College or Not: Time to talk to youth about reality

by TLos | Apr 25, 2018 | In the News

A first great Call to Action Meeting in Georgetown last night with 25 concerned community adults opened conversation on the topic of pressure. Pressure youth feel, whether internally or externally to succeed; to do well; to never fail; to get to Harvard. All expectations, whether real or perceived create a narrative youth feel they must live up to. What are we doing as adults youth look up to to bring reality to these perceptions?

Are all students going to go to Harvard? No

Are all students going to go to college? No

Are there many different life paths that can lead to a successful, fulfilling, happy life? YES

If we know the answer to be YES, why are we afraid to have that conversation with the youth in our lives? How might we be impacting them by not discussing alternative options to college? What about technical schooling, a year off, a community college, an internship to leads to a job? All of these can lead to success if the youth is interested and engaged. We don’t make all students try out for the basketball team or be in the school band because we know youth have different interests and strengths. Why then are we trying to fit all students down one path to college?

This TIME article dives into this important topic and offers some enlightening ideas and perspectives. A must read.

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About Us The Essex County Asset Builder (ECAB) Network creates regional connections and supports for individuals, families and organizations from Amesbury, Georgetown, Newbury, Rowley, Salisbury and Newburyport, in using a positive youth development approach to help youth thrive. Positive Youth Development

The Positive Youth Development approach engages youth with peers, family and community in a way that enhances their strengths and promotes positive outcomes. It can also be used as an approach to prevention that encourages healthy decisions.
A positive youth development approach to prevention is an effective, evidence based way to look at the opioid epidemic and how we can prevent future harm to our youth. Specifically, it uses a whole community approach rather than just relying on schools and social services agencies.

Being a part of the ECAB Network brings local and regional opportunities. Locally, communities have access to trainings, data, and best practices, and receive guidance on implementation and outreach strategies that build positive youth development possibilities. Communities also get the benefit of regionalizing efforts, where networking, combining resources, current policies, and a shared vision strengthen the towns and cities as well as the region. History Recently, the communities of Amesbury, Georgetown, Newbury, Rowley, Salisbury and Newburyport came together to form the Essex County Asset Builder Network. Funded by a three year grant, the goal of this Network is to create a common language of asset- based youth development (creating protective factors). It has been shown that youth who have more assets are less likely to engage in risky behaviors. This grant will use the 40 Developmental Assets framework to build these protective factors and reduce risk behaviors by focusing on both the youth and the environment that shapes them. The community partnership will enhance the great work already being done to support youth and families, as well as expand community supports, opportunities, and resources. Additionally, the grant will collect and disseminate regional data, coordinate shared resources and bring educational opportunities for various sectors of the community. Goal To spread the philosophy and practice of the positive youth development approach through implementation of 40 Developmental Asset framework within communities across the region. We will accomplish this goal by:

Collecting and disseminating regional and community specific data that can then be shared and used among all agencies.
Increasing the number of community members who feel comfortable using the language of positive youth development and the 40 Developmental Assets approach
Increasing the number of community members who implement a positive youth development approach in their work
Increasing the number of developmental assets youth report

Mission To use a positive youth development approach to build networks within each community and across the region that help decrease risk behaviors in youth and produce a healthier community. Vision A network of communities that welcome, value and empower youth through meaningful opportunities and collaborative efforts to support and strengthen youth assets and increase healthy decision making.