Council Youth Coalition on the Rise
Connection. In an age where everyone has a phone in their pocket, where communication can be almost instantaneous, many of our youth have lost a sense of connection.
That is what a survey from Communities For Youth found for students in the Mountain NorthWest Region of Idaho. Kids today are suffering from a crisis of connection, and that is what the Council Youth Coalition is trying to remedy.
Robyn Warner, 6th Grade teacher at Council Elementary School, spearheaded the creation of the Council Youth Coalition last fall under the umbrella of YAC, the Youth Advocacy Coalition. Warner was wrapping up her Master’s Degree when she was asked to be part of a cohort focused on fulfilling needs in small communities. They saw the need for mental health support in Council, and through connections in the cohort Warner was able to get a grant to purchase curriculum and bring a program called Hope Squad to Council. Hope Squad is an evidence based, peer to peer, suicide prevention curriculum. Through the curriculum, they end up doing a survey for the children focusing on how children feel in school, mental health, and substance abuse.
The information gathered from the survey was compiled and presented to the Hope Squad. Four main points stood out as areas that Council needed to focus on, but they all centered around connection. “They have a screen in front of their face,” said Warner about the youth, “they don’t know how to have this kind of connection.”
Warner was put in touch with the Youth Advocacy Coalition and Ignite Idaho. They wanted to help, and so under the umbrella of YAC, Warner became the facilitator of the newly formed Council Youth Coalition.
Communities all over the Mountain Northwest region, which stretched from Cambridge to Cascade to Riggins, had also formed coalitions and started receiving grants to help with specific aspects of their coalitions. Council, however, received the full grant available from Communities for Youth, and was the only location that was awarded the entire available grant to help build the coalition.
Warner said this was not because Council had significantly worse results from the survey compared to other nearby locations. “Ours actually were pretty well identical to everyone else’s, for better or worse,” she said, but according to Warner they received the grant because Council had more volunteer potential. “We have a community in need, but we have people that are willing to help, and that’s the difference.”
Warner was told that their very first coalition meeting had greater attendance than had been mustered up by any of the other coalitions so far. Because the umbrella organizations saw that Council had the support of the community, they decided to award Council the full grant and see what they could do with it, and so far, the Council Youth Coalition has accomplished quite a bit.
Warner decided the kids needed something to do, especially for the children who were not involved in ag or sports. She asked students what some of the activities they would like to see most, and ran with the results. They started a book club, game nights, and movie nights. The very first movie night was a great success. Over 50 children attended during the span of the two movies. “It choked me up a little,” said Warner, “they want it!” The interest was greater than she had anticipated.
Warner works under the umbrella of YAC for both Hope Squad and the community coalition. “Hope Squad does beautiful work,” said Warner, but it just works within the school and the school can’t do everything, the solution had to be community based, thus the need for a community coalition. “The coalition is meant to hit everyone else,” said Warner, “it’s not just kids that are struggling with mental health, and it’s not just our kids inside the school.”
She said the ripple effect has been huge. “We’re outgrowing this quicker than I had anticipated...the kids are just coming,” said Warner. One thing she would like for the future is to find a more permanent location. She would love to find something central where kids could walk to, and that would have room for clubs, movie nights, dances, storing supplies, possibly even a kitchen where they could teach children (and parents!) cooking. She hoped that if they show consistency for the need, at some point they might be able to have a building donated, but that is definitely a long term goal.
In the meantime, they are forging ahead with whatever activities they have the resources for, and have had many successful events already, with more being planned constantly. The coalition is hosting a weekly book club, trying to start a weekly art club, and are planning game nights, trivia nights, and dances, as well as a monthly movie night and fundraisers. Warner is trying to have the coalition be a steady presence in the lives of Council youth. “If there’s anything these kids need, it’s a place and it’s consistency.” Warner and the Council Youth Coalition aim to be that steady presence.
The next upcoming event is their third monthly movie night. This Saturday, May 16, from 5:30-11:30 p.m. the Council Youth Coalition will be showing the original Star Wars Trilogy at the Council Elementary School Multipurpose Room. Children are encouraged to dress up and there will be a prize for the best overall costume. Parents are encouraged and welcome to come, but are not required to. Popcorn is provided and kids can bring blankets or comfy chairs to get cozy.
Some of the events the Coalition has planned for the summer include a Father/Daughter Dance on June 19, quickly followed by a Crawdad Feed fundraiser on June 20. They are also planning a Jr. High School Glow in the Dark Dance on July 11th. Right now, Warner said it’s just a matter of volunteers, time and resources limiting how much they can do. “90% of your volunteers are 10% of the population,” she said, and while the Coalition has a lot of support from the community, they have big ideas and can always use more volunteers.
Residents can follow the Council Youth Coalition on Facebook to stay updated on events and activities. The Coalition also meets once a month for an open community meeting to plan events and activities.
