Collaborations result in a stronger community

In a recent blog post you heard directly from Charlotte Cahillane, Positive Youth Development intern here at Berkshire United Way.  One of the projects Charlotte worked on while she was with us was the Positive Youth Development Impact Council Resource Fair.

On July 18^th, 14 different youth-serving programs from across the county took part in the Positive Youth Development Impact Council (PYDIC) Resource Fair held at the Hillcrest Center Campus Gymnasium in Lenox. The primary objectives of this event were to enable program staff who work with young people to connect, learn more about the community resources that are available, and strengthen their referral networks.

Participating organizations included: the Berkshire Environmental Action Team, Berkshire Children and Families, Berkshire County Kid's Place, Berkshire Family YMCA, Berkshire Pulse, Boy Scouts, The Brien Center, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Child Care of the Berkshires, Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, North Adams Public Schools, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, Railroad Street Youth Project, and United Cerebral Palsy Association of Berkshire County. 

During the second part of the fair, local business community members joined us to learn more about youth-focused initiatives in the Berkshires and the various volunteer opportunities that are available. Activities like this are just one of the many ways Berkshire United Way impacts the community through resource coordination, or the idea that no one person, program or agency can do it all and our collaborations result in a stronger community.

Elizabeth LeSage from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) talks with Logan Malik from Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT), as Sarah Lampro from Berkshire Children and Families looks over informational materials provided by BEAT.

To learn more about the Positive Youth Development Impact Council (PYDIC) or volunteer opportunities with young people, please contact Kat Toomey, Coordinator of Positive Youth Development at ktoomey@berkshireunitedway.org or 413-442-6948 x 15.

I look forward to hearing from you!
Kat

An intern's insight

Hello!  My name is Charlotte Cahillane and I'm the summer Positive Youth Development Intern here at Berkshire United Way.

Charlotte poses for a photo opp in front of Berkshire United Way's South Street office in Pittsfield.

I grew up in Berkshire County, attending Lenox Public Schools from kindergarten until high school graduation in 2015. After leaving high school, and taking a semester off, I began studying at Middlebury College in Vermont. At school I study French and Global Health while volunteering and working. It’s been over a year and a half since I've spent more than two weeks in the Berkshires and I'm thrilled to be home!

When I was looking for internship positions for the summer months, I became interested in Berkshire United Way because of its commitment to build a dynamic, engaged community. Although I'm focusing on global health at school, I'm very interested in public and community health as well as community building. As a funding source for dozens of non-profits throughout the county, Berkshire United Way seemed a principal source of community-based activity. I particularly wanted to learn more about positive youth development, community health practices, LGBTQ support and community organizing, or the coordination of efforts by local residents to build a stronger community together, in Berkshire United Way’s work.

As a member of the team for the next couple months, I'm supporting several projects, including:

•       Supporting the recent positive youth development resource fair where 14 organizations compared programming to determine how they could overlap and strengthen referral networks.

•       Researching youth programs in the Berkshires, particularly those that support career or college readiness programs, to aid in a project that strive to connect these resources and promote college and career readiness.

•       Overseeing the Humans of the Berkshires Facebook and Instagram pages – I love learning more about the aspirations of local youth.

There's a lot to do and only a few weeks to do it, but I'm glad to have this opportunity to learn and grow with Berkshire United Way!

-Charlotte

When you volunteer through United Way, you’re joining 2.9 million people who are giving back so others can get ahead. Join our global community of game changers today! To learn more about volunteer opportunities through our Positive Youth Development Impact Council, please contact Kat Toomey, Coordinator of Positive Youth Development at ktoomey@berkshireunitedway.org or 413-442-6948 x15.

Making a positive impact

 When you give to Berkshire United Way, your gift is part of a collective that impacts our community in a way that no single person, program or organization can do alone.

I’d like to provide a glimpse of just one of the many ways you made an impact in the Berkshires. 287 youth were matched with a mentor last year - mentoring provides teens with a caring adult who acts as a positive role model, helping them to navigate those critical formative years and make healthy decisions that will lead to high school graduation and a career or college plan.

Mentoring in action at the Railroad Street Youth Project.

One young man, we’ll call him Jack, was struggling to remain in school; he was combative with teachers, school administration and some peers, resulting in a couple of school suspensions and being held back from class field trips.

In an effort to intervene he was matched with a mentor, but right out of the gate he let the mentor coordinator know, he was only interested in playing basketball.

As time progressed, he became an active member in various group activities and games and even attended multiple field trips. With the help of his mentor, his peer relationship skills developed, and he demonstrated positive growth in his relationships with his peers and school and even earned a field trip to Boston.

This is just one story, and mentoring only represents one strategy we are implementing in our positive youth development work. Currently we are investing over $575,000 in quality youth programming.  We could not do this without you. On behalf of our community partners, friends and neighbors throughout the Berkshires, thank you.

Duffy Judge
Development Manager

#Talking is Power

May is Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month and you’ll likely see an increase in national marketing and ad campaigns throughout the month on this very important topic.

Here in the Berkshires, we’re planning a large celebration and we hope you’ll join us! #Talking is Power is the theme of our celebration. A theme that epitomizes the approach taken by individuals and organizations who launched the Face the Facts: reduce teen pregnancy coalition in 2010.

Face the Facts was developed in response to the growing number and rate of teen births in the Berkshires. The initial goal of the coalition was to reduce the number of teen births in Berkshire County by 50% by the year 2020.

The coalition implemented several strategies to achieve this goal, all of which embrace the fact that #Talking is Power:

• They worked with local schools to ensure students in all 13 school districts received sexual health education.
• They increased access to reproductive health services for students in every Berkshire County high school as well as Berkshire Community College and MCLA.
• They held workshops to provide parents with tools and information that help them when talking about sexuality.
• They worked with local pediatricians to make sure sexual health was discussed during teens’ well visits.
• They launched a marketing campaign using billboards, posters, YouTube and Pandora to educate teens and their parents on common myths.

Taconic High School students, with Marcie Simonds, Allied Health teacher at Taconic, on the set of a Myth Busters video.  The Myth Busters video series were produced by the Berkshire United Way led Face the Facts: reduce teen pregnancy coalition as part of a social norms campaign aimed at Berkshire County teens.

Last spring, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released the most recent data on teen births across the state. Berkshire County’s teen birth rate had decreased by 52%*, exceeding the coalition’s goal five years ahead of schedule.

That’s a result worth celebrating, and we intend to do just that as we recognize those throughout the community who are Driving Our Community Forward through the sometimes difficult, but always important work required to build a stronger community.

We hope to see you on Thursday, May 10^th from 5-7 p.m. at The Johnson Dealerships in Pittsfield, where we will keep the “talk” going.  You can register for this free event here.   I hope to see you there!

Kat Toomey, Coordinator of Positive Youth Development

* Between 2010 and 2015, the most recent year for which data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health is available.

Providing local teens with “Tools for Change”

On Thursday, April 12^th, 112 high school students from across the county will gather at Hancock Shaker Village for the 12^th annual 411 in the 413 youth conference. Created and organized by their peers, and supported by Berkshire United Way, Railroad Street Youth Project, and Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, the conference offers a unique opportunity for students from 13 high schools to come together, meet new friends, delve into their passions, while navigating the challenges young people face in today’s world.

The conference features 22, one hour-long workshops covering topics selected by youth, which are organized into four tracks: The Arts, Compassion in Action, Wellness, and Adulting. “I think this conference is such an amazing opportunity for students to learn and explore outside the classroom. Things like therapy, yoga, self-defense and how to pay for college will help us a lot in the future,” said Julie Xu, of Miss Hall’s School and 411 in the 413 Horizons intern at Berkshire United Way.

Students launch a bottle rocket during a workshop at the 11^th Annual 411 in the 413 youth conference.

The theme of this year’s conference is, “Tools for Change.” Zoe Hypolite, member of Mira’s Alliance for Philanthropic Sustainability (MAPS) and the Diversity Coalition at Miss Hall’s School, and Madison Quinn Pittsfield High Class of 2018, founder of the nonprofit, “Strong Little Souls,” will share their personal “Tools for Change” with attendees in a keynote address.

Be sure to follow us on our Facebook page for inspiring photos of ‘Tools for Change!’   These young people are our future!

Kat Toomey

Coordinator of Positive Youth Development

Turning tragedy into resilience

Kendra is a lovely young woman who has experienced significant challenges in her life due to the loss of two special people. As a young child, Kendra lost her mom. More recently, her aunt, the woman who raised Kendra, passed away.

Despite her overwhelming feelings of sadness, Kendra has demonstrated tremendous resilience; she is determined to not let these tragedies define her life. In fact, despite these tragedies, or perhaps in part, because of them, she has blossomed into a beautiful human being, both inside and out.

Instead of turning inward, Kendra turns outward, always present to help and support her peers with a strong moral compass and a kind, compassionate heart. She is resourceful, seeking the help and support she needs to heal.  She is driven to hold on to her hopes and dreams and takes pride in her academic work, so that she can pursue her goal of attending college in the fall. She is an active member of the Wahconah Ambassador team, a student leadership group that strives to implement positive, supportive programs for students.

Kendra is also active outside of school; she has held jobs at Cranwell Spa & Golf Resort in Lenox and Target in Lanesborough, to help support her financial needs. In between work and school, she reaches out to help people in need in the community like her grandmother, who needs assistance with household chores and taking her clothes to the local laundromat.

Donna Therrien, School Adjustment Counselor at Wahconah Regional High School in Dalton, who shared the above story, says it was her pleasure to nominate Kendra Richards, a senior at Wahconah for the S.A.Y It Proud (Supporting and Acknowledging Youth) award for outstanding involvement in community and school activities.

Established by the Pittsfield Prevention Partnership in 2012, the important work of recognizing middle and high school students with S.A.Y. It Proud awards will be continued by our Positive Youth Development Impact Council (PYDIC).   

If you’d like to learn more about PYDIC, which creates healthy, positive opportunities for all Berkshire County youth, or if you want to nominate a young person aged 11-19, for a S.A.Y It Proud award, please contact me at  ktoomey@berkshireunitedway.org or 413-442-6948 ext. 15.

In the meantime, keep your eyes open for announcements of future S.A.Y. It Proud awardees!

Kat Toomey

Coordinator of Positive Youth Development

Mentoring Matters

In November, I had the privilege of attending Mass Mentoring Partnership’s Decade in Western Massachusetts, an event celebrating the people and partners who have worked to create empowering youth-adult relationships throughout this region.  

As part of the celebratory program, two mentors were recognized for having outstanding relationships with their mentees, and making an incredible impact on their lives. As I listened to their stories, I was struck by how important it is for every young person to have a caring adult in their life, yet there are young people here in our own back yard who need, perhaps even seek, a mentor in their life.

Whether mentoring pairs meet daily or once a week, there’s something to be gained by the positive relationships that evolve. In fact, young people who are mentored often go on to be become mentors and role models themselves, contributing not only to their success, but to the success of future generations.

Mentoring plays an important role in Berkshire United Way’s positive youth development work and we were among twenty Difference Makers recognized by Mass Mentoring for supporting mentoring activities across the region.

Trevon, a participant in the Pittsfield Community Connection Mentoring Program, poses with his mentor, Dana. 

Dana, a mentor in the Pittsfield Community Connection program at Berkshire Children and Families, one of the mentoring programs supported by Berkshire United Way, could easily have been one of the two mentors honored by Mass Mentoring.  She and her mentee, Trevon, talk a bit about their relationship below.

What would you say to someone who was thinking about joining a mentoring program?

Trevon: “I would say, just do it. I enjoy having that extra support around in my life, and to help me with questions. What I like about Dana is she’s soft-spoken (sometimes) and it’s good to have her in my corner, and I know she’s there with me for a long time.”

What advice would you give to someone thinking about becoming a mentor?

Dana: “I would tell them it’s just a lot of fun, and it gets you out of your own box and bubble and doing things that I wouldn’t be doing because I’ve already done them, but now I get to relive them again.

It can be a little intimidating because you may feel like you need to be a ‘finished’ person or a ‘perfect’ person and you need to have tons of resources and it’s not true, we’re all flawed people and it’s definitely been paying off for me and now I have a friend for life.”

January is National Mentoring Month.  To learn more about how you can make a difference by mentoring, please contact me at ktoomey@berkshireunitedway.org or 413.442.6948 x15.

Kat Toomey 

Coordinator of Positive Youth Development.

Building strong, healthy families

Have you seen Berkshire United Way’s social media campaign, Humans of the Berkshires?

If not, I encourage you to check it out on Facebook and Instagram.

 Humans of the Berkshires is a community of celebration and support of the aspirations, challenges, and achievements of the young people in our community.  As part of the interview process, a young person can choose from different questions, including, “Who is a role model or influential figure in your life?”  Sometimes interviewees will answer that one of their parents/caregivers fit this description.  One young woman, in particular, spoke about how her mom sometimes has challenges and makes mistakes, but is absolutely the most important person in her life. She went on to say that her mom loves and supports her and always tries to understand what she is going through, even if they don’t always agree. With her mom’s support, this young woman is pursuing her dreams of becoming a social worker.

Every teen needs a caring adult to help guide them and build a foundation to make healthy decisions. That is why Berkshire United Way invests in programs that promote protective factors. Protective factors are characteristics associated with a lower likelihood of youth engaging in risky behaviors with negative outcomes. Think of them as ingredients, that when combined with a caring bond between parents and child, result in a strong, healthy family.

Examples of protective factors include:

·         Social and Emotional Competence of Children = Children learn to talk about and handle feelings.

·         Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development = Parents know how children grow and learn.

·         Social Connections = Parents have friends.

·         Parental Resilience = Parents can overcome hard times and rebound.

·         Concrete Support in Times of Need = Parents know where to turn for help

We all want our youth to make good decisions, which means lowering risk factors and raising protective factors. 

For more information and ideas, visit Strengthening Families and The Search Institute.

Kat Toomey

Coordinator of Positive Youth Development