Developing High Performing Communities That Effectively Engage Youth Populations.
Research shows that there is no formula for becoming a high performing community that affectively engages the youth population. That is because as we know, each community has its own DNA and is made up of young people each with their own set of circumstances impacting on who they are and who they will become.
Becoming a community that is highly affective in the area of youth engagement and development is critical to a city's economic, and social success.
To be successful the agency partners and collaborators must have a commitment and a stake in the community and the region. If not they must go away from the table.
We believe that to get there we must create an environment that includes the following key elements:
More pressure for change than resistance to change
Ownership of the problem
Facilitated process to engage in a broad dialogue with stakeholders because studies show that interdisciplinary networks and collaboratives are the most affective.
Partnership with the school district because we know from research that a rigorous, relevant and relational learning experience that engages students is a huge deterrent to inappropriate and violent behavior.
Partnerships with environment enhancing services (health, nutrition, sports, family support, etc) that help get them to be more engaged in their own education
Additional education in job ready skills to prepare students for adulthood and the difficult choices facing them all along the way
Partnership with faith organizations to enhance spirituality and socialization
Partnership with community based organizations and Park and Recreation to enhance the level of physical activity our young people are engaged in.
Partnership with local law enforcement
Finally, to be successful the agency partners and collaborators must have a commitment and a stake in the community and the region. If not they must go away from the table.
Critical Components of HPC Model Theory of Change
The services exist to help achieve our outcomes it is just that they are not coordinated or integrated in a way that best addresses the whole young person's needs.
An "Umbrella" vehicle coordinating these leveraged services united around a few key focused outcomes can achieve much more than any one-service agency can. It is this key component that is missing from current service delivery.
The HPC model is an outcomes driven initiative. Because of the front-end work of collecting individual data, and doing professional analysis, we will be able to get a handle on which youth are actually likely to commit or become victims of violent crime. With this information we are able to tailor a wrap-around strategy and set of services for specific youth and their families that starts with a five stage meditative dialogue to ensure family buy-in and self-identification of problems and challenges.
Each family is taken thorough a rigorous referral process, which includes signing a release of school district, local law enforcement, and emergency room information on the youth. This information is critical to assessing whether or not the family will benefit from the collaborative based on whether or not the families needs can be addressed through available partner/stakeholder agencies.
Each family that enters the process is assigned at least one family advocate. This volunteer is not only an advocate for the family, but a liaison to services and agency partners.
Because the HPC model uses data to determine overall youth violence indicators, and to evaluate each individual participating family's need and risk factors, we can then predict with a high level of accuracy a significant reduction in violent crimes by and against youth ages 13 to 18 as well as other types of evidence of positive community performance.
Capacity Building
To insure the long-term sustainability and positive impact of the High Performing Community Model we will work closely with collaborative partners, service providers, and stakeholders on a process of raising individual capacity for this and other essential work by providing the following services:
Seeking out and facilitating collaborative grant opportunities
Coordinating cross agency aggregate data sharing
Coordinating cross-agency training where appropriate
Facilitation of dialogue with internal agency/partner stakeholders and employees
Broad community education/dialogue strategy development and implementation, which includes recruiting, training and certifying community and stakeholder mediators in partnership with DPC (Dialogue for Peaceful Change - See attached video on DPC)
Training and certifying Family Advocates to act as liaisons between families needing help, and partner agencies.
For more information on the High Performing Communities Model and an assessment of whether or not this model is right for your community, e-mail us at contactus@emeraldconsulting.com with your contact information and one of our HPC experts will contact you.
