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Valley Outreach is a prevention oriented, coalition committed to the needs of youth and families in Northern Carroll County, NH ( Bartlett, Jackson, Conway, Albany, Eaton, Madison, Tamworth and Freedom, NH). We have been meeting for about 14 years with around 30 active members, primarily from the non-profit sector. 60 other people are also involved and receive our mailings, including representation from the MWV School to Career Partnership Board, local schools, business, clergy, private practitioners and a new group of parent welcomers. Our mission is to promote the health and well-being of families in the Mt. Washington Valley and to impact the current school drop out rate through collaborative programming. We believe in the asset-based approach, utilizing the framework of the 40 developmental assets developed through research by the Search Institute.
Originally, Valley Outreach met to assess our community by looking at the services and unmet needs for our youth from birth to 18. The assessment process lasted 2 years and from that we initiated a number of collaborative programs to address the top needs, such as Celebrate Families, an early support program for new parents, and an after school enrichment program for middle school students who did not participate in traditional sports programs. Each year we discuss our most pressing needs, encourage programming around those needs and work towards improved coordination of our local services. Over the years programs have come and gone and we have had some changes in membership and direction; but over the last two years we have strengthened the group and there is new vitality. In the fall of 2003, we decided that critical to our work was a clear framework for all of our efforts and direct involvement with youth and parents. The framework we are using is the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets Model. We developed numerous focus groups of youth and reached out to those who have less access to school/community supports. From that process, we decided to focus on parent support, advocacy, outreach and education. The result of our work led to an annual Valley Outreach Parent Workshops Series. Parents and youth who attended our series gave us feedback that they wanted more depth and wanted access to ongoing support services. In August, 2004 we ran a forum to bring the community together to determine the most pressing needs and to determine our goals for this year. Tim Duffey, Chief Trainer from the Search Institute facilitated this training. About 50 people from all sectors of the Valley attended and developed 5 key goals, calling the initiative “Vision to Action” The following are the goals Overarching Goal: To celebrate and enhance the school/community support of the youth in the Valley, using the Developmental Asset Model, in order to help our young people grow up to be successful, healthy, caring and responsible. Goal 1: Increase positive communication between all groups (parents, schools, students, agencies, local government, community members, private practitioners, clergy etc.) in order to develop more community-wide pro active, asset based approaches with youth and families. What accomplished so far: All year: For Parents Sake website, avg: 1300 different visitors per month. Lately up to 1700! Spin-offs:
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