Upcoming Events & Training Opportunities:
Training/Meeting:
RSAPP AmeriCorps Member Training/ Meeting #1, Thursday December 15, 9:00-4:00, Mancos High school. Attendance is required for all RSAPP AmeriCorps members; Site Supervisors and community members are welcome to join us. Topics include Prevention 201, Civic Reflection, and Reports from the Field. For more information, contact Cathy Cowles.
Event: Jingle Bell Dash, Saturday December 17, 9:30-noon, Let it Grow Nursery, Cortez. SCYC is sponsoring the first annual Jingle Bell Dash and Elf Scurry to bring the community together to celebrate and appreciate educators, while raising funds for SCYC. A variety of course lengths are available to run or walk. For more information or to register, visit the Jingle Bell Dash website or contact Danielle Brafford
Opportunity: Applications to be a Teen Maze Room Leader are due Friday, January 6. For more information about this interactive, regional prevention event, and how you can be involved, contact Tyra Hughes at School Community Youth Collaborative in Cortez.
Training: "Hold Hands & Stick Together," Tuesday, January 17, 6-8 p.m., Church of Christ Annex, Cortez. Cost is $8 (includes dinner.) A hands-on workshop on building relationships between children aged 2.5 - 5 years, their caregivers, and parents. For more info or to register, contact Vangi McCoy Sponsored by Montelores Early Childhood council.
Training: Indian Child Welfare Act Basics & Best Practices, Friday, January 20, 8:00-5:00, Southern Ute Tribe Multi-Purpose Facility, Ignacio. Free (includes lunch.) Includes "Indian 101," and basics of the ICWA. Designed for case workers, judicial staff and service providers who work with the Native American community. To register, go to the CDHS website and create an account. Call Joann Kanost for more info: 303-866-7174.
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Welcome to RSAPP's Monthly e-Newsletter!
RSAPP, or Regional Substance Abuse Prevention Partners, has the long-term goal of decreasing youth substance abuse in Southwest Colorado. RSAPP's vision is: engaged, thriving youth invested in strong communities throughout our region. With our e-Newsletter, we aim to keep you informed about substance abuse prevention happenings, issues, events, activities, trainings, gatherings, successes and challenges here in Southwest Colorado. |
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Check & Connect: Supporting School Success
A high school diploma is a basic building block in the foundation of a successful life. Academic failure and lack of commitment to school are risk factors for substance abuse, delinquency, teen pregnancy, and violence. Yet many youth are at risk for dropping out of high school, and each one has an individual set of contributing factors. RSAPP, San Juan BOCES, Montezuma County's HB1451 Committee and schools are partnering to implement the Check & Connect Drop-out Prevention Program across the 5-county region of southwest Colorado with the goals of increasing academic engagement and school success. Check & Connect is a structured intervention that helps schools identify students who are at risk for dropping out of school, then pairs those students with mentors who address each student's individual needs. Mentors form trusting relationships with students while monitoring their grades, attendance and behavior. They work with the student, their family, school personnel and service providers in the community to advocate and problem-solve, working to keep students engaged and education salient. The Check & Connect model was created by the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota. The model is data-driven and grounded in research on resiliency and home-school collaboration. In practice, it may look like a group of middle school students eating lunch with their mentor while they talk about school, or a mentor asking parents about their hopes and dreams for their child. In southwest Colorado, Check & Connect was pioneered during the 2009-2010 school year by staff at Montezuma-Cortez High School and RSAPP AmeriCorps member Alma Ross. Due to its demonstrated success, the program has grown each year. There are currently 14 Check & Connect mentors implementing the program in every school district in Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma and San Juan Counties. Of these, 4 are RSAPP AmeriCorps members and 9 are school employees supported by San Juan BOCES or Montezuma County's HB1451 Committee. So - does it work? You bet it does! Of the students being mentored by RSAPP AmeriCorps members in the Check & Connect Program during the 2010-2011 school year, we saw these results: at Dolores Middle and High Schools 77% of the Check & Connect students improved their attendance by at least 25%. At Cortez Middle School 88% of the Check & Connect students reduced their Fs in English and 73% increased their score on the School Engagement Survey, and at Mancos Middle and High Schools 66% had fewer disciplinary referrals and 70% decreased their failing grades by 25%. To learn more about this effective program, visit the Check & Connect website. To learn more about Check & Connect in southwest Colorado, contact Lauren Ellison with San Juan BOCES, Cory Madsen the Check & Connect Coordinator for Montezuma County, or Cathy Cowles with RSAPP.
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Flashmob Hits Cortez
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I Value Education Flashmob, 2011 Parade of Lights
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What may have been Cortez's first ever flash mob briefly interrupted this year's Parade of Lights. Community members working with KSJD's American Graduate Project used positive community norms to convey the message that education is valued in Montezuma county. Check out the video for a great example of splash messaging! To learn more about the American Graduate Project or how to organize your own flashmob, contact Cindy Houston
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RSAPP AmeriCorps member of the Month: Erica Keter
| Erica Keter, RSAPP AmeriCorps member serving La Plata County and the Region
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RSAPP's newest AmeriCorps member is Erica Keter, who began her term of service on October 25, 2011. Erica serves with the Durango Adult Education Center (DAEC,) focusing on the SWConnect Project.
Erica brings a BSW, experience working in the mental health field, and an incredible talent for organization to her position. Several months ago, Erica realized that she was interested in pursuing a career in community work. After a transitional summer serving beer and burgers, she was delighted to accept the offer of an RSAPP AmeriCorps position. Her placement at DAEC allows her to utilize and expand her skill set while learning about almost every agency in the region. Erica feels truly valued and appreciated by the team at DAEC.
SW Connect is a web-based information hub connecting citizens in southwest Colorado with the resources and services they need. SW Connect is also working with United Way to establish a 211 phone system in our region. Erica coordinates a team of Rotary Club volunteers who collect detailed information about agencies that provide basic services (food, clothing, and shelter) for the 211 project. Erica understands the need for SW Connect - in her former position as a Community Resource Specialist, she had no centralized place to look for the services her clients needed. She says, " I believe in the project, which fuels me even more."
In addition to her service at DAEC, Erica serves as a volunteer ski instructor with the Adaptive Sports Association. She helps build protective factors in youth with disabilities by sharing her love of skiing. You can also find Erica working as a school "nurse" (Health Services Provider) at Escalante Middle School 15 hours a week, where she distributes band-aids, tampons, pep talks and support.
Since moving to Durango in 2008, this Colorado Springs native has really hit her stride. Erica loves living in Durango, where she has found a caring community, great friends, meaningful work and service opportunities, and outstanding outdoor recreation. Erica's plans for the future include enrolling in a Masters in Social Work program in the next couple of years. To learn more about SW Connect or to express your appreciation for her service, send Erica an e-mail.
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The Transformation of SCYC
| Cindy Lou Houston and Tyra Hughes
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After a year of organizational transformation, Montezuma County's School Community Youth Coalition has re-defined itself as the School Community Youth Collaborative (still SCYC.) This well-established organization has been serving Montezuma and Dolores Counties for more than 11 years, and was a founding partner in RSAPP. SCYC is the hub of collaboration amongst organizations serving children, youth, families and schools in Montelores County. They are so good at collaborating that they have even come up with a new county name (Montezuma + Dolores
= Montelores.) SCYC has been listening to the community, and responded by updating its vision and mission. Advisory Team members Chuck McAfee, Julia Hesse, Kellie Willis, Vangi McCoy and Rebecca Larson worked with Program Coordinator Danielle Brafford to create the new mission statement: SCYC creates pro-social opportunities for youth to build healthy relationships
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Danielle Brafford
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and to engage in their communities through sustainable collaborations with youth and organizations in Montezuma and Dolores counties.
SCYC currently hosts two RSAPP AmeriCorps members. Second-year member Cindy Houston implements youth programs, including High School Leadership
Montezuma, Youth Leadership Council, and the Academic Success Project. Tyra Hughes is a new AmeriCorps member who is coordinating the Teen Maze and serving with Montelores Early Childhood Council on Early Childhood Celebration, Family Nights and professional development opportunities.
To learn more about SCYC, contact Danielle Brafford, Cindy Houston or Tyra Hughes.
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RSAPP Part of NSIP Symposium in Washington DC
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) hosted a two-day conference December 7-8, bringing together more than 200 leaders in the disability and service communities to develop strategies to support the full inclusion of people with disabilities in national service. RSAPP's Program Coordinator Cathy Cowles attended as representative of Colorado's
| 2011 NSIP Symposium Workshop |
AmeriCorps*State programs.
Workshop topics included Universal Design for Programmatic Access, Incorporating Reasonable Accommodation Solutions, and Life After Service. Cathy had the opportunity to network and connect with Colorado's National Service Inclusion Team, and AmeriCorps program staff from all over the United States. RSAPP strives to include diverse individuals of all abilities in its prevention program, and has received a GCCS Disability Inclusion Mini-grant for two years. For more information on how to make your service or prevention program more inclusive, visit the NSIP website or contact Cathy Cowles.
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Thank you for being part of RSAPP! If you have any submissions for next month's newsletter, please send them to me.
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