Relationships are key to keeping kids from risky behaviors like drug and alcohol use. It sounds simple, but it’s the premise behind a program that seems to be working to reduce juvenile crime in Moorhead.
The Moorhead Healthy Community Initiative was created in 1994 because gang activity was on the rise and surveys showed increased teen alcohol and drug use, executive director Barry Nelson said.
Since then, overall juvenile crime has dropped by 50 percent in Moorhead, said Nelson, who based his statement on police data.
Moorhead Healthy Community Initiative is a nonprofit organization that helps connect kids with adult mentors through programs like MentorLink and Linking Up. MentorLink recruits, promotes and supports mentoring in Moorhead by linking potential mentors with mentor program providers, and providing training and referrals. About 150 people are trained and referred per year.
Linking Up pairs Horizon Middle School students with college student mentors to give the kids support from a non-parent adult role model and help them explore the possibility of going to college.
Austin Marts, an eighth-grader who participates in Linking Up, said he has fun with the games and field trips and learning “what things I need to accomplish in order to go to college.”
Healthy Community Initiative also provides scholarships for students to participate in extracurricular activities and resources for after-school and summer activities. It’s based on a model developed by Search Institute, a research organization. The idea is the more assets young people have, the more likely they are to engage in positive rather than risky behaviors.
Assets are things like family support, other adult relationships, a community that values youth, youth programs and school engagement.
“It’s a very clear link that the more assets a kid has, the better choices they make and the better they perform in everyday life,” Nelson said. Fargo and West Fargo are now working with former North Dakota Gov. George Sinner to set up a healthy community organization in their communities.
“The model views our youth not as problems to be solved but as resources,” said David Flowers, Fargo School District superintendent. “It’s a tremendous opportunity.”
Nelson, Flowers and West Fargo School District Superintendent Dana Diesel Wallace met with Fargo and West Fargo church leaders Thursday to talk about bringing the program across the river.
Flowers said it will take every sector of the community, from retailers to religious leaders, to address issues like underage drinking. “It’s not a school problem,” he said. “It’s a reflection of the community, and any solution has to come from the community.”
The religious leaders were receptive to the program.
“It’s a long time coming, and we as churches can help because what we want is pretty much what everybody else wants: healthy youth to grow into healthy, mature adults,” said the Rev. Charles LaCroix of Holy Cross Church of West Fargo and president of the West Fargo Ministerial Association.
“The youth want to be loved, and they want to know that they matter; they want to know that we care, and if we do that, then we’ll see great results.”
Nelson said it’s a 30-year process to change the way people think about kids.
“These are the kinds of things that if you start becoming lackadaisical about it, they’re only going to come back to us again, so we need to be vigilant and creative,” Nelson said. “Maybe we don’t have to go around saying the sky’s falling down, but we need to be saying that our kids still need us.”
How to help – If you have time and talents you would like to share through mentoring or volunteering at after-school enrichment programs in Moorhead, contact Barry Nelson at (218) 299-5437.
Online
- www.moorheadyouth.org
- www.search-institute.org
Readers can reach Forum reporter Tracy Frank at (701) 241-5526
Article reproduced with permission from In-Forum
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