Funding to Promote Youth Asset Programming

Poughkeepsie -- County Executive William R. Steinhaus has announced $1000 Youth Asset grants to 15 organizations throughout Dutchess County. These grants were awarded as part of a continuing program supported by County Executive Steinhaus, the Dutchess County Legislature, the Criminal Justice Council and the Children's Services Council to increase the building of developmental assets in youth programming. Steinhaus said, "Assets are experiences or activities that promote healthy choices for youth by providing opportunities for constructive use of time, for contributing to their community, for learning new skills, or for building positive relationships with adults."

States the County Executive, "I am pleased with the diversity of organizations that applied for these local funds to help us reach youth throughout the county with our youth asset or Youth Horizon Initiative. The Youth Horizon Initiative addresses the need for more youth activities, a need expressed at town meetings we held countywide, and is endorsed by the Criminal Justice Council (CJC) as primary prevention for at-risk youth behavior. Team effort by non profit organizations, municipal recreation departments, schools and faith-based organizations will make this initiative successful."

According to Betsy Brockway, Executive Director of the Dutchess County Youth Bureau, The Search Institute has compiled research which indicates the need for all youth to increase their developmental assets. The grants announced today include a wide range of activities that will increase these developmental assets. The following are examples of typical grant funded Youth Horizons projects:

• Beacon Family Olympic Day sponsored by Hudson River Health Care;
• A young women's conference by the Girls Scouts;
• A SADD conference by DC Council on Alcoholism Chemical Dependency;
• A youth run concession stand by Stanford Recreation;
• Outdoor teen movie nights by Rhinebeck Connections;
• A project for young adults currently in the county's jail;
• Specialized art, music or sport related lessons for children in six Astor clinics; and
• A basketball league and craft classes for Poughkeepsie youth through Youth Mission Outreach.

Additionally, youth are at the core of the design and development of these youth asset projects. The application from the Town of Poughkeepsie Recreation to hold a youth auction at which senior citizens will be able to "bid" on middle and high school students to do yard work and other chores was developed with the assistance of local youth who attended a recent Search Institute training. As the culmination of the project, both the seniors and youth involved will be invited to a dinner to celebrate their "caring neighborhood".

In other projects, young people from River Haven's Independent Living Program will be resources for the county by designing for distribution new stickers, bookmarks, and posters using the asset message, and older youth will be trained to work with younger children in various programs in the Town of Pleasant Valley.

Funding requests for these grants were reviewed by a Youth Asset Workgroup with members from both the Children's Services Council and the Criminal Justice Council.

For further information or to arrange a speaker, call Brynie Cooper-Murphy, Dept. of Health, 486-3437.

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2000 Press Releases