The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #48880

Tova Wolking, MPH, Partnership for the Public's Health, Public Health Institute, 505 14th Street Suite 810, Oakland, CA 94110 and Flora Flores-Perez, Anderson Teen Center, 2041 Howard Street, Anderson, CA 96007, (530) 378-6061, twolking@partnershipPH.org.

This presentation will share youth leadership development strategies of the Anderson Partnership for Healthy Children (APHC) in Anderson, California. APHC has developed a youth group, Teens At Heart, which recently opened a teen center utilizing teen leadership. The teen center offers community-based activities for Anderson-area youth and youth were engaged from conception, to opening, to the running of day-to-day activities of the center. Co-presenters will include an outreach coordinator from APHC and the program manager. They will share approaches to youth development which include strategies such as: 'train[ing] the trainer' on youth asset development; utilizing youth in volunteer and community service roles; organizing youth around projects that are relevant to them; and facilitating youth ownership of these projects. Since an essential element of their model rests on the premise that engagement of youth must also include opportunities for their families, time will be given to discussion of how to increase opportunities for teens and families in order to reduce risk behaviors and produce positive health outcomes. APHC is a participant in the Partnership for the Public's Health, a five-year, $40 million initiative committed to fostering broad community involvement in the development of an effective, responsive and sustainable public health system, through equal partnership of community collaborative groups and health agencies.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will identify how three community based organizations moved from training to action.
• Participants will discuss strategies to develop community leadership training opportunities.
• Participants will learn how to overcome barriers to obtaining and retaining resident involvement as “bridge builders” to the community.

Keywords: Community Building, Leadership

Related Web page: www.partnershipph.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.