Search Institute

Ohio’s Care Team Collaborative is a multi-county initiative that provides individuals, schools, families, and communities with the tools they need to build Developmental Assets in kids. The organization approaches their goal of helping children achieve academic success from many different angles, including school-based mental health and prevention services.MORE

According to the Sutter-Yuba Mental Health Services vision statement, the organization is working toward a day when “the people of Sutter and Yuba Counties are empowered with the tools and support they need to promote strong mental health and resiliency within all of their communities, families and neighborhoods.” One of those tools is the framework of Developmental Assets, says Prevention Services Coordinator John Floe.MORE

Shortly after Tag, You’re It! was published by Search Institute, the Ohio County Together We Care initiative of Ohio County, Kentucky, came up with a way to use it as a strategy to spread the asset message across their communities.MORE

During the 2008 Search Institute conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Susan Solar was struck with an idea. The Clarkstown South High School teacher started thinking about ways to get more time in the school day for asset building. Clarkstown South High School’s Assets Team, a student club formed to promote the 40 Developmental Assets, had recently been established, but their brief meetings didn’t seem like enough time to devote to asset building.MORE

Mike Clifford and Margaret Jones call each other every morning. As the technical assistance providers for the Assets-Getting To Outcomes for Maine project, they need to be in close contact about the guidance they provide to the six communities chosen for the Assets-Getting To Outcomes (A-GTO) intervention. Clifford describes this morning ritual as an important part of the energy they are able to bring to the communities they serve.MORE

Sometimes, by taking a couple steps backward, it is possible to take a leap forward. This is what Boys to Men Program Coordinator Jeff Morrill discovered while working with the Assets-Getting To Outcomes (A-GTO) for Maine project. Boys to Men, a program with a mission to reduce interpersonal violence through the healthy development of boys, along with Ripple Effect, an outdoor experiential leadership training program, created A Boys Leadership Expedition, a powerful high school course that brings together the best parts of the two programs for a group of 15 students.MORE

This month’s Asset Champion will profile Assets-Getting To Outcomes for Maine, a federally funded study combining the Developmental Assets framework with the Getting To Outcomes model in several communities across the state.MORE

Darren Heil, director of Community First Initiative, lived in a 1970’s cargo van underneath a digital billboard for five days to raise money for the Indianapolis non-profit. The experience was broadcast live online where visitors could make donations, and passer-by were able to view still-shots from inside on the digital billboard above the van.

Starting on Wednesday, December 9th, Heil, along with Daniel Herndon, CEO of Redwall LIVE: Experiential Marketing Company, lived inside the van with limited supplies, a failed heater, and the coldest weather of the season on the north side of Indianapolis. The leaders planned to stay in the van for up to 10 days or until they achieved at least 50% of their goal of $25,000 in support commitments for the organization.MORE

As the child of Mexican immigrants, a Harvard graduate, and the Executive Director of the Denver Mayor’s Office for Education and Children, Dr. Maria Guajardo has been a navigator of cultures her entire life. Growing up in labor camps for migrant workers, she found that it was important for her to understand the role that both education and culture played in her life.MORE

Q: What is the Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth Conference like?

A: The HC • HY Conference is an assembly-driven conference, so there is an assembly every day. The assemblies are to gather people as a community and inspire them in the youth development work that they do. There are also five opportunities to go to learning sessions, which are small groups led by an expert who has implemented the Developmental Assets in some unique and powerful way. The sessions will give the presenters a chance to describe their research or how they do what they do. All of these learning sessions are designed to strengthen the skills that attendees already have or deepen their understanding of the work of positive youth and community development.MORE