Groups ponder classes to train youth leaders
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/65174/
The chairman of the Washington County Juvenile Concerns Advisory Board said he has talked with the Prairie Grove High School principal and a local youth outreach leader about partnering for a character-building and leadership development program this fall at the school.
The idea is in the preliminary stage right now, said Ron Harris, chairman of the advisory board.
Harris said Monday night during the advisory board meeting that he is talking with Jay Grisham, founder and president of Big House Youth Outreach Inc., and PGHS Principal Ron Bond about a possible program.
The idea came about after hearing from Prairie Grove students who attended the Washington County Teen Summit in March. The summit, conducted at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale, was presented by the Juvenile Concerns Advisory Board and the Washington County Quorum Court.
Attending the summit were about 170 ninth- and 10 th-graders from private and public schools throughout the county.
The number of evaluations tallied from the summit was 129. Fifty-eight percent of the students reported leadership is covered in school, while 42 percent reported that it is not. Ninety-seven percent thought attending the summit helped them to be better leaders.
Harris said that during the summit students indicated they would want a leadership program at their schools. Harris said he then talked with Grisham and Bond about it.
In discussing his program, Grisham told advisory board members that 40-50 youth a day attend programs at the Big House in Prairie Grove.
It is hoped that a leadership development and character-building program at the Prairie Grove school will transition into the afterschool program already being conducted at the Big House, Harris said.
Harris talked about the advisory board working with communities and “ connecting the dots” in terms of resources for youth in those places.
He said the Teen Summit “ was the impetus to kind of get this stuff bubbling to the surface. ”
Grisham said he saw a need in Prairie Grove to provide a place for at-risk youth to go during the week. He purposely does not have any programs on Wednesday night, which is when churches often have activities. It is the other nights on which he focuses, one being a girls night and another a time when boys can get together. All are mentored.
Harris said it will take partnerships to address youth issues in rural areas — where the advisory board wants to begin having an impact.
One aspect of this is bringing resources together that may not know others exist in the same area.
Teresa Allen, a member of the advisory board, also leads an organization called Revolution Inc., which helps youth with anger management training. She said she is located 15 minutes from Grisham but did not know his group existed until Monday night.
Members of the advisory board also talked Monday with Earl Hunton, a member of the Lincoln Board of Education, about plans to try to work with that district on some kind of youth program.