The Monthly Roll - Tampa Bay December 2013 - v1i2 | Page 5

A Sense of Urgency! 5 Nike has a powerful UTube video with children speaking to what they would do if they had five extra years to live (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmOlzRQTabA). The compelling message towards the end of the 1.5 minute video is that the current generation of young people is predicted to live five years LESS than their parents. This would be the first generation in American history to not outlive their parents. The obvious reasons are childhood obesity and other health related concerns. Academically, high school dropout rates are higher for the current generation than before. This is especially true in urban communities, where dropout rates sometimes exceed 50%. So, why is there not more urgency among schools and youth serving organizations? If the life expectancy and educational achievement for today’s youth are less than ever before, why are there not more demands for immediate change? What are we waiting for, and is status quo acceptable? Not in my way of thinking. But what are possible solutions, and who is responsible for bringing them forward? Allow me to (first) respond to the latter part of the above question. All of us are responsible for demanding better programs, services, and solutions. The responsibility is on me and you. As for possible solutions, I recently joined a team with an interesting concept. Our concept is a “community-based curricular planning and implementation that includes schools, afterschool programs and youth development agencies.” The objectives are to garner collaboration from community partners serving youth, and to create/implement curricula integrating common strands of positive youth development characteristics and skills, no matter the environment or contexts. That makes sense to me, since we all tend to serve the same youth throughout Hillsborough County. Imagine if youth were continuously reinforced with similar life skills and positive attributes from caring adult teachers, coaches, and mentors. Imagine if a common approach were used in schools, youth agencies, and other extra-curricular venues. Wouldn’t we have a better chance of raising a generation of young people equipped to make healthy and proper choices? I say YES! Years ago I was introduced to a monthly meeting of youth agencies. At the time, I led a communitybased youth golf program named Urban Junior Golf. We primarily operated at Rogers Park Golf Course. Two personal mentors, Harold Jackson and Bobby Wilds, embraced our program and somehow arranged for us to present to the assembled group of youth agency leaders. Partnerships were quickly established between Urban Junior Golf and the City and County Parks & Rec, Boys & Girls Club, Housing Authority, YMCA, and more. Today, Urban Junior Golf is known as The First Tee of Tampa Bay. They serve over 1,000 young people each year at Rogers Park Golf Course and over 70,000 elementary school students through a unique partnership with Hillsborough County Public Schools. They use four distinct curricula, including one for mentoring, in-school, outreach, and at an actual golf facility. Major resources have been allocated to third-party research, which has validated the lasting impact of program delivery from properly trained adults. Third-party research also concluded that the pillars of the curricula design and delivery are transferable to other domains PROVIDED proper training and program delivery take place. Proper training and delivery are critical. My goal here is not to tout one program or curriculum over another. Rather, it is to promote collaboration of community youth serving partners towards a common curricula design, training, delivery, and evaluation. The outcome would be common and clearly defined youth development attributes among all area youth serving agencies, and properly trained adults. Long-term, the outcome would be future generations of young people better prepared to make positive choices as adolescents and young adults. Yes, this is an ambitious goal, but aren’t our young people worth it? Put another way, what are the consequences if we continue on this trend of shorter life expectancy and academic achievement? These matters demand a sense of urgency from me and from you. Let’s join forces! Dr. Michael Cooper is the Campus Director at Springfield College-Tampa Bay campus and former Director of Outreach for The First Tee. He can be reached at [email protected].