Palm Beach County uniting for better future for children
In 2012, a discussion among the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners sparked a community conversation around the complex issues of youth violence and disengagement.
To continue the discussion and dig deeply into the root causes of why some children struggle while others thrive, county leaders held a joint board meeting in 2013 with the Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County, the School District of Palm Beach County and other community leaders called the Palm Beach County Youth Symposium. Here’s some of what they discovered: More than 7 percent of pregnant women receive late or no prenatal care.
Almost 16 percent of children abuse or neglect.
Nearly 30 percent of ready to learn when they
About 2,500 students are not graduating high school with a standard diploma.
Poor students, as well as black and Hispanic youth, are disproportionately represented in these statistics — making it that much harder for them to grow up healthy, safe and strong.
These numbers hardly surprising.
Many large, diverse communities like Palm Beach County grapple with similar challenges.
What was, and still is, surprising? The strong partnership among governments and non-profits didn’t fizzle out like so many other good intentions. More than three years later, these leaders from the council, the school district, county government, United Way of Palm Beach County, CareerSource and other local agencies continue to meet, to dig, to question and to strategize.
This persistent, collaborative effort could be recognized as an achievement unto itself.
But what’s even more exciting is that this
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but group is making real progress.
The group — now called Birth to 22: United for Brighter Futures — agreed on a framework to improve the outcomes, beating the odds, for all children and youth. They began to analyze local gaps in services and look at what programs are working well locally, as well as nationally.
Birth to 22 has shared information with thousands of residents in community summits about brain development and executive functioning, student mental health, evidence-based programs and remedies to toxic stress.
The 10 largest Palm Beach County funders of youth programs were surveyed to compile a list of available services. Information on more than 300 programs will help determine which have the potential to be most effective, where they fall on the evidence-based continuum and how families can access them.
As part of this collaborative initiative, the county created the Youth Services Department to centralize those youth programs supported by the Board of County Commissioners.
Now Birth to 22 is formally outlining what they want to accomplish jointly to improve the quality of life, and opportunities, for all of Palm Beach County’s youth, but particularly those most vulnerable.
This kind of work is by no means glamorous.
It involves data crunching, report writing and lots of meetings to gather ideas from community leaders, families and youth. The effort is paying off. In January 2016, Birth to 22 will hold a three-day collective impact training. Throughout the spring, the group will hold community forums to ensure all of Palm Beach County’s voices will be heard during this effort to achieve real social change for our children.
By this time next year, Palm Beach County will have an actionable Youth Master Plan.
Imagine that. No turf wars. No politics. No exclusions. Just a solid community agreement on what should be done, how and with whom, so all of our children can look forward to a bright future.
Tammy Fields is director of the Palm Beach County Youth Services Department, and Lisa Williams-Taylor is CEO of Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County. This column also represents the School District, United Way and CareerSource.