Register for the REACH Youth Development Conference!
“Our
Voices Creating a New World” is the theme of this year's
REACH Youth Development Conference, being held July 9 at the Radisson
Hotel in Sacramento.  Youth
and adults from the capital region and beyond are invited to participate
in this one-day conference to learn from each other and invited
guests about creating a positive, healthy environment for youth
in our communities.
We're pleased to welcome keynote speakers David Muhammad from the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services in Washington, D.C., who is the former executive director of The Mentoring Center in Oakland; Jennifer Bogoni from the Philadelphia Youth Network; and Shuntae Campbell, a youth organizer with Sacramento Area Congregations Together.
The conference will feature 20 workshops for youth and adults, including “Digital Stories and Youth Empowerment,” “Finding Your Voice, Following Your Passion,” “How to Seek and Secure a Summer Job,” “Engaging Youth Through Service,” “Youth Voice Creating Change” and “Are You Really Making a Difference?” See the full agenda and more workshop titles on the REACH Web site.
Register for the conference by June 25 on the REACH Web site. The registration fee is $65 for adults and full scholarships are available for youth. See you there!
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REACH youth reclaim neighborhood park in Thornton
by John Durand
Coordinator, Galt Area Youth Coalition
On June 7, more than 50 youth and adults gathered to participate in a park cleanup and beautification campaign in the rural community of Thornton. The Mokelumne Park cleanup project marked the culmination of a year's planning and the first phase of a larger effort to address safety in the community.
Students from New Hope Elementary School's Youth LEAD were involved in the planning and preparation for the event. In December, students in Youth LEAD attended training on photo mapping, presented by Kindra Montgomery from the UC Davis Center for Community School Partnerships. Under the leadership of Janet Stemler and Janet Munoz, students spent the next two months documenting community safety issues. The Youth LEAD students organized a binder of photos that illustrated safe and unsafe places in the community.
Through a youth-led grant program sponsored by the Galt Area Youth Coalition and modeled after Sacramento Region Community Foundation's Grants Advisory Board for Youth (GABY) YouthHOPE grants, Thornton students proposed the cleanup of a small neighborhood park maintained by the San Joaquin County Housing Authority. The park had become a haven for gang activity and underage drinking, and was not perceived as a safe place for families or youth. Sixth-grade student Mariah Berg worked with her peers to draft a proposal to remove litter, paint over graffiti and replant neglected flower beds.
In preparation for the event, housing authority staff worked with students to remove weeds and deliver a truckload of playground bark. Grant funds from Sierra Health Foundation's REACH grant and service learning grants from Youth Service California and California Volunteers helped pay for tools, bedding plants, paint and paintbrushes.
Children and families began arriving at the park before 8 a.m. to begin work. After enjoying some teambuilding, juice and muffins, youth put on work gloves and began removing broken glass from the playground areas. Then the large group divided into teams to paint the benches and playground equipment, use wheelbarrows to move the new bark into the play area, and plant 70 drought-tolerant flowers and shrubs. By 11:30 a.m., the first phase of the playground makeover was nearly complete and the volunteers had worked up a healthy appetite for pizza.
Joanne Oien, superintendent of the New Hope District, viewed the park cleanup as an opportunity to build community and develop an ethic of community service. Service learning is being used in the school district as an instructional strategy to increase student engagement and promote youth voice.
“We are reclaiming the park from the vandals,” said Willie from the San Joaquin County Housing Authority.
“This experience was empowering for youth to identify a community need, participate in the planning, and see their efforts result in such a beautiful outcome,” explained Janet Munoz. “The youth and adult partnerships that were formed will be long-lasting.”
Janet Stemler, who helped oversee the project, was very excited and described the day as a “huge success.” She explained that the next phase of the park renovation will be the purchase of new playground equipment. The housing authority will be adding security patrols, lighting and video cameras to ensure the park will be a safe and inviting place for the entire community.
Thornton and the New Hope Elementary School District are part of the Galt Area Youth Coalition, which is a REACH Community Action coalition.
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Placerville youth experience SPIRIT Retreat
by Mikaelyn Praker
7th-grader, Herbert C. Green Middle School
Recently I had the opportunity to experience something that not many people have the opportunity to experience. It was called a SPIRIT Retreat. It is a meeting for kids who were chosen by teachers, classmates and other people at Herbert C. Green Middle School. It helps the school by discussing ways to prevent bullying. It gave us information on what to do if we see something bad happening around us, like a fight or a person being called a name. There were teachers from our school and volunteers from Union Mine High School. This was an amazing privilege for me and other 5th- , 6th- and 7th-graders. There were also kids who were on the SPIRIT Team last year. Here is my story.
As we got off the bus, a cloud of mystery surrounded us. We knew why we were here, but not exactly what we were going to do. We had our retreat at a nearby church that the school rented for the day. We walked to a modest courtyard and were greeted by our counselor, Dr. Simpkin, and a table with folders and pens on it. Our first activity was to get to know everyone by getting in a circle and telling everyone our names. Next we got into groups and walked into the church. We did a group fish bowl activity and talked about what the SPIRIT Team did at our school last year.
As the day unfolded, we started to discuss the problems at our school and things we want to achieve next year. We talked about things that we feel strongly about, like longer dances, wearing certain colors that are related to gangs, and strategies on how to handle tough situations. Dr. Simpkin was very helpful and patient with us and our questions. She cleared our clouded minds. As we got on the bus to go back to our school, our minds were no longer shrouded with mystery, but filled with sunny flowers and all the exceptional opportunities ahead of us. We were all thinking about all the wondrous things that we had learned and the things we were going to do next year. We are important to our school and that feels fantastic!
Herbert C. Green Middle School in Placerville was the recipient of a Winter 2008 REACH Program Improvement grant, which helped to fund the SPIRIT Team Retreat.
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Youth Fun Fair a huge success in West Sacramento
by Michael Minnick
Coordinator, West Sacramento Youth Resource Coalition
More than 200 people came out to Bryte Park in West Sacramento on May 17 for the West Sacramento Youth Resource Coalition's first Youth Fun Fair. The event combined information and activities by local agencies and businesses that support youth with exciting games for young people and their families.
The outreach portion of the event included booths run by many organizations that provide social services, job opportunities, mentoring and leadership training. This combination of nonprofit organizations, businesses, and city and county agencies gave youth attendees a well-rounded look at opportunities available to them in and around the West Sacramento community.
The Youth Fun Fair included several large-scale games for attendees to enjoy. A rock climbing wall, Velcro wall and inflatable joust game were all very popular with the youth. The most popular, due to the 100+ degree temperatures, was the Splash Burst, where participants were able to get soaking wet by way of water balloons supplied by West Sacramento Parks & Recreation Department. In addition, the West Sacramento Fire Department deviated from their fire safety activities for a short time to turn on the fire hose, allowing kids to run through the water.
The Youth Fun Fair was created through discussions among the youth group Sactown Heroes. The West Sacramento Youth Resource Coalition, the umbrella group of the Sactown Heroes, had been organizing this event for several months. Youth volunteers were instrumental in the decision-making process throughout the organizing and implementation stages of the event. Other projects coordinated by the Sactown Heroes and WSYRC include a Community Beautification Project and Youth Leadership Academy, which provides opportunities for personal growth for the youth of West Sacramento.
The West Sacramento Youth Resource Coalition is a REACH Community Action coalition.
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Woodland Youth Council members lead park beautification project
by Lamar Heystek
Coordinator, Woodland Coalition for Youth
When the Woodland Youth Council, a group of two dozen young people working with adults to make positive community changes for youth, was asked how they would spend a $2,500 youth service grant, one member made a passing comment he thought no one would take seriously.
“Why don't we fix up the park in Knights Landing?” suggested Jaime Cárdenas, a 15-year-old alumnus of Grafton Elementary School, the Woodland Joint Unified School District's northernmost school site.
The next thing he knew, Cárdenas and a fellow Woodland Youth Council member, 15-year-old Pioneer High School sophomore Crystal Gasca, formed a team to develop a proposal to enhance the recreational area adjacent to Grafton Elementary. They presented it personally to the Grants Advisory Board for Youth, a panel of Sacramento-area peers charged with evaluating similar proposals.
“We were so nervous,” said Cárdenas, “but our work paid off.”
On May 31, more than two dozen Knights Landing youth and their parents joined Cárdenas and Gasca at the Knights Landing park to plant trees, remove graffiti and litter, refurbish the picnic tables, stripe the baseball field and prepare the soccer goal posts for repainting.
“I think the park is a lot safer and cleaner now,” said Cárdenas, who pointed out that the friends of his who participated in the project would be really upset if anything bad happened to their work.
The beautification project would not have been possible without the support of various entities and individuals. Lemuria Nursery in Dixon provided mulberry and pistache trees at a discount. The Woodland Tree Foundation, whose president, David Wilkinson, and board member Rolf Frankenback gave the youth a tree-planting clinic, donated trees and brought the necessary equipment to the planting site. Evergreen Arborists of Woodland provided mulch for free and delivered it to Knights Landing at no cost. Roberto Barajas, the principal of Grafton Elementary, was an enthusiastic supporter of the youth-led project from the start, having helped publicize the event and facilitate communication with school district officials. Most importantly, the youth who descended on the park on a Saturday morning eagerly worked alongside their parents throughout the day without complaint. For their hard work, they were treated to a barbecue lunch prepared by Lina Hernandez of the Knights Landing Family Resource Center and other neighbors. It really was a team effort from start to finish, but we're most proud of the youth who showed up and took ownership of the park.
“The work is not quite done,” said Cárdenas, who envisions a reconstruction of the baseball field into a regulation diamond. “It'd be really cool to have baseball games out there again.”
The Woodland Youth Council is part of the Woodland Coalition for Youth, a partnership of youth ages 10 to 15 and adults representing various community agencies. The coalition seeks to ensure youth are safe and healthy, have positive relationships with caring adults, have meaningful opportunities to participate in the community and develop the skills they need to be successful. The coalition hopes to bring about these changes through the creation and coordination of a Youth Leadership Center, mentoring programs, policy development, service learning and other youth-led opportunities.
The project was made possible through support from the Grants Advisory Board for Youth, a program of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, with financial and in-kind support from Sierra Health Foundation.
The Woodland Coalition for Youth is a REACH Community Action coalition.
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South Sacramento youth make first Art & Talent Show a success
by Emily Bender
Coordinator, South Sacramento Coalition for Future Leaders
On May 30, the South Sacramento Coalition for Future Leaders (SSCFL) held its first Art and Talent Show! Nearly 200 people attended the event, held at Hiram Johnson High School. South Sacramento youth demonstrated their talents in the areas of salsa dancing, hip-hop dancing, song, piano and spoken word, as well as visual art and photography. In recognition of all performers and artists who participated, cash prizes of $50 and $100 were given. View a slide show or a video of the talent show.
Prior to this special event, youth were awarded a mini-grant from the youth art committee, which is part of the Youth Leadership Committee (YLC). The YLC has set the stage for a successful annual event. They expect the event to only get bigger and better each year. Many thanks to those who contributed to the success of this event, especially Youth Coordinator Victor Wilson, Youth Organizing Assistant Eric Banh and Coalition Coordinator Emily Bender.
The South Sacramento Coalition for Future Leaders is a REACH Community Action coalition.
Pictured is the Funky Fresh Dance Crew.
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Quality Counts provides tools, training
by Bina Lefkovitz
Co-Director, Youth Development Network
Georgetown Divide Ready by 21™, Inc. and Youth Development Network (YDN) are partners in the Forum for Youth Investment's national Quality Counts (QC) effort. Ten areas were selected to participate in this effort. QC brings a focus to why communities need to invest in supporting youth program quality, and supports communities in strengthening quality programming.
QC brings the Center for Youth Program Quality, a joint venture of the Forum for Youth Investment and High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, and the Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) tool to the Sacramento area, including a series of trainings on how to use the tool, how to create program change with the data, a train-the-trainer on becoming a YPQA coach and program assessor, and a youth worker summit to build skills of youth workers. In addition, the local QC team is developing a youth worker certificate program with local community colleges, examining an adult education program through high school districts for youth workers, exploring some models for high school-based efforts to expose students to youth development and careers in the youth field. Additionally, in the winter, there will be training on the Ready by 21 planning tools.
On June 24 from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., a special Sacramento-region phone webinar with the Forum for Youth Investment will be held to review their youth program landscape mapping tool and to link local resource mapping efforts together. Learn more about the Forum's resource mapping tool, how it is being used around the nation and what it takes to do resource mapping. We will use the time to identify who is doing or interested in resource mapping in the region so that we can learn from each other and ensure the data collected is better shared across the region. If you want to participate on the call, please RSVP to vicki@ydnetwork.org.
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Opportunities
High school students who are emerging leaders can be nominated to participate in the 2008 Sacramento Youth Leadership Program, which is sponsored by community leaders in the Sacramento area and the Youth Development Network. Participants develop skills in communication, leadership and team problem-solving, and strengthen individual leadership identity. The camp is free to participating youth, thanks to fund-raising efforts by the American Leadership Forum Alumni. Youth nominations are due to the Youth Development Network by June 30. Get more information on the Youth Development Network Web site.
The National Gardening Association awards Youth Garden Grants to schools and community organizations with child-centered garden programs. Schools, youth groups, community centers, camps, clubs, treatment facilities and intergenerational groups are eligible to apply. Applications are due Nov. 1. Get complete program information on the Kids Gardening Web site.
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Calendar
July 9
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
REACH Youth Development Conference
Radisson Hotel Sacramento
See the REACH Web site for details and to register
E-mail story ideas, funding opportunities, resources and calendar items to us at REACH.
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