Georgetown Rocks Project

by TLos | Jul 10, 2018 | Community Partners, Events, In the News, New Content, Things to Do

This past May, 6th graders at the Penn Brook Elementary School in Georgetown created a Kindness Garden as their gift to the school. Youth and their families were invited to an evening event where they could paint rocks together that reflect the CARES values. Penn Brook Principal, Margaret Maher explained, “It will be a “growing garden,” as families can continue to add their own rocks.” This project created an opportunity to build the CARES values of Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, Self-Control though youth and adults working together to create positive messages to share with their school and greater Georgetown community. It is a great way for the youth to give back and feel like they can leave a positive impact for returning students.

In addition to highlighting values, this project is a great example of how Georgetown is currently building Developmental Assets® for their youth. By creating a caring school climate, fostering creativity, supporting family involvement, promoting compassion, this project demonstrates how the Georgetown community truly values youth. This past year, Georgetown started a partnership with the Essex County Asset Builder Network to help create and expand supports and opportunities for youth in the community.

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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.