Paradise, California, is a beautiful community situated in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Surrounded by soaring pine trees and the breathtaking Butte Creek Canyon, the small Northern California city appears to be exactly as advertised—paradise. Yet, this idyllic setting could not hide the issues facing the community in the early 2000s. The town was dealing with a drug problem beyond anything they had ever experienced due to widespread illicit use of the prescription pain medication Oxycontin. Teachers, parents, and community members were at a loss; they had never dealt with anything like this before. The crisis hit its peak when, during the 2003-2004 school year, the 25,000-person community lost four students to overdose and suicide. The town knew something had to be done.
According to Prevention Services Coordinator Jacky Hoiland, “When crisis occurs, there’s all this heightened interest in finding out what we have done and what we can do differently… there were a lot of people who said we needed to move on something different as a community.” The town was in need of something to rally around and a way to start resolving the serious problems they faced. Then-Superintendent Rick Landess and Hoiland had recently come upon Search Institute’s Developmental Assets and decided to use this approach to engage the community with their troubled youth. They got in touch with Search Institute and, through conversations with Shelby Andress, a community workshop started taking shape.
The planning event, as Hoiland explains, was a chance for the community to come together and really dig deeply into resolving their problems by learning the asset approach and partnering with their kids. During the original planning phase, Hoiland predicted that they would only be able to gather around 30 people for the Vision to Action workshop, the precursor to Generations Together. However, on May 15, 2004, 85 individuals between the ages of 14 and 70 came together to face the life-and-death issues surrounding the community and build a plan for the future of Paradise. “It was one very long, hard, and meaningful day,” said Hoiland of the event.
One unique aspect of the workshop was a video that was produced over the course of the 2003-2004 school year highlighting the town’s issues through the eyes of their youth. The 30-minute film was shown at the beginning of the event and set a serious and emotional tone for the day. The rest of the day was spent helping people move beyond their pain and finding ways adults and youth could work together to create a better Paradise. The youth at the event were astounded by the outpouring of support they felt and their ability to speak freely and honestly with adults. Andress recalls one high school junior’s reflection at the end of the event: “If kids in this town knew how many adults care about them, we wouldn’t be doing all the things we’re doing.”
Following the training event, the citizens of Paradise renewed their commitment to asset building through creating new organizations and integrating the asset approach into existing programs. The community formed a task force called Project Vision, which partners with other community groups to build assets. Project Vision is still a part of the community today, and their latest project is called Adopt a School. This project brings adult volunteers into classrooms to work with children or to help out with events put on by the schools. The task force has also held community forums of youth-serving organizations and given out mini-grants for youth projects in the community. In addition, the event also resulted in the creation of a local youth council. At the time of its inception, the council was a formal liaison with the town council, but since 2004, it has become an all youth-led initiative where the young people involved decide what projects to tackle and how to reach their goals. The police department and Boys and Girls Clubs have also become asset builders by giving youth avenues to get involved in their community. “Our efforts continue to go on to see where we can move youth into positions where they feel like they have some meaningful part to play,” said Hoiland.
In 2004, the asset model began shaping relationships between adults and youth in Paradise and continues to do so today. The residents recognize that, in every healthy community, all generations need the opportunity to thrive. As Hoiland explains, “The core value of the asset approach is to recognize that every human being has value. We need to continue to encourage each other and never let go of that.” Thanks to the leadership of asset champions like Jacky Hoiland, Paradise, California, has gone from a community in crisis to an asset-rich place for kids to grow up.
