3.0. SR 02-10-1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Putting youth first Youth initiatives process to examine ,mentoring optiOns by Jim Boyle Staff wdter Visions of youth mentoring programs will be better defin- ed next Tuesday when Karl Davis, the 'project director of the Twin Cities 1 to 1 mentor- ing program, sha~es her insights at the latest in a series of youth initiatives meetings. .. The meeting, which is being sponsored by Community Recreation and District 728 Community Education, will be held at 7 p.m. at Elk River · City Hall. All local youth and adults are invited to attend. 'We would like to see the youth initiatives process get energized here at the start of the 1997," said Jeff Asfahl~ one of the organic, ers of the meetings. "We accomplished a lot in 1996, and we want to do more in 1997." Davis should help kick off 1997. She comes to Elk River with a passion for youth. She has been an operations director for the boys and girls club in New Jersey, end_ a pro: gram director of the Young Entrepreneurs of Minnesota. She now heads the Twin Cities 1 to 1 mentoring pro- gram, which pairs mentors with youth to provide hope for youth by channeling their energy and skills toward healthy, lifelong endeavors. Her desire to help youth was formed 15 years ago while she was i~nlshin~ her bachelor's jee in English and criml- ustice at Rutgers Univer- sity in New Jersey. A 14-year-old girl she saw sentenced in a New Jersey juvenile courtroom on a field trip committed suicide shortly after the sentencing. This tragic experience not only opened her eyes to the prob- lems and difficult issues youth face, it inspired her to malta a career out of youth advocacy. Local youth advocates would like to see more mentoring opportunities for youth in the communities of District 728 ~ from Elk l~iver to Otsego and from Zimmermau to Rogers. Establishing youth mentor. programs and i~tergenera- tion~l rnix-ln~ are.two of sev- eral youth initiatives the youth initiatives group hopes to accomplish. Other key areas that have ' 'been identified and are being worked on are: · the need for space for a youth center or centers · the need for youth empow- erment - · the need for shared com- munication to increase. awareness and cooperation Accomplishments · which stem from the group's work so far include: three-on-three basketball tourr~ments; the Lions' Den, a park shelter staffed and open for youth throughout the summer; sand volleyball leagues; Oak Knoll Skate Park, a parking lot made 'available to youth for skateboarding; and After- class, an after-school enrich- ment program for junior high students. The youth initiatives process, however, is at a piv- otal moment. Many of the desired init~tives will take greater amounts of energy and some funding in some cases. The youth initiatives process began at the request of Elk River MaYOr Plank Dnik~man He suggested in November 1995 that Community Recre- ation, District 728 Cornmuni- ty Education and the Commu-- nity Youth Task Force work together to develop new leisure opportunities. Following a youth summit in March 1996, which helped identify areas of concern, community wide-discussions began to be held. The first of these 'youth initiatives" meetings was held in July 1996 and attracted 65 people. Monthly meetings have con-. tinued with about 30 individ- uals -- adults and youths -- attending on average. 81 Elk River Star News I Wednesday, February 5, 1997