators because they care and want to help. The trick is to educate them so they want to help you and the youth in the district they represent and serve.

There is no time to lose. As I always say…good things happen to those who show up! Let’s all show up in mass and fight for funding for the Youth Intervention Program and other early intervention youth services.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Social Media Tools for Non-profits

Does your organization use social media tools to market events or reach a wider audience? Does your agency have a Facebook profile, or a Twitter account? If you answered yes to one or both of those questions, you’re not alone! According to Tyler Olson from SMCPros, there are at least 500 million active members on facebook, and roughly 250 million people log into facebook daily. Simply put, your target market is on Facebook, but the question is, “how do you reach them?” Whether you’re seeking to increase awareness, donations, heighten engagement, expand membership, reach larger audiences or rouse excitement for your cause, social media tools are becoming an essential part of meeting your agency’s goals. The use of social media tools in the non-profit field is completely redefining the way we do business.

Watch the short video below that illustrates the forces shaping social media.


This video and others like it can be found on commoncraft.com.

What are your thoughts on the video you just watched? Do you know how to market your message to the appropriate audience? Do you have enough time to commit to social marketing on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn? When beginning, or trying to recreate your brand on any one of the social media tools mentioned consider the following:

Pick a social media project that will not take too much time
Record both successes and challenges
Ask or listen to the people you connect with about what worked and what did not
Watch other nonprofits and copy and/or remix their ideas for your next project
Engage followers by sharing highlights of your work, as well as posing probing questions

For information on how nonprofit organizations can use social media tools to power social networks for change, take a look at Beth Kanter’s blog, or you can read an insightful piece by Jennifer Mattern. There are so many resources at our fingertips, that all we have to do is disregard our lack of technological knowhow, and plunge into this exciting and rewarding new world!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Tis the Season to Give: Creative Fundraising Ideas

During this time of economic recession and increased financial worry, at-risk youth and those who work to empower them need your support more than ever. Thankfully, seeking assistance for your programs does not necessarily mean asking for monetary donations. This day and age, there are a variety of innovative and helpful ways to encourage community members to support meaningful and positive programs at your organization, while simultaneously promoting your message and cause. The use of the internet and social media tools have opened the door for a new wave of giving. Fundraising special events supplement local, state and federal grants, individual giving campaigns, and business contributions. In addition to raising money, they help raise awareness about your organization, which can be invaluable when it comes time to apply for funding or ask for donations. Here are some creative and innovative fundraising events that have been done by fellow YIPA members:

For 12 years now, YIPA member Bolder Options has been hosting a Bolder Dash where participants can choose to run a 5k or 10k. This year’s race was on September 18th, 2010, and was a huge success!

This year, Elpis Enterprises is participating in the Twice the Gift Store in the IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis. Take a few moments to stop by and see some of the products that youth in their program have made, and make sure to ask how your non-profit can get involved!

Last month, YIPA member, DARTS launched an online auction through Biddingforgood.com, which is something any non-profit can do! They were able to get members of the community to donate items for auction and for the last several weeks have been inviting people from all over the state to bid online. One of the great things about this type of fundraising endeavor is that you can reach a much wider audience than most local events.

Another YIPA member, YouthLink was recently featured on Pepsi Refresh’s website, where they highlighted a need for enhanced space at their nonprofit organization, and sought votes and essentially funding. Each month, Pepsi gives away $1,300,000 to fund great ideas, and it doesn’t cost voters a cent!

The nation's largest Giving Day is coming up on November 16th in Minnesota! Join the wave of generosity by taking part in Give to the Max Day. Hundreds of nonprofits will offer the opportunity to double your dollars over the course of 24 hours on November 16th. Every donation you make gives your favorite organization the chance to win even more money. Make sure to donate to your favorite organizations, and for YIPA members running early intervention programs, make sure to create a personalized account!

And last but not least, I'd like to recognize Patty Halvorson from the Lee Carlson Center for Mental Health and Well-Being. She was recently presented The Innovative Funding Leadership award which is for given to individuals, foundations, corporations, civic groups or other entities that have set an example for innovative funding to youth intervention programs in the state of Minnesota. To quote Paul Meunier, "rather than simply absorb the economic hits, Patty has been busy crafting new and fun ways to raise much need revenue." One such event is their annual Roofraiser. It began three years ago with one local mayor sleeping on the roof of a high school for an entire weekend; while up there, he made phone calls to raise money. The next year it expanded to 7 mayors from the local area and the fundraising totals increased. The most recent year there were 8 individual "roofraisers," including a director of chamber of commerce, a county commissioner, a candidate for sheriff and the mayors.

Another unique idea for fundraising was Dancing with the Stars. Patty Halvorson researched the idea and recruited local leaders to dance at a fundraiser. These local leaders were taught new dance steps with the help of a local dance studio, which donated their time and skills. The event was successful at both raising awareness and much need financial resources.

If you know of any creative or innovative ways non-profit agencies in Minnesota can fund early intervention programs, please leave a comment and spread the word! ‘Tis the season!

Friday, October 29, 2010

October Member of the Month: Lao Family Community of MN, Inc.

Walking up to Lao Family Community of MN, Inc. in St. Paul, I (Rachel) could feel the energy all around me. The parking lot was full of cars, and as I entered, I was greeted with smiles by a variety of different people all involved in one activity or another. I walked upstairs towards the Youth and Family program area, and past several classrooms where adult students were actively engaged in studying the English language.
Paul Kong, who has been with this agency for six years and thoroughly enjoys serving the Hmong community, warmly welcomed me and gave me a wonderful tour of the building. As their Youth Outreach Worker, he wears many hats, but his main role is running their afterschool enrichment program.
This program has seen a huge shift in the last year, as they moved from being a drop in center, to a center focused around enrichment and academic success. Instead of allowing students to come and go as they please, now all students have to be an official part of the program and are able to earn points for their attendance; the points they earn can be redeemed for snacks and prizes at the Points Cafe.
Although they have seen a decrease in the number of students being served this year due to a stricter and more structured program, they still serve between 70 and 100 students a year, and are hoping their point system will not only encourage good attendance, but will also help Lao Family Community secure additional funding. I wish them luck in this area since all services offered by their organization are FREE!
A Typical Week at Lao Family Community

Monday
Girls Discussion Group called Making Healthy Choices. This group focuses on relevant issues in the lives of teens and develops strategies on how to avoid and if possible prevent them.

Tuesday
Songwriting & Music Recording classes
Hip Hop Dance Group
Korean Club

Wednesday
Yugioh and Magic Card Club,
Guys Discussion Group called Making Healthy Choices
Korean Club

Thursday
Open Lab
Hip Hop Dance Group
Friday

Accountability and Fitness Group

In addition to the services they offer onsite, Paul and another staff member Chee Lee teach a curriculum called Kev Xaiv, which in Hmong means Making Choices. This class is held weekly and biweekly in junior high schools in Saint Paul and Minneapolis. One school they are closely connected with is New Millennium Academy that serves a large population of Hmong students. In the future, they hope to open a satellite site as a way to connect with more of the 80,000+ Hmong people living in Minnesota.

Lao Family Community is one of the newest YIPA members, joining our community less than a year ago after several years of attending YIPA professional development trainings. As a member of the YIPA team, its staff is looking to collaborate more with organizations in Saint Paul to organize projects and events in their neighborhood. I am beyond impressed with the work being done at their agency, and would encourage everyone who reads this to attend Minnesota's Hmong New Year on Thanksgiving weekend for a taste of Hmong culture, traditions and food!

Friday, October 22, 2010

HEALING INVISIBLE WOUNDS: Why Investing in Trauma-Informed Care for Children Makes Sense

As youth service providers, we’re always on the lookout for best practices, programs and initiatives that will improve how we serve our communities. As advocates for early intervention, we see the value of investing time and money in a social issue now because we know that in the long run it will save both money and lives. For a moment, I challenge you to think of a few high-risk youth you’ve served. If you’ve got some in mind, I want you to now think of their environments as young children. Did they experience physical or sexual abuse, war, community violence, loss of a caregiver, or a life threatening illness? All of the examples constitute traumatic events that can affect emotional control, brain development, memory and aggression.

Did you know that over 93,000 American children are locked up in juvenile correctional facilities, and of those children, between 75 and 93 percent are estimated to have experienced some degree of trauma?

Those statistics are astounding, which is why the Justice Policy Institute recently released a study that illustrates the relationship between childhood trauma and criminal activity, as well as cost-benefit analysis for programs that target the most as-risk populations. According to the article, “the direct and indirect costs associated with child maltreatment make it among the most costly public health problems in the United States. Beyond the social benefit, by preventing or addressing child maltreatment early, both direct (medical and psychiatric care, government services, criminal justice, child protection services) and indirect (lost earnings and productivity) costs could be lowered substantially by investing in programs that work.”
Take some time to read the article in full. We challenge you and your organization to seek resources and information to allow you to better serve children who have experienced trauma so they don’t become another statistic.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Troubling Trends for Youth and Communities By Jay Jaffee, MN Department of Health

Jay Jaffee will present a two-part training detailing modern challenges that youth face entitled “Underage Alcohol is Not a Rite of Passage” and “Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drug Use and Youth” on November 9, 2010 from 9:00-12:00 p.m. in Mankato, MN. Register online at www.mnyipa.org or call (888) 945-9472 for more info.

Alcohol and other drug abuse remain a serious problem in America today, both for their health effects and for the concerning trend toward increased binge drinking and prescription drug abuse.

Youth engaged in alcohol and other drug abuse create numerous problems for themselves, their families, their schools, their communities and the groups and organizations in which they participate. Alcohol and other drug abuse cause physical and mental health problems, as well as social, academic, legal and financial problems. In addition to the health problems we have known about for some time—including cancers, heart disease, liver disease, respiratory problems, brain damage and adolescent development—we now have research showing that binge drinking can impair cognitive function (when sober) and can weaken the immune system making it possible to be susceptible to diseases.

Some recent trends have increased the potential for damage. One trend is the change in norms about binge drinking for young people. Drinking games, paraphernalia and perceptions about youth drinking allow and encourage high-risk drinkers to consume larger amounts alcohol more quickly than previous generations. The use of energy drinks, in particular mixing them with alcohol, has increased binge drinking, drinking and driving and sexual assaults. One result of this trend is a norms change making passing out, blacking out and vomiting acceptable behaviors. The long-term impact of this norms change remains to be seen. Will we have more alcohol-related injuries and deaths among our youth? Will we have more alcohol dependent adults as these young people become older?

The other trend is the increase in the abuse of both prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Significant increases in the numbers of drugs being prescribed and the marketing of both prescription and over-the-counter medications have led to increases in both the use and abuse of theses drugs and also to increases in serious consequences experienced by users. Prescription drugs are now the leading cause of unintentional poisoning deaths, drug-related emergency room visits and childhood poisonings.

Not enough parents, youth workers, educators, health care providers, elected officials and other influential adults are aware of these trends and their potential for serious harm. We need to address this issue in a real, sustainable way so that together we can permanently reduce the damage to individuals and communities.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Fall Professional Development Opportunities from YIPA

It’s the time of year again when professional development opportunities are lurking around every corner. We are very excited to be offering some of our most impactful, most timely and most relevant training opportunities to date. We are pleased to be able to bring internationally known speakers directly to you, and look forward to the insight and experience they bring to the world of Minnesota youth work. Mark your calendars now - we hope to see you this fall in St. Paul, Rochester, Duluth or Mankato!


October 26, 2010 · 8:30-4:00 p.m.
St. Paul, MN


October 27, 2010 · 8:30-4:00 p.m.
Rochester, MN



For a sneak peek of Dr Leonard Sax in action, take a look at some of his recent appearances on CNN and the TODAY show! Dr. Sax discusses Boys Adrift with Matt Lauer and Why Gender Matters with Al Roker! Dr. Sax was also invited to discuss Girls on the Edge with Kiran Chetry on CNN's American morning.

Frank Kros, Upside Down Organization
November 2, 2010 · 8:30-4:00 p.m.
Duluth, MN

Workshop attendees and third parties have been vocal about their positive experiences with The Upside Down Organization (UDO) and its programs.

Jay Jaffee, Minnesota Department of Health
November 9, 2010 – 9:00-12:00 p.m.
Mankato, MN

Survival Strategies for the Youth Service Provider: Strategies for detecting and coping with stress in staff, volunteers and the youth you serve
Steve Zvonar, DC, CWC, Northwoods Natural Healing Center
December 3, 2010 - 1:00-3:30 p.m.
St. Paul, MN

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

10-10-10 March and Rally for Minnesota's Children and Youth

On October 10, 2010 YIPA encourages you to join the Young Leaders of Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, along with other key Minnesota youth organizations, in a march and rally for Minnesota’s youth. The event will take place from 12:00 Noon to 5:00 PM at the Minnesota State Capitol. Attendees will converge on the state capitol delivering ten specific messages to civic leaders, policy makers, and candidates running in the upcoming state elections. There will be justice music by locally known groups, a celebrity keynote address, short speeches by civic leaders, clergy and youth. Gubernatorial candidates have been invited and will be given a few minutes to say how they would address the ten focus issues. The rally will end with a challenge for change to give all Minnesota youth a fair start at life. For more information visit www.cdf-mn.org. Come and be one of 10,000 voices!

Then, save the date! The Rally for Youth Day at the Capitol will be Thursday, March 3rd. The day will include opportunities for youth and youth-serving-organizations to carry the message about the need to support a continuum of care for youth in Minnesota. YIPA participants will be asked to share their stories about how youth intervention has impacted their lives and the lives of their students. As we enter what will be a historically tough legislative session, we will need “all hands on deck” to support Youth Intervention Program funding.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

September Member of the Month: Children's Home Society & Family Services

On a sunny Thursday afternoon I (Rachel) had the pleasure of meeting with Brian Stawarz, MA, LP, LMFT, Director of the Individual and Family Counseling (IFC) Program at Children's Home Society & Family Services (CHSFS). CHSFS has been a member of YIPA since 2003, and since Brian joined the team in 2007 he has been an active participant in YIPA’s quarterly meetings. He recently joined our legislative committee, as he has a strong desire for YIPA programs to survive and thrive.

He was eager to talk about the ways YIPA has helped him and his staff network with other organizations and help the program stay current with Best Practices in early interventions with at-risk youth. Two of the most memorable and significant connections Brian has made through YIPA are with the Minneapolis American Indian Center (MAIC) and with the Division of Indian Work (DIW). He was involved personally with a music group for 8-10 year-old children at MAIC, and one of his clinicians, John Wolff, LMFT, has helped with the “Healing Spirit Program,” a residence for Native American youth who have experienced up to a dozen foster care placements. Both were opportunities to connect with the Native American community and provide valuable outreach efforts. He sees his involvement with YIPA as invaluable, and hopes to continue seeking networking opportunities on behalf of CHSFS. Although he represents the entire agency at YIPA meetings, his involvement is more directed towards meeting the needs of the families and youth being served through the Individual and Family Counseling Program. There are two particular programs within IFC that receive funding through the Office of Justice Programs and YIPA; Juvenile Diversion & Restitution Services and School-Linked Intensive Mental Health Services.

Youth are referred to the Diversion and Restitution Program through local police departments and Ramsey County Corrections, where they work with the CHSFS Diversion Coordinator and their parent(s) to complete an assessment. Their diversion program follows a slightly atypical model for screening youth, using a modified form of their Mental Health Assessment. This screening focuses on emotional, behavioral and psychological functioning, but with no diagnoses made. Once the assessment is complete, they come up with a joint plan to help the youth avoid court involvement. Some of the activities recommended are: community service hours, financial restitution, apology letters to the victim involved, theft or decision-making classes, and/or therapy sessions. According to the CHSFS website, “ninety percent of youth completing the program typically have no further contact with police, based on six-month follow-up surveys.” They are very proud of the work they do, and look forward to keeping youth out of the juvenile justice system.

The second program we talked about is School-Linked Program. This service allows therapists from IFC to float among different schools within a district and provide counseling services to students, one-to-one meetings and referrals. They are currently teamed up with Minnesota Independent School Districts 622 and 625, and are finding their presence to be welcomed and supported. In their work with these school districts, they encounter many students who struggle academically, behaviorally and emotionally. The families of the children often struggle with transitions, financial difficulties and being overwhelmed with their many life tasks. Connecting the students with a counselor makes a world of difference in their lives and oftentimes the individual therapy will lead to family or couples work. Children’s Home Society & Family Service’s IFC program is a wonderful example of a well-integrated system of care between schools, government, clients and community providers. It was enjoyable to hear what a positive experience it’s been for Brian and the rest of his team. Keep up the good work!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Unleashing the Human Potential of Native American and Aboriginal Youth

Last week I (Rachel) was able to be a part of my first quarterly meeting with the YIPA membership, which was a great way to learn more about the wonderful work being done with youth across the state of Minnesota. As everyone introduced themselves and gave updates of their agencies, there was one story that stood out to me. Valerie LaFave from the Minneapolis American Indian Center (MAIC) told the group about a grant her agency recently received from the Nike N7 Fund. If you’ve never heard of the N7 Fund, I would recommend you take a peek at their website to learn more. The fund was created to help meet the needs of Native American communities, by attempting to increase their access to sports and physical activities, while simultaneously building confidence and fostering positive change. The N7 Fund awarded grants to 15 non-profit, 501(c)3 organizations – including the Minneapolis American Indian Center - which allowed them to purchase new shoes for 59 of the 78 youth they serve. That in itself is an incredible feat since according to Valerie LaFave, the Parent Coordinator/Supervisor, a handful of their families do not have an active phone, so MAIC’s staff did outreach by going to their homes and knocking on their doors. What commitment!

More exciting yet, the youth were brought on a field trip to Champs at the Mall of America, where they had a chance to select the shoes of their choice and be fitted on the spot! Valerie told the story of a little girl who was convinced she was being to brought to a low-end shoe store, but was astonished when she found out they would be going to Champs to get any sneakers she wanted! It was her first time getting a personalized pair of shoes, which struck a chord with Valerie and many others in the room as we listened intently.

It was an “aha” moment for all of us as we found out how powerful an experience it was for youth to have an opportunity to purchase shoes unlike any they’ve had before, with no strings attached. And for many, without this grant, they would have gone without new shoes at all. A parent whose three children received shoes from the grant money gleefully reported that all her kids had something great to say, as she expressed her gratitude to Valerie and the entire MAIC staff, "Thanks for the kids’ shoes! If you only knew!!! Each one of my kids had something great to say,”

“I love my golden eagle shoes!”

“My shoes will make me run so fast!”

“Nike and you are the bomb!”

By providing grants and product donations, the N7 Fund helps to fuel opportunities for Native American youth to engage in sports and physical activity, which they hope will enable them to seek positive influences and create positive change in their communities. We all know there is a connection between physical activity and the development of self-confidence, and it is fabulous to hear that the youth are already feeling more confident and positive about themselves as they embark on the 2010-2011 school year.

Friday, September 17, 2010

University of MN Resource

It’s back to school time again! Doesn’t the end of summer always seem to creep up on you with that one last trip to the lake, one last burger or brat before the grill goes back in the garage…? Of course back to school comes with all of its own excitements, too! While yellow school buses gear up and classrooms across Minnesota open their doors, another part of the state buzzes with new activity and the population of Dinkytown explodes.

It is easy to think of the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) as a great fortress. Those inside know how to navigate its departments, but for an outsider the sheer size can be prohibitive. That is why it is so wonderful when an insider reaches out to us and is excited to share the University’s vast resources with the non-profit world.

This post is the first in a series that will explore opportunities for collaboration between The U and the youth intervention community. This week we will discuss the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs Capstone project and how programs can take advantage of free researchers!

Every year the majority of graduating Humphrey students will complete a capstone project, which is a culmination of what they have learned in their graduate program. This project is a hands-on, real world research project that links their academic interests with policy issues in the community. There are roughly ten different capstone classes (most during the spring semester) that cover a variety of fields such as: non-profit management, collaborations, government, social policy and others. Each class is taught by a different professor and has varying requirements. The common factor is that each class uses real non-profits or government agencies as its clients. As a client these groups pose a question to the students (for example, can you help us figure out what our stakeholders feel about this new initiative) and then for the semester a group of 3-6 students works on this project and provides a report at the end.

This service is free! How do you get involved? Faculty members have different approaches. In some cases, the professor will choose several projects that are relevant to their class and assign students. In other cases, the professor will make a list of options from which the students will pick. Sometimes, the students will choose their own projects. The vetting process can be complicated depending on what the professor and students are looking for. It might include a sit-down meeting with the professor or it could be a presentation and Q & A with the whole class. The best way to know is to contact the program and tell them about your interest.

Thank you to Erica Sallander with the YWCA of Minneapolis Girls RAP program for bringing this opportunity to our attention at YIPA’s quarterly membership meeting this summer. Erica recently worked with three Humphrey students to create a sustainable strategic business plan for her program. Using YIPA Social Return on Investment study and other Girls RAP data, the students helped identify ways to create a stable funding stream. What did Erica do to get three free researchers? In the spring she presented her idea to a capstone class along with about ten other programs. Then, she sat at a table as students moved around the room asking questions of each program. She waited as the students deliberated privately to determine which projects to choose. Happily, the YWCA project got chosen!

Our friends at the Juvenile Justice Coalition of Minnesota have taken advantage of this incredible resource for three semesters. What advice do these programs have for those of you who might be interested in learning more?

1. Have a champion. Connecting with a faculty member or a student before the vetting process is a huge asset.
2. Design a project that is doable in one semester.
3. Design a project that has a clear purpose and tangible results.
4. Deign a project that sounds like fun! (to public policy grad students anyway…)

Additionally, YIPA has designed a project around our advocacy efforts and applied to have our project taken on by a group of students in the 2010-11 year. YIPA’s Executive Director, Scott Beaty, will present the project to students and we will anxiously wait to hear if ours was picked.

YIPA will be working more in the future with the Humphrey to strengthen these connections and find champions for youth intervention projects. For more information contact Jessi Strinmoen, YIPA’s Director of Services at jstrinmoen@mnyipa.org.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Hello and Goodbye! By Clare Ryan, YIPA’s former Promise Fellow and Rachel Ayoub, YIPA’s new Promise Fellow

GOODBYE FROM CLARE
A year has gone by already?

Yes, it was just about a year ago that I (Clare) started fiddling around on Blogger for the first time and ended up with this blog. I am so grateful to all of the amazing people who have contributed to this collection over the year! If you want to know what YIPA has been up to, reading though old posts is a great way to catch up and hopefully learn something new in the process. The best part for me was getting to talk to so many of YIPA’s members and hear about the exciting things that they are doing for youth in Minnesota.

Being YIPA’s first AmeriCorps Promise Fellow has been an extraordinary experience. YIPA’s staff – Scott, Jessi, and Chris – are inspiring people who have put years of hard work into making Minnesota a better place for young people. They have the constantly challenging job of figuring out how to bring together diverse organizations from across the state, give them the training and support they need, advocate for them collectively and provide all of these services for as low a cost as they possibly can. It was an honor to be able to help in some small way this year.

Luckily, I am leaving this blog and my other responsibilities in the very capable hands of YIPA’s new Promise Fellow Rachel. It is my great pleasure to introduce Rachel to all of you and let her write a few words of introduction.

GREETINGS FROM RACHEL

Greetings loyal readers and helpful contributors! I (Rachel Ayoub) am happy to announce that I am the newest member of the YIPA family! I’m very much looking forward to my year of service as an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, and am eager to find my niche in the field early early intervention. I thank Clare for passing the torch on to me, and trusting me to continue on with the wonderful work she started both with the KidsChange blog, as well as with her work in the area of best practices and evaluation processes in early intervention. Over the course of the next year, I will be using this blog to provide useful tools, helpful resources, relevant articles, interviews and personal testimonies that speak to the effectiveness of early intervention both within our communities and nationwide and give youth service providers concrete tools to help them do their jobs with youth more efficiently and effectively.

You may be wondering what qualities and experiences I bring to the table, and how I anticipate these will carry over into my year of service with YIPA. In brief, I am a 2007 graduate of St. Catherine University, where I earned a degree in Social Work. I will begin studying full-time at Augsburg College where I plan to earn a Masters degree in Social Work with a concentration in Multicultural Clinical Practice. I spent the last two years living in South Korea and working as a middle school English teacher. I also have experience working with children in the Child Protection System, as well as extensive experience with the adoption community. I have co-facilitated children’s groups focused around family, adoption, culture and identity. I am a product of the Minneapolis public school system and am very passionate about working to help at risk youth and their families stay on track!

Because I am new to this, I ask that you please help me steer this conversation towards those issues that are most valuable to you. If you have an idea for a topic, a question that you would like to ask the youth intervention community or a specific contributor, or if you have a story of your own to share I welcome you to email me at promisefellow@mnyipa.org , or leave a comment on this post. I look forward to learning more about the amazing work being done in this community!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Best Practices and Evaluation Processes

By Clare Ryan, Promise Fellow

YIPA’s yearlong look into best practices and evaluation processes in early intervention is complete! We believe that this member’s only material will help to shape a key element of YIPA’s purpose in the coming years: Supporting youth intervention program assessment and improvement and showing the world evidence that early intervention is powerful and effective.

You may be thinking that in this economy you cannot afford to take a closer look at your program, that you are in survival mode and that doesn’t leave time for evaluation and best practices. Not so! We believe that now more than ever you cannot afford to NOT take a closer look at your program. Public and private funders from the Office of Justice Programs to the Greater Twin Cities United Way are looking more and more deeply at evidence-based and quality programs. This emphasis on showing success, whether through outcomes measures or through quality measures (or both), is not going away and we need to be able to show how powerful early intervention can be.

That is why YIPA is meeting with funders and evaluators, members and other stakeholders to stay on top of new tools for evaluation and new evidence about best practices. This year’s research is just the first step, but it is an important step because it helps sets the stage for where we are right now with best practices in early intervention.

The project consists of four related documents. There is a literature and web review of sources related to evaluation, best practices and quality measures in a variety of fields related to youth work, but with an emphasis on early intervention programs. Second, we have an article based on interviews with YIPA member organizations and other relevant individuals about how evaluations of youth intervention programs are conducted in Minnesota today. Then, there is a short piece on possible next steps for YIPA and for our members based on our plans for future work around quality and evaluations. Tying this all together is the executive summary that outlines the main points from each article. The executive summary is available to all our readers on our “News” section of our website, while the more specific documents are reserved for YIPA members and are available in the “Members Only” section of www.mnyipa.org.

We hope that reading these materials will inspire you to take a deeper look at how your organization conducts evaluations and how you can strive to make your program better for the young people you serve. Here a four ways that you might be able to use this material for your organization.
1. Convince other program staff to take the time to re-think how your program evaluates its success.
2. Use up-to-date ideas and language when looking for grants and writing grant proposals.
3. Learn something more about how to read studies without getting lost in all the statistics.
4. Find your place in the bigger picture of evaluation and best practices.

YIPA wants to know: How is your organization utilizing best practices in evaluation?

Monday, August 30, 2010

Why Are So Many Girls Cutting Themselves?

A guest blog by Leonard Sax, MD, PhD

Dr. Sax will be presenting “Boys Adrift and Girls on the Edge” as a full day conference in St. Paul on October 26th and “Gender Matters: The Importance of Gender in Early Intervention in At-Risk Youth” as a full day conference in Rochester on October 27th. Register here!


I remember my first psychiatry rotation, back in 1985 when I was a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania. A young woman was admitted to the psych unit. She had been cutting herself with razor blades. "Weird," I breathed. "Weird," the psychiatry resident agreed. The attending psychiatrist put her in the locked ward, on full suicide precautions. He explained to us that this behavior was a "cry for help." That's what many people thought back then. In ancient times.


Today we know better, or we think we do. Most of these girls and young women are not suicidal, and they don't want anybody to find out. They don't want to be discovered. That's why they wear long sleeves, so nobody will see their wrists; or, more often nowadays, they cut themselves on the upper inner thigh, where nobody will look. Cutting themselves with razor blades, or burning themselves with matches, becomes compulsive, almost addictive for some of these girls. There is now evidence that for at least some of these girls, this behavior triggers a release of endogenous opiates (for a review of this evidence, please see chapter 3 of my book Girls on the Edge). Cutting delivers a weird kind of disembodied rush. "I felt like I was up on the ceiling, watching myself do it," another girl told me. "I was literally high."


How common is it? Much more common than it used to be. Studies from the 1990's suggested rates of 3% or lower. But more recent studies suggest that as many as one in five girls between 10 and 18 years of age are now cutting themselves with razor blades or burning themselves with matches, etc. For example, researchers at Yale University recently reported that 56% of the 10- to 14-year-old girls they interviewed reported engaging in NSSI at some point in their lifetime, including 36% in the past year.



“The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, Fourth Edition” – usually referred to as “DSM-IV” – provides the definitive listing of every recognized psychiatric disorder, along with diagnostic criteria for each disorder. The American Psychiatric Association is now in the process of revising and updating the DSM. They have recently published their first draft of DSM-V. The draft includes an entirely new diagnosis, which the psychiatrists are calling “Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI).” You can read the proposed DSM-V criteria for NSSI here.


I have some problems with the proposed DSM-V criteria for NSSI. There's no mention of gender differences in the presentation of self-injury. Let me illustrate why I think that’s a problem with an example. Imagine a teenage boy who's not doing well in life: he doesn't have any friends, he's getting bad grades at school, he spends most of his free time playing first-person-shooter video games. Let's suppose this teenage boy repeatedly hits the wall with his fist during arguments with his parents. This boy would meet all the proposed DSM-V criteria for NSSI.


Now imagine a teenage girl who secretly cuts herself with a razor blade. She's the golden girl: she's pretty, she has lots of friends, she's successful academically, she seems to be doing well. The growing prevalence of such girls among cutters is well-documented; see for example Adler and Adler (2007), who assert that these girls are exhibiting a "voluntarily chosen deviant behavior" rather than true psychopathology. I don't agree with Adler and Adler, but that's beside the point. Such a girl would also meet the proposed DSM-V criteria for exactly the same psychiatric diagnosis as the boy who breaks a bone in his hand when he slams his fist into a wall. But a "loser" boy who publicly slams his fist into a wall is experiencing an inner turmoil very different from the golden girl who secretly cuts herself with a razor blade. Lumping these two teenagers together, and pretending that they have the same problem, is not likely to be very helpful to anybody.


Many researchers who study self-injury have minimized gender differences in their own data. For example, in one recent survey of young people 14 to 21 years of age (Nixon et al. 2008), researchers reported that 16.9% of those surveyed had engaged in self-injury. Read the abstract of that paper: you won't find any mention of gender differences. But when you read the full text (available at no charge by clicking here), you find that 24.3% of girls were self-injuring, compared with 8.4% of the boys. You'll find those data in Table I of the paper. The authors acknowledge the finding (in a single sentence) but they do not discuss it or try to understand it. Furthermore, this study -- like most studies of NSSI - conflates the boy who publicly smashes the wall with his fist, with the girl who secretly cuts herself with a razor, in the same category -- a blurring of reality which further masks the magnitude and significance of the underlying gender differences.


In my experience, boys who are deliberately hurting themselves usually fall in a narrow demographic. Bluntly, those boys tend to be the weirdos, the losers, the lonely outsiders. Not so for girls. The most popular girl, the pretty girl, the girl who seems to have it all together, may also be the girl at greatest risk for cutting herself. The most successful boy, the star football player with lots of friends, is not secretly cutting himself with razor blades. But the most successful girl might be.


The stereotype is that kids who cut themselves are depressed. While that stereotype is usually accurate for boys, it's less reliably accurate for girls. Most boys who cut themselves are depressed, but many girls are not. Janis Whitlock and her colleagues at Cornell (Whitlock et al. 2008) found that college women injure themselves differently, and for different reasons, compared to college men. Cheng et al. (2010) recently developed a screening questionnaire to identify college students who were engaging in NSSI. They found that some of the best questions for screening the women were useless for screening the men, and vice versa. Other researchers have found that girls are more likely than boys to self-injure as a means of self-punishment, while boys are more likely to self-injure in the aftermath of a romantic break-up (Adler & Adler 2007; Rodham et al. 2004). But most research on NSSI overlooks these gender differences. Boys who are failing in every aspect of their life, who hit the wall during an argument, are lumped into the same category with girls who seem to be doing great, but who are cutting themselves in secret.


It's risky to look at celebrity culture for any insights into the human condition, but in this case I think the stories of celebrities illustrate reasonably well what I'm hearing from young people, female and male, around the United States and Canada. Megan Fox told Rolling Stone that she had deliberately cut herself as a teenager. Angelina Jolie, Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse, and the late Lady Diana Spencer, all have been identified as women who repeatedly and deliberately injured themselves. By contrast, the best-known male celebrity who cuts himself is Marilyn Manson. I think Mr. Manson would agree that he takes pride in being a weirdo. And he likes to cut himself - on stage.


In other words, the girls who are most successful at meeting gender-specific societal expectations appear to be just as likely as other females to be cutting themselves. Not so for boys. How come? That's one of the questions I try to answer in my book Girls on the Edge. My bottom line is that these girls are searching for a sense of self that's not about how they look, but about who they are. We reward them for how they look but we -- i.e. American society -- are much less interested in what's going on inside. Self-cutting fills that need for some of these girls -- just as anorexia does for others, and obsessive perfectionism does in others (see Sara Rimer's insightful article for the New York Times about "anorexia of the soul" among hyperachieving 'amazing' girls for more on this point).


Of course some girls who cut themselves ARE depressed, or are unhappy with their appearance, or may be lonely, etc. And of course we need to be just as concerned about girls who are NOT pretty, girls who do NOT meet society's stereotyped notions of what girls should look like, and who are cutting themselves. But I think that ignoring gender differences in NSSI disadvantages many of those who are struggling with this issue -- especially girls.


I'm bothered that so few people want to address the gender differences in NSSI - which I think are absolutely central to understanding why these young people are hurting themselves, and essential to intervening effectively with them. Marilyn Manson is not Megan Fox. Marilyn Manson's issues are not Megan Fox's issues. Interventions which might have helped Marilyn Manson stop cutting would be unlikely to benefit Megan Fox, and vice versa. Nevertheless, even people who truly seem to care about NSSI tend to overlook or deliberately understate gender issues here. The leading non-profit organization concerned with NSSI, "To Write Love On Her Arms," asserts on their web site that self-injury ". . .has the same occurrence between males and females." Not true.


Gender matters. Why are people so afraid to talk about it?


Leonard Sax MD PhD is a physician, psychologist, and author of "Boys Adrift" (Basic Books, 2007) and "Girls on the Edge" (Basic Books, 2010).


References

Adler P, Adler P. 2007. The demedicalization of self-injury. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 36, 537-370.

Cheng H-L, Mallenckrodt B, Soet J, Sevig T. 2010. Developing a screening instrument and at-risk profile for nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior in college women and men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57, 128 - 139.

Hilt LM, Cha CB, Nolen-Hoeksema S. 2008. Nonsuicidal self-injury in young adolescent girls: moderators of the distress-function relationship. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 63-71.

Nixon MK, Cloutier P, Jansson SM. 2008. Nonsuicidal self-harm in youth: a population-based survey. CMAJ, 178, 306-312.

Rodham K, Hawton K, Evans E. 2004. Reasons for deliberate self-harm: comparison of self-poisoners and self-cutters in a community sample of adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 43, 80-87.

Whitlock J, Muehlenkamp J, Eckenrode J. 2008. Variation in nonsuicidal self-injury: identification and features of latent classes in a college population of emerging adults. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37, 725-735.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Online Resources for Youth

As youth gear up for heading back to school and youth programs prepare for switching gears to fall programming, we thought we’d share a small compilation of some great youth-focused, interactive sites where youth can learn and do good while in front of the computer screen. Youth service professionals may consider incorporating these resources into fall programming or just sharing with the youth they serve.
  • www.bankit.com/. - This is an awesome site for helping teens manage money and think about finances. It also has resources for parents.
  • www.at15.com/ - This is Best Buy’s youth site. Youth members get points and use them to vote on what projects Best Buy’s foundation will fund.
  • www.dosomething.org/ - This site is one of the best out there for youth engagement! Every young person should know about the resources at this site.
  • www.freerice.com - Take fun quizzes and gain points that become grains of rice that are donated to help feed people all over the world.
  • www.refresheverything.com/ - At the Pepsi Refresh site young people can vote on great ideas for Pepsi to fund.
  • www.pongoteenwriting.org/home.html - This incredibly inspiring site features the writing of young people who are living in prisons, detention centers, mental heath facilities and on the street. It also includes great writing prompts and ideas about starting a writing group.
  • http://kidshealth.org/teen/ - This site is full of great information from strength training tips to healthy recipes to advice about friendship and peer pressure.
  • www.newglobalcitizens.org/ - This is the site for an international youth movement that shows how young people can address the great challenges facing the world today.
  • www.genv.net/ - This site supports young social entrepreneurs and helps young people start achieving big dreams.
  • www.bam.gov/ - The Body and Mind site for young people from the CDC??. It has lots of great information and ideas about healthy living.
  • www.youthnoise.com/ - This is a social networking site for youth causes with lots of blogs, videos and information about youth-led movements.
  • www.rootsandshoots.org/ - This is the youth site connected to the Jane Goodall Center that has lots of resources about environmental activism.
YIPA and your youth service professional colleagues would appreciate learning from you what websites you have found valuable to share with your youth. Please share by commenting below.

Friday, August 13, 2010

August Members of the Month: Senior Chores Programs Exemplify Unique Networking Opportunities

We have all heard about Minnesota’s rising senior population. Minnesotans are getting older and the workforce is retiring. While this may have profound implications for our personal lives, there is a risk that youth workers might not see this as being “our problem.”

Three YIPA members illustrate beautifully why this aging population is deeply connected to youth intervention. Indeed, it may not be “our problem,” but it is certainly part of our solution! These three programs have found a way to provide needed help for seniors in their communities, give supervised community service hours to court-ordered youth, train and employ young people and create intergenerational bonds even where there was once distrust and skepticism.

For those of you who are familiar with DARTS, it may seem odd that one of the oldest and most prominent senior services organizations in the metro area is a member of YIPA. Meeting Mary Richardson makes this connection clear. She is the driving force behind DARTS’ current senior chores program. While the over 30-year long program was around long before Mary came to DARTS, she has put her own stamp on senior chores – often working side by side with her young volunteers!

White Bear Lake Area Community Counseling Center is just getting started with their senior chores program. This fledgling program is up and running thanks in large part to the help its coordinator Sally Cain received from DARTS and from Northwest Youth and Family Services (another YIPA member program). Hearing about successful senior chores projects at YIPA quarterly membership meetings, White Bear staff got inspired to start one of their own. Sally went with Mary Richardson to five DARTS chore sites and saw what a great program looks like. She also went and visited the 30-year NYFS senior chores program and its coordinator, Debbie Peterson. Sally took ideas back with her to White Bear, but also made the program her own in order to fit her community’s needs.

Sitting down over coffee these three inspiring women jumped immediately into conversation with each other. How is your summer going? Did you figure out how to do that form? I’m going to be full-time now! Yay! and so on. They shared stories of surprising successes and things they have learned along the way.

One story that stuck out was about a group of young men who had been court ordered to do community service with their probation officer. On the way over the boys complained, “I don’t want to do anything with old people!” But after a few hours helping an elderly man maintain his home (something he surely could not have done alone), the boys changed their tune. “That was so cool!” they exclaimed on the van ride home.

Thinking of starting a senior chores project at your organization? These three women have the collective knowledge and experience to set you on the right path. From grant writing to the minimum age for lawn mowers, from working with probation officers to interviewing seniors – they are an amazing resource for any question you might have.

Here are just a few things that we have learned after sharing a cup of coffee with Mary, Debbie and Sally:
1. Take a picture of the senior’s yard and put it in their file. That way if they call back for more help you know what kind of garden they have, how big their yard is, etc. Also, it makes them feel like you remember them!
2. Make sure to take the time (even just a few minutes) to have the young people talk to the seniors they are helping. These connections can have lasting effects.
3. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Looking at forms and procedures from other senior chores programs helped save time and effort so that new programs could get off the ground faster.
4. Programs like these make seniors feel safer, because they see the positive side of youth. It helps young people show their community that they are not “problems,” but real assets.
5. Look for connections in unlikely places. These programs connect with senior services, diversion programs, church groups and police departments. It is within these seemingly separate spheres that senior chores programs flourish.

We believe that one of greatest benefits to YIPA membership is the opportunity to connect with other service providers. Sometimes those other providers may seem like they are approaching their work in early intervention in a way completely different from your own. But more often than not, our members are able to learn from each other, improve their services because of the skills they have learned from other – and often save themselves much time and energy when they discover they do not have to “reinvent the wheel,” as is shown here with the seniors’ chores programs within YIPA membership.

Friday, August 6, 2010

What do Gubernatorial Candidates say about Children and Youth? By the Minnesota Children’s Platform Coalition


We have discussed YIPA’s involvement with the Minnesota Children’s Platform Coalition several times on this blog. Now, YIPA is excited to present the results on the MNCPC Governor’s Candidate Survey!


The Minnesota Children’s Platform Coalition (MNCPC) is a collaboration of organizations and individuals who care about Minnesota children and youth. The questions in this survey were created by the MNCPC following a “World CafĂ©” meeting in January 2010 of coalition partners who discussed issues they thought were important for a Minnesota governor to attend to.

We asked all candidates for governor to respond to a set of 6 questions that followed from that meeting. Here is what we asked them…..


We believe that children and youth in Minnesota deserve a comprehensive approach to youth services with a focus on the whole child. As a candidate for Governor of Minnesota, you have a vital role to play in improving the lives of Minnesota’s young people. Please take a few moments to respond to our questions. Please feel free to include links to news articles, websites or other online resources to support your points. Your answers will be shared with our extensive statewide network of children and youth service providers, educators, advocates and parents via written and Internet communications.


We are listing responses to the questions in the order in which we received them. If a candidate is not listed, it means that he or she did not send us a response.


Curious about what characteristics that YIPA would like to see in a governor? Most importantly the new governor should:

1) Be a champion for all youth

2) Understands the needs for continuum of care from birth to age 21

3) Have a focus on children that expands far beyond schools

4) Be action oriented – willing to take bold steps to ensure that funding for children and youth services grows rather than shrinks as it has during the past decade.

5) Understands the concept of early intervention youth services and how it keeps youth from progressing through the Juvenile justice System.


We hope you will look at these responses before the primary elections on August 10. Please note that at primary elections you will not be able to choose from among all of these candidates. Primary elections are only for the purpose of allowing members of a political party decide who will be on the ballot in November.


MNCPC Board of Directors/Committee


Sue Fust, Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention & Parenting

J. Scott Beaty, Youth Intervention Programs Association

Connie Skillingstad, Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota

Jim Scheibel, Hamline University

Jim Meffert, Minnesota Optometric Association

Rod Halvorson, Minnesota Social Service Association

Jennifer Rison, Children’s Leadership Council

Clare Ryan, MNYIPA Promise Fellow

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