HEALTHY COMMUNITIES HEALTHY YOUTH (HC•HY)®
Healthy Communities Healthy Youth is a Search Institute initiative developed to motivate and equip individuals, organizations and leaders to unite for the purposes of nurturing competent, caring and responsible children/youth. The Search Institute identified 40 positive experiences and qualities that parents, educators and youth-serving agencies can bring into the lives of children and youth from all types of backgrounds and communities. These 40 Developmental Assets® are grouped within four external categories - support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations and constructive use of time; and four internal categories - commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies and positive identify.
These experiences and qualities serve as the framework that is used to energize children/youth-serving organizations and radically change the traditional problem centered approach to working with children/youth to a strength based approach. HCHY initiatives are built on the following key principals.
- Emphasizing strengths as opposed to problems and risks.
- Engagement with children/youth rather than services for them.
- Building relationships as well as programs.
- Empowering youth not controlling or directing them.
- Involving all adults and children/youth, not just parents and professionals.
- Long term change process rather than quick fix.
- Intergenerational emphasis - youth working with adults; youth working with younger children.
The adoption of the HCHY initiative in Prince William County Schools (PWCS) and the community has developed in several ways: (1) as a PWCS professional development area of emphasis; (2) the establishment of a HCHY Council; and (3) in the development of a HCHY Student Learning the Essential Assets of Development (LEAD) Team.
The HCHY Council was developed for the purposes of enhancing school and community awareness of the 40 Developmental Assets® and drafting an implementation plan for both the community and the schools. The council is composed of representatives from Prince William County agencies, members of the private sector, parents, students and educators.
The HCHY Students LEAD Team is composed of three students from each of the ten high schools who attended the 2005 and 2006 HCHY National Conferences. These students are engaged in asset building activities in the community, school division and at the schools. A few examples of their Asset Building activities include: serving on the Office on Youth Advisory Council; coaching little league basketball; shadowing a state senator during a General Assembly session; developing a student Code of Expectations (based on Asset categories) for division-wide publications and conducting presentations to the School Board, the HCHY Council, the PWC Hispanic Coalition and the PWC Human Rights Commission. In August 2007, the HCHY Student Leaders will present a workshop at the Equity and Excellence in Education Conference for principals, teachers and central office administrators. They will also participate in the Office of Student Services Symposium and the F.I.R.S.T. training for new teachers.
HCHY Adolescent Assets
(click link above to view Assets)
HCHY Salient Points
- Developmental assets are essential building blocks for young people's achievement and thriving.
- Developmental assets are essential building blocks for young people's avoidance of high-risk behaviors.
- All young people - from infants to adolescents, from whatever geographic location or family background - need developmental assets.
- Assets are built mainly through strong, positive relationships.
- Everyone can build assets, including young people.
- It's everyone's responsibility to build assets.
- Asset building is an ongoing process.
- Young people need to receive consistent messages from a variety of sources.
- It's important to build assets intentionally.
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Building developmental assets is consistent with the goals of both individuals and organizations.
KEY PRINCIPALS FOR ASSET BUILDERS
The most energetic communities craft their initiatives around core asset-building principles that embody significant shifts in people's thinking. These shifts in thinking are key principles for asset building in communities. They are:
- Strengths More Than Risks or Deficits
Asset building focuses on building strengths instead of just reducing problems, risks or deficits. These types of initiatives have a dual role: to bring the strength-based message to the community and to help all community sectors to shift to strength-oriented action. This allows us to focus on all youth instead of youth with problems.
- Engagement With Young People, More Than Services for Young People
Another critical shift in thinking for asset builders is how you interact with youth. Traditional programmatic supports make young people consumers of services, but asset - building initiatives need to avoid a too - quick focus on how to "serve" youth or "meet young people's needs." This also means moving beyond seeing just young people who may already be visible in the community to engaging young people who may be typically overlooked.
- Relationships As Well As Programs
A program alone cannot successfully build assets in youth. Successful asset building programs must involve adults throughout a community noticing and connecting with youth in positive ways over time. Both within programs and outside programs, the main focus must be on building strong, healthy relationships.
- Empowering not controlling or directing
As an initiative begins to have success in spreading the asset message, individuals and organizations in the community will begin shaping their own approaches and priorities for asset building. Controlling or directing these approaches should be avoided. The HC-HY Council will "plant the seeds, and then let other people raise the crop." No one person or group has all the answers. We must rust and value everyone's contributions.
- All Adults and Youth, Not Just Professionals and Parents
Asset building emphasizes inspiring, inviting, and equipping all types of community residents - including young people themselves, professionals, parents, elders, other adults, business owners, etc. to contribute to the well-being of children and adolescents. This means all children, not just those young people who are troubled, from low income areas or those in your own family, neighborhood or culture. ALL means ALL.
- Long Term Process, Not a Quick Fix
An asset building initiative starts and supports a fluid, dynamic process that will take many years to have a broad and deep impact. The developmental assets provides a framework for long-term action that recognizes the importance of ongoing, positive opportunities and relationships across at least the first two decades of life of all young people.