Pen Pals to Build Assets

by TLos | Apr 24, 2019 | Uncategorized | 1 comment

A new Pen Pal program has launched in Salsibury! All sixteen 5th grade students in Toni Evans class were matched with our Salisbury Council on Aging senior friends for an initial meet and greet and to share some refreshments together. We announced our matched pairs and together they came up to greet each other, get some light refreshments and then sit and chat together for this first day. This was an incredible thing to see, as the seniors were so impressed with our students, and the pairs really connected and many seniors remarked how wonderful this was. This program helps create community connections across generations, helps both seniors and students feel valued, and help students build a network of more adults in their life they can trust and connect with. We will have a final farewell with them at the end of the school year, to say thank you for taking part in this special program.

1 Comment

Sarah Hayden on April 25, 2019 at 7:56 pm

Love this idea and the article was wonderful! Great work and so positive for both student and senior citizen!

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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.