Community Leaders Gather to Shape Our Children’s Future
By Robert S Weinroth
The Second Annual Birth to 22 Buisness Breakfast: Shaping Our Children’s Future Together, was held at the West Palm Beach Marriott, where academic, civic and business leaders came together to share ideas.
In 2012, the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners initiated a discussion around youth violence, disengagement and the need for equity.
In 2013, county leaders built upon and broadened the conversation by convening the Youth Symposium, which focused on identifying actions and programs to support the healthy growth, development and education of children and youth from prenatal to young adulthood.
This partnership between County Commissioners, the School District of PBC, Children’s Services Council of PBC, United Way of PBC, CareerSource of PBC and other leaders led to a number of recommendations and work areas that have been tackled over the past 3 years.
In January 2015, one of the key recommendations (to bring services funded by the County for children and youth under one umbrella) was instituted with the creation of the Youth Services Department.
While dedicated to effective program administration, the new department was also charged with interagency and interdepartmental coordination, and with playing a community leadership role to fully leverage the burgeoning efforts across the county that are designed to improve outcomes for all children and youth.
Youth Services’ focus on youth 6 to 22 created an excellent continuum of care to supplement Children’s Services Council’s focus on early childhood prenatal to age 5.
Simultaneously, a number of related planning initiatives have been underway on issues ranging from community health to hunger, focused on populations ranging from special needs to boys and young men of color. These initiatives have focused on bringing transparency to some of the long-standing achievement and health outcome gaps in the county.
Core Beliefs of United for Bright Futures:
Parents
- are the experts on their child; and
- have something important to share in our community
Children
- can achieve their highest potential;
- should have the support they need to chase their dreams; and
- want to have their own voice in shaping their futures and solving their challenges
Our Community
- wants all our children to thrive;
- is stronger when we work together; and
- expects networks, coalitions and partners to support each other and maximize their resources
United for Bright Futures Believe In
- equity;
- collaboration and engagement;
- continuous improvement; and
- Brighter Futures for all our children, Birth to 22
Action Areas
The six “emerging themes” from the community conversations helped define six “strategic supports” children, youth and their families need to thrive – access and affordability of basic supports, more effective supports for families and supportive parents and role models, social/emotional sup-ports, educational supports, health and wellness supports, and alleviation of community stressors and system barriers. These are key to building the stairs to success and they are already being identified and prioritized in other plans such as the Palm Beach County School District’s 2016-2021 Stra-tegic Plan: Growing. Strong. (SDPBC, 2016). The Youth Master Plan Task Force started with a comprehensive analysis of these plans to make sure the Youth Master Plan really is a master plan – one that builds on and unites work already underway
With 300 organizations engaged, innovative ways to support the Birth to 22 Youth Master Plan are being developed. We are embracing a “whole community” approach which emphasizes education as a cultural value, shared by all, from birth through college – and beyond.
Thank you to Keynote Speaker, Dr. John Stockwell, Executive Director of the Spartanburg Academic Movement, Mistress of Ceremonies, Ashley Glass, weekday co-anchor of CBS12 News This Morning and the five panel members addressing Child & Youth Outcomes from Birth to 22; Fabiola (Fab) Brumley, Market President Bank of America, Lillian Khanna, Steering Cmtee free for Future Leaders United for Change, Alex Price, National Director of Community Relations for Office Depot, Ann Marie Morrell, President and CEO at The Mosaic Group and Carlos Vidueira, President at Rybovich Superyacht Marina & Service Center.
