Building Healthy Communities for Positive Youth Development

by Nakkula, Michael J.; Foster, Karen C.; Mannes, Marc; Bolstrom, Shenita

• ISBN13: 9781441957436
• ISBN10: 144195743X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-06-03
• Publisher: Springer Nature

Summary

The Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth (HC • HY) project has provided grassroots support for the creation of robust, welcoming environments not only for children and adolescents at risk but for all youth. Building Healthy Communities for Positive Youth Development explains the Developmental Assets framework in depth and demonstrates how eight local initiatives across the country have adapted and implemented it to fit the unique cultures and resources of their neighborhoods and the needs and strengths of their young people. Stakeholders collaborating in the process include parents, educators, politicians, service providers, law enforcement, volunteers, and—as active participants instead of merely recipients of services—youth themselves.In this visionary book, the authors provide readers with a flexible, living blueprint for promoting the well-being of children and teenagers. Areas of coverage include:Core themes of the eight HC • HY initiatives.The use of an asset-based common language among participants.Building common ground among the various sectors involved in the initiatives.The varied roles of young people within the initiatives.Research design and methodology; data collection and interpretation.Funding issues and challenges. The mission outlined in Building Healthy Communities for Positive Youth Development fits the interests of a wide range of professionals, including developmental psychologists; child, youth, and family service professionals; clinical child and school psychologists; and allied education and mental health practitioners working with children and adolescents.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Eight Interpretations of the Developmental Assets Framework	p. 1
Specifics of the Developmental Assets Framework and the HC HY Initiative	p. 2
The National Asset-Building Case Study Project	p. 6
Research Design and Methodology: Developing an Ethnographically Informed Perspective	p. 6
Site Selection	p. 7
Qualitative Instrumentation	p. 8
Analysis: Deriving Data-Driven Interpretations	p. 9
Unfinished Collaborations, Dynamic Processes	p. 10
Transformation, Affirmation, and Blended Models	p. 11
Organizing Themes and Concepts	p. 12
Catalyzing the Transformation of Community Norms: The Core Theme	p. 13
The New Norm	p. 14
Does It Matter?	p. 25
Catalytic Context	p. 27
Conclusion and Implications	p. 38
Strategic Care, Sector by Sector: Traverse Bay Area's GivEm40 24.7	p. 41
Context of the Initiative	p. 41
Structural Features of the Initiative	p. 42
Characterizing Themes	p. 43
Leadership Wisdom	p. 43
Sector-Deep Representation	p. 48
Tenuousness and Survival	p. 53
Spread Control	p. 54
Postscript	p. 55
The Forgotten Neighborhoods: Moorhead, Minnesota's Healthy Community Initiative	p. 57
Context of the Initiative	p. 57
Structural Features and Orientation	p. 60
Focus on Out-of-School Time	p. 60
New Director	p. 61
Tension with Fargo and Partnership Potential	p. 61
Characterizing Themes	p. 63
Cultural Identity Development	p. 63
Representation	p. 68
Are We Doing What We Set Out to Do?	p. 71
The Element of Risk Taking	p. 72
Postscript	p. 73
Pursuing "The Tipping Point": Portland, Oregon's Take the Time Initiative	p. 75
Context of the Initiative	p. 75
"Death by Reorganization"	p. 76
Structural Features and Orientation	p. 77
Characterizing Themes	p. 78
Personal Ownership	p. 79
Reaching a Common Ground	p. 80
Egalitarian Context	p. 81
Spreading the Word: Successes and Setbacks	p. 82
Youth Advocacy for Balanced Media Coverage	p. 83
Parent Outreach	p. 84
Community Change: Person by Person, Mistake by Mistake	p. 85
Postscript	p. 87
Community Sustainability: Orlando's Healthy Community Initiative	p. 89
Context of the Initiative	p. 89
Structural Features and Orientation	p. 90
Characterizing Themes	p. 91
Synergistic Commitment: Initiatives within an Initiative	p. 91
Leadership Wisdom: HCI's Distributed Leadership Model	p. 95
Fit of the Model	p. 99
Developmental Assets as the "Lever"	p. 99
The Role of Community Faculty	p. 99
Closing Thoughts	p. 100
Postscript	p. 100
We Are Not a Program! St. Louis Park, Minnesota's Children First Initiative	p. 101
Redefining the Catalytic Context	p. 102
Distinguishing Features of Children First's Identity	p. 103
Structural Organization: Vision Team and Executive Committee	p. 108
The Desire to be Invisible	p. 108
Sector Connection and Representation	p. 109
Defining Achievements and Challenges of Children First	p. 111
Transience and the Challenge of Diversity for Children First	p. 114
Revisiting the Crossroads: Initiative or Program?	p. 116
Implications	p. 118
Postscript	p. 119
Partnering with Prevention: The Lawton/Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Community Coalition	p. 121
The Lawton/Fort Sill Community and Comanche County	p. 122
Coalition Features	p. 123
Strategic Funding	p. 123
Organizational Structure: A Nested Prevention Network	p. 125
Characterizing Themes	p. 126
Representation and Shaking Up the Status Quo	p. 126
The Role and History of Diversity in LFSCC	p. 126
Sector Diversity	p. 128
Blended Models of Community Change	p. 132
The Contribution of the Lawton/Fort Sill Community Coalition to the HC HY Movement	p. 136
Postscript	p. 137
"Leaderful" Communities: The McPherson, Kansas, Tri-County Asset-Building Initiative	p. 139
Community Features: Natural Resources and Foresight	p. 140
Competing Resources: Oil and the Aquifer	p. 141
The Power Utilities Story: Entrepreneurship and Risk	p. 142
A Chamber of Commerce for Business and Youth Development	p. 143
Developmental Assets and the Chamber of Commerce's Mission	p. 145
The Kansas Health Foundation: Servant Leadership and Children's Health	p. 146
Key Activities and Achievements	p. 149
Connecting the Counties	p. 149
Tri-County Differences: The Emergence of Paradigm Clashes	p. 150
McPherson-Specific Projects: Focusing the Lens	p. 151
Growth and Preservation: Not "Losing What You Already Have"	p. 153
Postscript	p. 155
The Next New Frontier: Nevada's Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties	p. 157
Community Context: Grassroots Orientation with Global Vision	p. 157
A Brief History of Northern Nevada Settlement	p. 158
Juxtaposition of Natural and Commercial Resources	p. 159
Initiative Features: A Nested Network of Collaboration	p. 160
Leadership Roles	p. 161
Sector Representation	p. 162
Prevention and the HCC History of Coalition Building	p. 164
Providing the Map	p. 166
Early Awareness and the Appeal of Developmental Assets	p. 166
Development of the Blended Model	p. 167
Developmental Assets and Protective Factors	p. 168
Applying and Assessing the Blended Model	p. 169
Does It Matter? How Do We Know the Blended Model Works?	p. 171
The New Frontier	p. 172
Postscript	p. 174
Project Postscript: Resisting the Template	p. 175
Where to Start?	p. 175
Key Bridges	p. 177
Idiosyncrasies and Blended Models	p. 178
Bibliography	p. 181
Subject Index	p. 183
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