TheConnector

TheCONNECTOR is Youth Community Connections’ (YCC) communication tool for sharing updates and for seeking action from its partners. TheCONNECTOR contains the following highlights:

RECENT NEWS AND EVENTS
Press Event: America After 3PM – Minnesota’s Story
Lights On Afterschool! – Register Your Event Today
Meet Youth Community Connections' New Promise Fellow, Abou Amara Jr.

NEW RESEARCH AND RESOURCES
America After 3pm

FUTURE EVENTS
University of Minnesota’s 25th Annual Policy Analysis Conference
Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota hosts the 10th Annual Minnesota Mentoring Conference
Minnesota Youth Intervention Programs Association (MnYIPA) Conference
Minnesota Community Education Association (MCEA) Fall Conference
Strategic Planning Day for the Center for Inclusive Child Care (CICC)
Children's Issues Briefing
DADS MAKE A DIFFERENCE Teen Peer Educator Training

RECENT NEWS AND EVENTS

America After 3PM – Minnesota’s Story
Youth Community Connections’ is hosting a press event on October 22nd, Lights On Afterschool Day, with the Afterschool Alliance, one of our national partners.  The press event will focus on recent results of a national survey, America After 3 PM and highlight the progress Minnesota is making in supporting non-formal learning opportunities (afterschool, out-of-school time and summer programs) in communities around the State of Minnesota. 

Minnesota was identified as one of six states across the country that is moving in the right direction of providing high-quality non-formal learning opportunities afterschool and beyond the classroom.  While we are excited about the progress we’ve made in the past five years, the survey also reminds us how much more needs to be done to help all Minnesota’s children and youth access afterschool and community learning experiences.

Please join us on October 22 at 10:00 a.m. The press event will take place at the State Capitol in Room 125.

Lights On Afterschool! - October 22, 2009
Youth Community Connections is working to promote Lights On Afterschool! which will take place October 22, 2009.  Lights On Afterschool!, the nation’s celebration of afterschool and summer programs, attracts one million Americans to 7,500 events at afterschool programs across the country.  YCC is encouraging afterschool and youth serving organizations in Minnesota to take part in Lights On Afterschool! and help call attention to the need for afterschool and summer learning opportunities!

Programs that register their Lights On Afterschool! event will be highlighted in the news advisory we send out next week.  Don’t miss this opportunity to have the press learn more about your program!

For more information about Lights On Afterschool!, please contact Abou Amara Jr. @ abou@youthcommunityconnections.org.

Youth Community Connections' New Promise Fellow
Abou Amara Jr. joins Youth Community Connections as our new Promise Fellow. Abou is a member of the AmeriCorps Promise Fellow program, and serves YCC as a Youth Policy Analyst. Abou Amara Jr. is a 2009 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Sociology and Public Policy and is originally from Madison, Wisconsin.  Abou’s professional interests include analysis and financing of public policy, housing policy, and legislative affairs. Abou’s policy experience includes being a legislative aide to Wisconsin State Representative Kelda Helen Roys in the Wisconsin State Assembly, during the 2009 budget session. Abou intends to go back to school and obtain a Masters degree in Public Policy as well as a Juris Doctor Degree, once he has completed his AmeriCorps service with YCC.

Check out some of the latest research on after school, youth engagement and quality improvement on YCC’s website under latest research.

America After 3PM
The America After 3PM survey was sponsored by the JCPenney Afterschool Fund and conducted for the Afterschool Alliance.  This 2009 survey reached nearly 30,000 households across the United States and is considered the nation’s most in-depth study of how America’s children and youth spend their afternoons.

The survey finds that 8.4 million children and youth participate in an afterschool program, an increase of nearly 3 million children and youth over the past five years. While this is encouraging, there is still work to be done. The number of young people left alone after the school day ends has risen to 15.1 million children - an increase of 800,000 children - since the 2004 edition of America After 3PM.

For more information about America After 3PM, please visit the Afterschool Alliance website at www.afterschoolalliance.org/AA3PM.cfm.  Minnesota specific data will be available on-line beginning October 22, 2009.

FUTURE EVENTS

University of Minnesota’s 25th Annual Policy Analysis Conference - October 14, 2009
The University of Minnesota College of Continuing Education will host a conference on policy analysis titled “Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste”. The conference will provide an opportunity for analysts and policymakers to explore timely topics that reflect the importance of analysis in formulating policy decisions in government. Conference sessions provide an opportunity to:

• Gain insight into current trends and changes in the policy-making environment
• Explore current policy issues and processes in concurrent sessions
• Share ideas with others from around Minnesota.

 For more information on the conference, visit www.cce.umn.edu/policyanalysis or click here for a brochure.

Annual Minnesota Mentoring Conference - October 19, 2009
Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota invites you to join in for this great professional development opportunity focused exclusively on supporting quality and excellence in your youth mentoring program.  Conference features include:

• Workshops presented by local and national practitioners
• Two workshops hosted by Keynote Speaker Dr. Michael Karcher
• Great ideas exchange supporting quality mentoring
• Networking

There is an offer of a Student/AmeriCorps rate of $60. For more information, please visit the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota website.

Minnesota YIPA Conference, October 27-28, 2009
Minnesota Youth Intervention Programs Association will host a conference at the University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center in Saint Paul, MN. The conference will bring together youth service professionals for over 40 breakout sessions, and keynote addresses from nationally known experts in various youth intervention fields. The conference will provide take home resources to help all youth “thrive in changing times”, and is especially applicable to the work of social workers, educators and administrators, youth programs professionals, law enforcement, mental health professionals, and all who work with youth.

Please click here for a brochure to register for the conference, or go to www.mnyipa.org.
Registration deadline is October 20, 2009.

Minnesota Community Education Association Fall Conference, October 28-30, 2009
The Minnesota Community Education Association (MCEA) will host a Fall Conference at the RiverCentre in Saint Paul, MN. The conference is titled “Navigating Currents of Change”.

For a brochure please click here or go to www.mn-mcea.org

Strategic Planning Day for the Center for Inclusive Child Care, November 10, 2009
Susan Rohrbough from the National Child Care Information & Technical Assistance Center will lead the Center for Inclusive Child Care's (CICC) Strategic Planning Day at the Minnesota Department of Education.

During this day-long meeting, work will be conducted to plan and develop a strategic framework and operational plan for the CICC. Lunch will be provided.

For more information about the CICC, please visit  www.inclusivechildcare.org

Children’s Issues Briefing, October 28, 2009
The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and The Sheltering Arms Foundation are co-sponsoring the Children’s Issues Briefing on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at The Neighborhood House (179 Robie Street E., Saint Paul, MN 55107).

Speakers include:

• Amy Crawford, The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation, and on behalf of the Early Childhood Funder’s Network
• Kristin Dybdal, Minnesota Management and Budget
• Steve Francisco, Minnesota Budget Project
• Lynn Haglin, Northland Foundation
• Karen Kelley-Ariwoola, The Minneapolis Foundation, and on behalf of the Early Childhood Business Plan
• Karen Kingsley, Ready 4 K
• Jim Koppel, Children’s Defense Fund - Minnesota
• Laura LaCroix-Dalluhn, Youth Community Connections
• Kate Lerner, Minnesota Association of County Social Services Administrators
• Joel Michael, Research, Minnesota House of Representatives
• Senator Mee Moua (invited), Children and Youth Caucus
• Representative Nora Slawik, Minnesota House of Representatives
• Christina Wessel, Minnesota Budget Project

For more information about the Children’s Issues briefing, including how to attend, please visit www.mncn.org/event_policy.htm#children, scroll down and click on Children’s Issues Briefing.

DADS MAKE A DIFFERENCE Teen Peer Educator Training (See dates below)
Dads Make a Difference (DMAD) is a statewide non-profit whose mission is to promote the positive involvement of fathers and to educate youth about responsible parenting. DMAD helps youth understand the positive impact involved fathers have on their families and the significance of being financially and emotionally prepared for children as an important component in raising children in a safe, stable, and healthy family environment. DMAD will be conducting teen peer training opportunities on the following dates:

Monday, October 26, 2009
Best Western, Mankato, MN
Cost: $45 per participant – teen or adult bringing for 1-day training
For additional $10 per participant can stay overnight Sunday if travel time is an issue

Monday, November 15-16, 2009
Radisson Hotel & Conference Center, Plymouth, MN
Cost: $55 per participant – teen or adult brining teens for 2-day training

Trainings are open to groups of high school-age teens, male & female, with at least one adult advisor from schools, agencies, and faith-based groups statewide. Actual training value is $150-200. Sliding Fee or scholarships available if needed.

For more information, please contact:
Jan Hayne, Executive Director,
DADS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
161 St. Anthony Ave, Suite 840
Saint Paul, MN 55103
Ph: 651-222-1622
E: jan@dadsmakeadifference.org
www.dadsmakeadifference.org

Youth Community Connections
1313 - 5th Street SE, Suite 321 ~ Minneapolis, MN 55414
PH: 612.627.0160
WEB: www.youthcommunityconnections.org