YOUTH ADVISORY REPORT SUMMARY

By Newell Arnerich

Mayor Arnerich, students and members of the Youth Advisory Committee on Safety & Development held a news conference to present the committee's recommendations to the community.

Through the spring and early summer of 1999, the San Ramon Valley Advisory Committee on Youth Safety and Development met with many students, parents, teachers, service providers and other community members to discuss the issue of youth safety and development. During this process, a vision of a community that is nurturing to its children emerged. In that ideal community, children will be valued for who they are and provided with support as they grow to be responsible and productive citizens. Diversity will be embraced; youth issues will be addressed in a caring and comprehensive way; and community adults will play significant and positive roles in the lives of children. The Advisory Committee suggests that with the proper support and commitment the San Ramon Valley will be that ideal community.

After considerable research and community input, the Committee is convinced that the health and safety of the youth in the San Ramon Valley directly impacts the social and economic health of this community and is the responsibility of parents, school personnel, government officials, service providers, community members and youth themselves. It is with that conviction that the Committee makes its recommendations and asks specific groups to take responsibility to implement the following actions. It should be noted that, although each of these recommendations is made as a distinct suggestion, these are comprehensive suggestions and need to be implemented as such.

The following list reflects the first set of priority recommendations from the committee. The complete list of recommendations is provided in the committee's "Final Report to the Sponsoring Agencies".

1.Establish and provide fiscal resources for a Valley-wide youth council, which will develop and operate youth programs.
2. Provide training programs in anger management, conflict resolution, and diversity for educators, professionals, athletic coaches, parents, and students.
3. Support and promote youth-run programs already in place.
4. Hold community forums to address youth issues, including violence, diversity, and substance abuse.
5. Provide a Community Youth & Resource Program at middle school and high school levels which will include a specially trained police officer working with a counselor to assist students, parents and school personnel in addressing issues of violence, substance abuse, and diversity.
6. Increase the availability of professional therapeutic, and personal counseling services at each school.
7. Schedule monthly meetings of all service providers to share information and identify and address issues of local concern.
8. Implement and/or expand peer support or peer education programs, such as, the Youth Educator Program and the Tobacco Peer Education Program, in all schools.
9. Implement the middle school violence prevention project, "You Never Win With Violence" (sponsored by Battered Women's Alternatives - this 4-hour interactive classroom presentation teaches students about physical, verbal, sexual, and financial abuse and how to deal with each).
10. Educate school staff, police, recreation staff, coaches, and parents on youth behaviors that place children at risk and how to make referrals to appropriate agencies.
11. Research existing (e.g., Healthy Kids Survey, student-involved conferences, and student study teams) and new methods of identifying and assessing student needs and develop a standardized, coordinated approach to meeting student needs.
12. Create an annual parent conference.
13. Coordinate with community-based counseling and medical organizations to provide increased counseling and nursing services in schools.
14. Sponsor a series of interactive Teen Think Tanks that will provide an ongoing vehicle for a diverse cross section of youth to provide feedback on youth-related issues, programs and policies.
15. Improve police/youth relationships by conducting open forums between police and youth.

An oversight committee has been commissioned to ensure that these recommendations and the work of the Committee does not become forgotten or stagnate. Each of the 35 recommendations in the full report identifies a list of key organizations which have committed to assist in its implementation. The most important issue from the Committee is to involve youth in any process and we should recall Pearl S. Buck's statement, "All things are possible until they are proved impossible".