The practice of activating sectors is one of the core concepts of a strong community initiative as well as one of the five action strategies. This issue of the Asset Champion concentrates on some of the good things that are being done in initiatives across the country to activate sectors in communities.
United Way brings sectors together to help kids invest
When the results came back from the recent asset survey, conducted among Quad City youth, the United Way found that fewer than 25 percent of local teens reported they were ‘planning for the future.’ In response to this the United Way decided to collaborate with other groups in the community to encourage planning for the future. Here are some highlights from the 4-H Investment Challenge:
The University Extension Office is Joining with 4-H, United Way and the Quad City Bank & Trust to sponsor the Investment Challenge.
Students ages 9-18 will be given $10,000 in virtual money and 16 weeks to design long-term, sustainable portfolios.
The top ten portfolios will present their strategies before senior investment advisers and board members from Quad City Bank and United Way.
Three students will be chosen to win scholarships of $1,000, $500 and $250.
Click here to read the Investment Challenge blog to learn more about the project.
Police hand out tickets to youth…positive tickets!
In 2001 the city of Richmond in British Columbia began a program they call the Positive Ticket initiative. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) began using the Positive Ticket program in 2001 to incorporate asset building into their policing strategy. RCMP officers now distribute ‘positive tickets’ to youth who are staying out of trouble or performing good deeds. The program was so successful in Richmond that it has begun to spread to other cities across Canada and is now being implemented in several areas of Toronto…
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear that somebody’s been given a ticket by police? Parking infraction? Speeding? &^%$#!! radar trap? 
How about good job? Admission to a Jays or Raptor game ? Or have a free pizza? Chances are the latest initiative by Toronto Police and the city won’t change your mind about those dreaded yellow tags. But your kids may want to collect them all…
Read the rest of this article…
Photo taken from creativecommons.org
An asset-building teen court
If a young person in Cedar Park, Texas, gets arrested and charged with a juvenile Class C misdemeanor, the young person can choose to be heard in Teen Court rather than juvenile court. 
The offender is represented by a teenage attorney and is heard by a jury of teens. Since its inception, Teen Court has reduced the rate of teen repeat offenses by using an asset-building approach to teaching about responsibility and citizenship.
Taken from The Asset Activist’s Toolkit
Asset-building health-care winners
The Park Nicollet Foundation in St. Louis Park, MN, was the first health-care organization in the United States to change its grant criteria to cite Developmental Assets. The foundation also was key in initiating a free clinic for teens, children, and infants in the community that serves around 1000 young people each year. In Colorado, Kaiser Permanente hosted BYOA (Bring Your Own Assets) parties for its medical staff and also rewrote the scripts to include asset-building messages in its theater performances to schools. In 2002, more than 40,000 children and families enjoyed these performances by the HMO. Both the Park Nicollet Foundation and the Colorado branch of Kaiser Permanente received the 2002 Jostens Our Town Corporate Awards for asset building.
Taken from The Asset Activist’s Toolkit
