Creating an Initiative, Vision, Mission, that Will Make the Community Better for Adults and Youth
Today, to benefit any community, young people and adult individuals should be cohesive and take opportunities together, since through the practice the community will be based on the experience of all members regardless of their age and status. Before proposing an initiative that will strengthen the community, it is important for one to consider the significance of contacting both community adults and youth, and consider the social resources available to make people become more interactive and engaging with one another (Sullivan & Larson, 2010). However, in the current world, the community is imbalanced, whereby the youth are less involved in the management of the activities set to reshape the society or practices meant to make the community sustainable. Murdock, Paterson, and Gatmaitan (2008) reveal that in most communities, most of the programs are adult planned and the youth are rarely involved in the implementation of decisions in the society.
The initiative recommended in the paper will focus on discussing how the society can change from its current standing to a better position, mostly for both high-resourceful adults and youth, as the majority of individuals in the community. The initiative anticipated in this discussion is creating a positive relationship in the society through partnership or coalition between the adolescents and community adults. The action will be based on the concept of Community Youth Center since collaboration in the society mostly apply for people who visit organizations established for interaction and places where public practices take place. The essay considers the Spanaway, WA Community, as well as the 40 developmental assets, to present an initiative that will connect the adults and youth found in the Spanaway region.
Purpose of the Initiative
The objective of this initiative is ensuring that every person participates in societal activities and are given an opportunity to express their views, especially in gatherings meant for both adults and the young generation. For example, Zeldin et al. (2005) point out that involving the young people to voice their takes on a particular matter concerning community practices enhances a healthy relationship in the society and adolescents can experience respect and view themselves as imperative people within the community. Moreover, the initiative suggested in this study is substantial as when the community is based positive relationship formed through coalitions/partnership between adults and youth, vulnerable people will be recognized by societal institutions and even treated equally by the members of the public. Creating coalition programs in the society helps individuals in different levels stay focused on the interests of all groups of the community and ensuring that the leaders in various associations are concerned about the welfare of the young people (Libby, Rosen, & Sedonaen, 2005). In essence, partnership of adults and youth can explicitly play a fundamental role in the building of the community and civil society.
In addition, the initiative tends to be relevant for the Spanaway, WA Community, because partnering adults and youth in this region will create a strong intergenerational connection in the society, aimed at enhancing positive development among the young people and the adult individuals in Spanaway, WA area. As such, initiatives that focus on creating an engagement between young people and adults are helpful to the younger generation because the actions embark a robust relationship in the society, which in turn, provides the youth with a rich context of development and growth in all dimension of their lives (Larson, Walker, & Pearce, 2005). Significant relationship in the society ensures that young people are engaged to the learning concepts, gain relevant skills to their careers, and gaining management abilities, which makes them function effectively in the world that they are living (Zeldin et al., 2005). Therefore, when the initiative is implemented, the youth and adults individuals in the Spanaway, WA area will gain information that is encouraging and assist the young people to get a direct contact with resourced adults in the community.
The Mission and Vision of the Initiative
Developing the mission and vision statement is vital to the success implementation of community initiatives. The statements in this paper will be used to explain the groups focused on concisely as well as providing the basis for the development of the initiative proposed for making the community better for all group of people in different levels.
Mission
To change or transform the community through creating a positive relationship between high resource adults and young people in the Spanaway, WA Community.
Vision
To use the initiative to ensure that individuals in Spanaway, WA make a good choice with regard to selecting opportunities that will ensure that they use their potentiality to make their lives better, irrespective of factors such as knowledge, age, and gender.
Spanaway, WA Community Demographic
The demographic content of the Spanaway, WA Community discussed in this study will be based on the 40 Developmental Assets, as components that contribute the development of the youth and change of the community whenever necessary. Lerner et al. (2003) argye that the 40 developmental assets are believed to be components that underlie the development and growth of the community, children, and young adults within the society.
Spanaway has a population of 28,601, which is an indication of the increment of the number of the people in the region (NeighborhoodScout, 2017). Spanaway population is defined according to factors such as age, simply because statistics show that age distribution is used to presents the size of the community and its development.
Figure 1: Age Distribution in Spanaway (Source: NeighborhoodScout, 2017)
Based on the figure above it can be seen that majority of the population in the Spanaway region are aged 35 to 54 with 27.9% of all the people in the region, while young people aged 18 to 24 years old makes 8.9% of the population in the area (NeighborhoodScout, 2017).
Figure 2: Educational Attainment of Adults (Source: NeighborhoodScout, 2017)
The aspect of educational attainment in Spanaway relates to the concept of 40 developmental assets under the category of external assets, which is involved with the issue of community support. According to the Search Institute (2004), support in the community can be done in various ways, with schooling and parental involvement being one of the assets that society uses to strengthen the community and enhancing development. From the graph above, it can be interpreted that 3.9% of the youth in the Spanaway are in high school, while 87% of the youth have already graduated from the secondary level and 12.1% of the young people in the region are college graduates (NeighborhoodScout, 2017). Since the program expected to make the Spanaway, WA Community better will be based on the aspect of the support, as a developmental asset, schooling through parental involvement is helping youth succeed in the community for personal benefit. The level of education at Spanaway can also be used in relation to the aspect of positive identity, for young people in the community. The Search Institute (2004) expresses that young people can acquire internal assets such as positive identity, through education, which will make the youth, have personal power, self-esteem, a sense of purpose, and positive perspective toward their future. In this case, it is apparent that the initiative to develop Spanaway community should have the goal of making young people in the region optimistic about their future, which is a better way of giving the young population a purpose of life.
On the other hand, the community cannot be a better place without safety and security. The 40 developmental assets proclaim that empowerment is part of promoting security and safety in the community. The Search Institute (2004) writes that in the society that is secured adequately, young people feel safe at home, school, and in the wider part of the community or the neighborhood. In the crime index presented by the NeighborhoodScout (2017), Spanaway is ranked as one of the safest regions in the United States, which is at number 26 in the top 100 cities in the United States.
Figure 3: Spanaway Crime Data (Source: NeighborhoodScout, 2017)
Figure 4: Violent Crime Comparison (Per 1,000 Residents) (Source: NeighborhoodScout, 2017)
From the above presentation, it is evident that crime in Spanaway is high than it is in other areas such as Washington. The level crime in the area is high, particularly the crime relating to property and violent. For example, the crime rate in Spanaway in terms of violence is at 3.75% and crime to do with the property is at 21.33%. This means that the issue of insecurity at Spanaway is escalating, which is jeopardizing safety in the region and the entire well-being of the community.
Steps to be used in the Implementation of the Initiative
To create a productive relationship in the society between young people and high-resourceful adults such as political and societal leaders, it will be relevant to use the most efficient process that will develop the community and its members’ at all societal levels. Huberman (2001) argues that a true partnership in the community is one that gives each party a chance to make decisions concerning certain matters and contributions that are recognized and valued by every person within the coalition. Therefore, in the initiative where the aim is to build a healthy relationship in the community through engagement programs, it is better to use a procedure that will ensure that adults work to support the youth or a process that identifies that need of different groups of the people in the public segment.
Typically, to address the issue of community relationship involving both the youth and resourceful adults in Spanaway, the first step will include conducting a need assessment by writing a proposal outlining some of the issues that are affecting the engagement between young people in the region. In this stage, a program pointing out some of the factors making the youth less involved in the social gathering will be prepared together with the perspective of the young population in Spanaway with regard to the concept of community relations.
In the next step, an efficient method of communication regarding the initiative will be identified, with the goal of creating respect and trust for the members who will be affected by the program. Villarruel (2003) posits that for one to implement a program established to enhance positive relationship between the youth and adult individuals in the community, a good communication approach is necessary, as it gives the people involved in the program the opportunity to share their views adequately and listen to what others will say to support various ideas. Here, the communication system can be based on different ways that include arranging for a meeting between the youth and adults or even encouraging parents to engage with the young people and talk about the need for partnership and coalition within the social setting.
To ensure that the initiative transforms the community and people are in a good position to make positive decisions that will make the society better, training and educating the youth about the reasons that make partnership a community development program will apply in the process of implementing the initiative suggested in this paper. When young people in Spanaway are educated and trained about the creation of coalitions meant to make the society a better place, this is important, as the youth will generate self-confidence required for community growth (Carrasco & Campbell, 2010). As such, training members of the Spanaway community about partnership program that will create an active connection in the area will give the citizens the ability to interact with each other and enhance that the resourceful adults know the issues that interest and affecting the youth.
Summary of the Initiative
In the modern world, the young people are not viewed as instrumental members of the society, which has made them less engaged in significant substantive activities related to community development. Hence, partnership in the society has been identified as the cornerstone community youth development because when implemented it will give young people an opportunity to participate in the process of defining the civil society. When high-resourceful individuals and adolescents are encouraged to work as a team in interactive moments or during passing decisions to strengthen the community, the youth will benefit in different ways. Here, the adolescents will acquire new skills, get involved in the social justice practices, learn about the local government, and obtain valuable resources that will develop them academically and socially. Zaff et al. (2015) suggest that communities that are focusing on reviving the relationship in the society through the partnership between the youth and adults create collaborations that appear critical in ensuring that the society develops and the youth embraces developmental assets for their own benefit. For this reason, the initiative of maintaining a positive relationship with the Spanaway Community will atomically change the views of the people in the region and provide young people with different opportunities.
External and Internal Developmental Assets for this Initiative
Lerner and Benson (2003) explain that external developmental assets are the elements that the society can develop, while internal assets are components that young people are likely to develop themselves as they continue to adapt the new look of their life. Thus, in the development of the initiative of building a healthy relationship through engagement, the external assets under the category of empowerment will be considered. The externals assets are grouped into four domains, which include empowerment, adult support, expectations, and boundaries (Swanson, Edwards, & Spencer, 2010). For instance, in the case of empowerment, assets such as youth resources will be focused because, in the process of developing the community, it is relevant to give young people the roles of strengthening the society. In this asset, it is viewed through empowerment; the youth will change their perspective toward the community values, which will make them use their capabilities to develop the community. Conversely, as internal assets also involve four different types of assets that are positive identity, social competence, learning, and positive value, considering the assets before implementation the initiative will be influential to the success of the idea recommended in this paper. In reflection to the Search Institute (2017), the internal assets that will be taken into account concerning the initiative discussed here include responsibility, as an asset that requires the youth to have the knowledge and skills to accept and take personal responsibilities. Importantly, this will make the young people in the Spanaway region to apply their abilities in the formulation of positive relationships set to make the community better and efficient.
The Way the Initiative Addresses the Five Action Strategies
According to the Search Institute (2003), the Five Action Strategies are essential elements that people use to transform the community and promote societal effectiveness. Clary and Rhodes (2006) comment that Five Action Strategies are critical concepts that can be used to direct the work of coalitions formed at the community level or even at the organization level where people want to promote the society. Thus, with this understanding, the positive relationship initiative set to be achieved by creating a partnership in the community will address the following Action Strategies.
- Mobilize young people– As collaborating the youth and adults in the society means giving the adolescents a new responsibility, the initiative will assemble young people to apply their skills to build the community and implement change where necessary.
- Activate sectors– In this context; it can be argued that when the society collaborates to form a positive relationship, all segments will be active to make the community better. For example, schools, youth organizations, and businesses will use the positive relationship initiative to make the community positive.
- Influence civic decisions– The program will also heed on addressing the public decision, especially the opinion of the leaders in supporting the program.
- Engage adults– when the relationship between young people and adults has been developed, this will create engagement, and therefore, strengthen the relationship between the public members.
Process Evaluation
Typically, in the assessment process, things such as the effort of different groups in the society were considered, especially groups related to the creation of positive relationship within the community. As such, to evaluate the initiative, information about how the adults and youth are connected in the community was collected with the aim of understanding how relationship created by engagement in the society can make the community more compelling. Finally, the initiative process was appraised on the focus of the opportunities that are available in the society for both youth and adults. This ensured that the action is set with the objective of using these opportunities to adjust the community, policies, and programs that will promote a positive relationship.
Sustainability
For sustainability, the following points will necessarily be applied:
- First, to maintain community development by the use of positive relationship and partnership, both direct and indirect parental involvement will count.
- The initiative will also be sustained by training the youth about community development and their role as development agents.
- Lastly, hiring coalition leaders will be another strategy that will be used to enhance that the initiative is sustainable. Fundamentally, the leaders will bring new knowledge to the community, and through the knowledge, the community will be at its best for the citizens in the Spanaway.
Conclusion
Evidently, the youth in the current world are equally ineffective, which is making the community to appear imbalance or one sided. Hence, to make the community better an initiative to enhance fairness in the society and that the role of each person counts, as proposed in this discussion is necessary. In essence, this paper presents an initiative that will promote the Spanaway, WA Community, by ensuring that both adults and youth in the region are engaged together through societal coalitions. In this paper, the initiative is discussed with reflection to the 40 developmental assets and the Five Action Strategies, as important factors that influence the growth of the society. As it is seen in this paper, positive relationship through engagement is an important program for community development, especially in the transition of the young people. Hence, it is apparent to say that the Spanaway Community should feel comfortable in implementing the initiative mentioned in the paper, as it will make people socially engaged and create a society where every person is treated as an asset.
References
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