It can be as simple as smiling and saying hi to the teen bagging groceries in the supermarket or as complicated as mentoring a troubled youth, but everybody can do something to help kids grow up happier and healthier.
That’s the message of a coalition of educators, clergy and youth leaders in Frankfort, Mokena, New Lenox, Manhattan and Frankfort Square, who are spearheading a concerted effort to keep youngsters on the right track.
“We Can Make a Difference” is the motto of an effort that began last year when the Lincoln-Way High School district held its first get-together with area clergy. Lincoln-Way Supt. Lawrence Wyllie said the huge prayer service held after the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado started him pondering the value of gathering communities together before a tragedy erupts.
“We want to commit Lincoln-Way High School (to) change negative behaviors, to create kinder, gentler communities,” Wyllie told a gathering of community leaders in May.
The effort focuses on 40 developmental assets, positive experiences and behaviors that help young people avoid drugs, alcohol and violence.
The assets were identified in a survey of 100,000 young people conducted by the Minneapolis-based Search Institute, which has made a detailed study of young people’s life experiences and attitudes, said institute spokeswoman Karolyn Josephson.
The assets — which include external factors such as family support, religious faith and opportunity to participate in creative activities and internal qualities such as commitment to learning and self-esteem — have a preventive function. The more assets young people perceive in their lives, the survey showed, the less likely they are to suffer from depression, take up gambling, engage in sexual activity, drink alcohol or use drugs. These are equal-opportunity benefits that cut across cultural or class lines, according to the survey of children in grades 6 through 12.
“Our mission is to advance the well-being of adolescents and children by developing that information,” Josephson said.
A focus on building assets for youth is “a movement, rather than a program,” said Chuck Wanner, a prevention specialist with Frankfort Township’s In Touch drug-prevention organization. “The people who did this research see this as a shift in the way we think about kids. It’s an effort to restore the kind of community support that once occurred naturally, but requires an effort in today’s fragmented society.”
“The time is right for this community,” said Pastor Dave Hedlin of Peace Lutheran Church in New Lenox. “We have from different approaches an opportunity to see what we can do to make a difference.
“People like to know, `What can I do?”‘ Hedlin said, and the assets give them some suggestions. They’re passed along by sources ranging from the Lincoln-Way High School Web site to the New Lenox Township newsletter to messages in parish bulletins and homilies.
The “We Can Make a Difference” logo designed by Lincoln-Way’s Jennifer Higgins, who graduated in June, features two stick figures balancing four interlocking circles labeled church, school, community and home.
It’s an inclusive effort, according to Ceil Barclay of the New Lenox Township Family Services Commission. “We want children, adolescents, families and seniors all involved,” she said.
Rosalie Plechaty of the Frankfort Youth Commission likes the positive approach. “What we looked at was how can we keep our youth healthy,” Plechaty said. “You build on strength. We’re going to head off problems.”
It’s a process that can happen incrementally, in situations where young people and adults can meet and share ideas. “It’s one kid at a time. It’s one adult at a time,” she said.
Religious services are a good place to spread the message, she said. “When people come to church, their hearts are open.”
Many young people are taking an active role. The Mokena Area Youth Commission, for example, presents a monthly Asset Building Award to people who have helped and inspired the young. Recipients have included businesses, teachers and crossing guards.
“The award itself kind of gives us a little publicity. It rewards people who help youths,” said 16-year-old Brandon Windham of Mokena, a member of the Youth Commission.
Windham sees some evidence that Mokena’s teens are being heard in the aftermath of a survey that showed town teens wanted a skate park.
“We have (one) now,” he said, and young people helped Mokena park commissioners set the rules for Grasmere Skatepark, which opened in 1998.
According to Plechaty, getting the word out is the major task.
“We have to turn people on to this, so it’s not just a lot of words. Ideally, all the towns are going to be on board with this.”
Emphasizing the 40 assets can be a unifying force in the community, Wanner said. “We’re all on the same team.”
COUNTING THEIR BLESSINGS
The following are the 40 important assets:
– Family support
– Positive family communication
– Support from other adults
– Caring neighbors
– A caring school environment
– Parents involved in education
– Community that values youth
– A role in the community
– Service to others
– Safety
– Family boundaries
– School boundaries
– Neighborhood boundaries
– Adult role models
– Positive peer influence
– High expectations
– Creative activities
– Youth programs
– Religious community
– Time at home
– Motivation to achieve
– School engagement
– Homework
– Bonding to school
– Reading for pleasure
– Caring
– Concern for equality and social justice
– Integrity
– Honesty
– Responsibility
– Restraint
– Planning and decision-making
– Interpersonal competence
– Cultural competence
– Resistance skills
– Peaceful conflict resolution
– Personal power
– Self-esteem
– Sense of purpose
– Positive view of future
