Youth-4-Youth
What is Youth4Youth?
Taken directly from Larry Tracey’s web site (one of the Y-4-Y originators, at www.youth4youth.us) …….
“In response to school violence that happened in the late 90's, The Safe Schools Task Force and Lorain County Prevention Connection (LCPC) pulled together schools throughout the county along with safety forces, mental health agencies, and community members to address the issue of school safety within Lorain County.
Through a countywide conference and follow-up, school systems throughout the county were able to evaluate, plan, and improve building safety for all youth and educators. When all was completed, County Prosecutor Greg White stated, "We need to do something for the students of Lorain County. They need to be a part of school safety."
The initial vision of the project was to have a one-day countywide youth conference for at-risk youth within the high schools in Lorain County. The purpose was to somehow touch, in a positive way, the lives of every high school student. The goal was to have students commit to creating plans for making their schools safe, realizing they are a prominent part of the solution.
What started as a 1-day conference has turned into a successful program, which is utilized in every high school, junior high and middle school in the county. Each building team has a 2-year action plan, where students identify, plan and initiate action to solve specific issues relevant to their school, whether it be; respect, harassment, racism, prejudice, asset and character development, student/teacher communication, attitude, drug and alcohol use and more. Youth4Youth also utilizes high school students as role models and mentors to younger students.
Simply put, the purpose of Youth4Youth is to create a safer more positive school environment.
The GOALS for Midview High School's Y4Y are:
1. Make recognition for all activities in our school. (extracurricular).
2. School rules and consequences will be standardized so as to provide fairness and equality throughout the entire student body.
3. Administration/teachers need to reach out to students so that mentoring is available to students at all levels. (academic, emotional, etc.)
4. Upper classmen to tutor under classment. Program called "TT" to "T".
5. Reduce racism by promoting proper behavior.
