On more celebration before the month ends

Written by: Stephanie Freeman, MCCOY Communications Director

January is a month of many important celebrations: celebrations that bring us together as a community and inspire us to do better. This month we are called to create awareness of the importance of mentoring and the benefits it has on the mentee as well as the mentor.

A mentor is defined as a wise and trusted counselor or teacher or an influential supporter. A mentor can come in many forms – an older sibling, coach, co-worker, professor, etc. Mentors can be formal – assigned relationships, weekly meetings, and goals, or informal – with infrequent emails, texts and introductions to others. However the mentor-mentee relationship is established it is bound to be a learning experience.

I have been fortune to have mentors both personally and professionally that have helped me to get to where I am today. Personally, I have had friends and family that have turned into informal mentors, whom have taught me through their life-experiences how I want to lead my life. Professionally, I have had mentors assigned at work as well as informal mentors that I respect and admire their career courses. I have learned from each one of my mentors and they have helped to form the person I am today.

In my life, I have tried to help those younger than I am or those in need of support and advices. However,  I have not yet ventured into a formal relationships where I was the mentor. That is something that I would like to do.

According to the Indiana Mentoring Partnerships, “The most important resource you have is time. And, quality time with a caring adults can make a lasting difference in a child’s life. When you become a mentor, you will help a child or a teenager get the support and encouragement that they need to succeed in life. By mentoring a young person just one hour each week, you can:

• Improve academic and study skills
• Help a child discover new talents and ambitions
• Provide moral support and confidence
• Change a child’s life for the better

I encourage all of you to sign-up to be a mentor. In Indianapolis, there are more than 100 organizations that offer mentoring opportunities to young people in our community.

Visit: http://www.mccoyouth.org/Library/the-alliance-of-youth-mentoring-agencies-of-central-indiana.html for a list of these organizations.  Wherever you decide to spend your time, please know that you will be making a difference in the life of another.

MLK Day Reflections

I had a college professor who reminded our class that Martin Luther King Jr. Day should be celebrated as, “a day-off from classes, but a day-on for education.” Indianapolis hosted a myriad of community festivals and free events to help us further our education and reconnect to our community and our past. Nationally, we celebrated the preservation of democracy as we watched President Obama swear in for his second term.

This day, which featured an intersection between legacies of our American past and projections onto our political future, certainly cultivated the climate for a “day-on” for education. And as we compare the country before us to the country that King envisioned, we know there is much work to do.

In his 1967 publication, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us that:

"There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we now have the resources to get rid of it. The time has come for an all-out world war against poverty … The well off and the secure have too often become indifferent and oblivious to the poverty and deprivation in their midst. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for "the least of these."

For Indiana youth and families, the threat of poverty has become all too real in the wake of the recession; from 1989 to 2011, Indiana saw the second largest increase in poverty of any state during that time according to a Reuter’s analysis of census data. The figures are worse for Indiana youth. According to IYI’sKids Count Data Book, 16% of all Hoosiers lived in poverty in 2011, while 23% of children under the age of 18 lived in poverty. 22.7% of children lived in households that are food insecure. And Indiana’s data only corroborates the present-day national landscape of poverty. According to US Census data 50 million Americans are living in poverty. With the new poor and near-poor included, that number balloons to 150 million Americans—nearly half the nation.

Radio personality and Indiana native, Tavis Smiley, launched a national campaign aimed at mustering the political will to do something about that. On Friday, January 18^th in Clowes Memorial Hall at Butler University, Smiley and Princeton University Professor, Cornel West, launched their Vision for a New America: AFuture Without Poverty Tour. The tour's central goal is to petition the President to hold a White House Conference on the eradication of poverty. You can express your views on the issue and sign that petition here. In Smiley's words, addressing poverty in America, "is not a skill problem, it's a will problem."

Dr. King envisioned a country that strives towards principles of the “beloved community,” where love and support for fellow humans would eradicate racial, economic, and military violence.  Let’s take time today to celebrate his life’s work, to educate ourselves about the work still to be done, and to find our own place in furthering his dream.  

Youth Advocacy Council Update

These last few months have been a whirlwind for the YAC, from Real Talk Remix to listening sessions with the IPS School Board. Through all these experiences, the youth have decided on issues that they want to focus on in the coming year:

•          Bullying
•          Sexual Abuse
•          Hunger
•          Own Your Future
•          Education Reform 

The youth will take these topics and a few more and present them at the ASC-Me Conference (Advocating, Skill building  Creating Solutions) on April 27. This day-long event will be open to youth all over the city.  The YAC will host breakout sessions on these important issues.  

These next few months will be busy as the youth try to learn as much as possible as they can about these issues. The youth will spend many hours designing a curriculum that will be easily understood by middle school and high school youth. They will develop activities that will help participants build skills in those areas and develop action steps.

If you think that this sounds like a lot, it is. If you would like to help in any way or know of a youth who would want to facilitate, please let me know. The YAC and us are really excited for this conference and are excited to see all of this year’s work come together.

Danielle Guerin

Youth Are Resources!

Last week I had the chance to attend the Project Kickoff Celebration for Youth As Resources at the Arthur M. Glick Jewish Community Center.  If you are not familiar with YAR and its work, then you are missing out on something special happening in our community.  YAR, a program of United Way of Central Indiana, is a youth/adult led entity which provides small grants to groups of young people who want to address a community need or problem that they have identified, researched, and developed a service project to address.  The service projects are as varied as the groups that propose them and the issues they are addressing;  but the common thread is a committed crew of youth who  believe they can make a difference and make our community a better place for others.

Through the years, what a difference they have made!  Since its beginning,  YAR has provided over $2 million to fund 1,384 projects involving almost 37,000 youth whose efforts have changed the lives of who knows how many people! Young people have brought smiles and gifts to our elderly; have taught young children how to make good decisions about drug and alcohol usage; helped peers to achieve academically and socially by leading skill development workshops; improved the environment of neighborhoods by leading cleanups; if you name it, a dedicated group of youth have probably carried out a service project—thanks to funding and guidance provided by Youth As Resources.

We all know what the research says:  a young person who volunteers and gives back to the community is much more likely to graduate from high school, do well in life, and continue their community action when they become adults.  The skills they hone to develop and present their ideas and the positive experience of working together as a team to make somebody else happy obviously remain with a young person for a long time; for some YAR participants, their community service is literally a life-changing experience.

Thank you, Youth As Resources staff and volunteer board members, for making it possible for young people to be actively involved in making our community a better place.  Thank you to the more than 37,000 young people who have shared their time and talent to make our community a better place.  You are all are youth champions!

John Brandon

I recently read the article, "Have Sexual Abuse and Physical Abuse Declined Since the 1990's?" by David Finkelhor & Lisa Jones and although a bit confusing the final conclusion after reviewing statistics, trends and indicators is that sexual abuse has indeed declined since the early 1990's.  The authors write, "Our judgment is that the decline in sexual abuse is about as well established as crime trends can be in contemporary social science." 

A decline means we're headed in the right direction, but we still haven't reached the end goal yet of preventing sexual abuse from occurring in the first place.  Consider these concerning statistics:

• One out of every 10 (9.8%) students have been physically forced to have sex, with female students (14.5%) having this experience more than males (5.2%). (2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).
• There were were 3,081 cases of substantiated sexual abuse in 2011.  

MCCOY is continuing to play it's role in protecting children from child sexual abuse by offering FREE Stewards of Children trainings in 2013.  In 2012 MCCOY trained 475 adults on how to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.  Additionally, youth serving organizations learned how to improve policies and practices to help keep kids safe while attending enrichment and extracurricular activities.  MCCOY hopes to increase the number of adults trained in 2013 as each adult trained can better protect up to 10 children.

In celebration of MCCOY's 20th Anniversary we have identified 20 dates for organizations to host a Stewards of Children training for their staff, volunteers, board members and clients for FREE (and we come to your location).  We appreciate the great response as most of the first quarter slots are already taken.  If you're interested in hosting a training on one of the following dates, please contact Shanna Martin.  (If 20 or more people register we'll bring Chipotle with us!!).
• Tuesday, March 5th from noon - 3 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 2nd from 9 a.m. - noon
• Wednesday, May 22nd from 9 a.m. - noon
• Thursday, June 13th from noon - 3 p.m.
• Wednesday, July 24th from 6-9 p.m.
• Tuesday, August 6th from 9 a.m. - noon
• Saturday, August 31st from 9 a.m. - noon
• Tuesday, September 3rd from noon - 3 p.m.
• Wednesday, September 11th from 6-9 p.m.
• Saturday, September 28th from 9 a.m. - noon
• Tuesday, October 1st from 9 a.m. - noon
• Thursday, October 17th from 6-9 p.m.

Feel free to visit our website to learn more about Stewards of Children and to register for an already scheduled training. 

Work Different: From Innovation to Implementation  

at the 2013 Building Opportunities Conference  

Deadline for Speakers & Sessions- January 11th!!

                        

The 2013 Building Opportunities conference is the largest event in North America dedicated to creating and managing nonprofit shared space and services.  Together with government, philanthropic, and industry partners, we are breaking down traditional boundaries.  "One-stop" centers are pioneering innovative service delivery to children and families.  Arts centers are stimulating creativity and supporting neighborhood economic vitality.  Shared spaces are applying green building principles in service of social justice.  And organizations are saving time and money by working together in new ways.

This biennial conference regularly attracts hundreds of philanthropists, nonprofit leaders, government officials, and real estate professionals with over 30 innovative yet applicable workshops, plenary sessions, and networking events.  Attendees walk away with comprehensive information on real estate issues, legal and governance advice, financing and marketing resources, green design ideas, and new trends in shared programs and services.

Join the conversation, June 3-5 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO.  Together we are working differently and harnessing the power of collaboration to create collective impact.

Click here to submit your speaker or session proposal.  

2013 Legislative Session Starts Today

The 2013 legislative session of the Indiana General Assembly convened today at the Statehouse at 1:30 p.m.    It's a long session this year, with April 29 being the last possible day of session.  During the long session, the legislature creates Indiana's biennial budget, which consumes the majority of legislators' time, but also, legislators are able to propose more legislation, which means the potential for quite a few more issues to be delved into.

MCCOY will be how children's issues fare this session with topics ranging from creating a commission to improve the status of children in Indiana to addressing early childhood learning and safety to preventing bullying and keeping children safe.  Bills are now being posted on the General Assembly's website and MCCOY will be sending out it's first Voices for Indiana's Children legislative update at the end of this week to summarize the bills posted thus far.  To receive the newsletter, please click here and choose the "advocacy" mailing list.

Due to redistricting and the elections, your legislator may have changed.  Please visit the General Assembly's District Look-up Page to find out who represents you in the statehouse.  Reach out and make contact with your legislator - they would love to hear from their constituents on the important issues that they will grapple with this year.

Stay tuned for periodic updates as the session moves forward!