Youth At Risk Conference Highlights

by TLos | Jul 10, 2018 | Events, Uncategorized

The Youth at Risk (YAR) conference took place on Friday, June 8th at Salem State University. The conference is the region’s only annual all-day conference for professionals who work with at-risk youth. The event features 38 breakout sessions, as well as keynote speakers, program exhibitions and networking opportunities.

Pam Lundquist, ECAB Network Executive Committee Member and GeorgetownCARES Chair, provided her comments on the event. Thank you, Pam!

Attending the Youth at Risk Conference was a like breath of fresh air! Every year, almost 1,000 local professionals serving at-risk (all) youth gather to both teach and learn from each other’s amazing experiences. Social workers, educators, therapists and law enforcement all contribute to an inspiring full-day series of workshops plus keynote speakers and musical performances by talented youth.

This year the keynote speaker was Debby Irving, author of the seminal book, Waking Up White: Finding Myself in the Story of Race. A mesmerizing presenter, she reminded us of numerous historical events that have contributed to the lack of racial understanding and justice that we now experience. Speaking about her own upbringing, Ms. Irving asks that we all remain open-minded to continual learning about how we have been socialized to perceive “the other” from a young age. Sifting through and seeing clearly the origin of identities we take on ourselves and assign to others is key to creating a culture built to appreciate differences rather than crush them. It was a very thought-provoking and enlightening day!

-Pam Lundquist

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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.