Northville Youth Assistance Updates Plans for Youth Involvement Strategies

The Northville Youth Assistance program has updated its five-year strategic plan.

Plans submitted to Northville City Council earlier this month include increasing youth awareness, utilizing developmental assets to enhance programs and empowering youths through service and leadership, said NYA Director Sue Campbell, the Observer & Eccentric reports.

“Awareness is the key to reaching families who need our services. Sometimes, however, even if community members know about Northville Youth Assistance, they may feel our services are geared only toward people in crisis,” Campbell said. “While that may be true for some young people in the diversion and counseling components of our program, we offer services for a variety of needs.”

The program offers a variety of services – mentoring, after-school music lessons, CAMP Hillside, Meads Mill and Summer Camp Scholarship, among them – to help strengthen connections between young people, school administrators and parents.

Program developers think rich exposure to those experiences – referred to as “developmental assets” – can help deter program participants from risky behaviors, such as illegal drug and alcohol use.

“We strongly believe that anything we can do to increase Assets in our youngsters will be of enormous benefit in all areas of their lives, from academics to improved family relationships to fewer risky behaviors.”

» Read the full story on the Observer & Eccentric.

_____________

PHOTO: The Northville Youth Assistance program is updating the strategic plan it already has in place in order to increase youth involvement. The program helps deter youth from risky behavior.