Positive Youth Development State and Local Collaboration Demonstration Projects
Fiscal Year 2005 Highlights: Kentucky

Local community: Martin Luther King and Woodhill neighborhoods, Lexington

The Kentucky project hopes to impact Lexington’s Martin Luther King and Woodhill neighborhoods, which represent a diverse population of youth as well as the highest incidence in the city of disproportionate confinement of minority youth.

In its efforts, the project is aided by several well-established partnerships. The communitywide coalition Partners for Youth has worked for more than 10 years to create a comprehensive approach toward addressing the needs of youth in Lexington. The Mayor’s Youth Council, created in 1999, provides leadership and service opportunities for youth throughout the city. In addition, the Kentucky Youth Development Partnership, a public-private coalition of more than 25 State and local youth development organizations, is dedicated to improving services and opportunities for young Kentuckians and helping them to gain the skills they need to be healthy and successful.

The Kentucky collaboration has set its sights on five desired results: involving youth in the planning, governance, assessment, and delivery of youth policy and services; informing youth, families, and communities about Positive Youth Development and the skills and abilities young people need to become healthy and successful; creating a statewide network to facilitate coordination, collaboration, and communication of youth services; providing training, technical assistance, and resources to the youth service field; and adopting State-level youth development policies based on the youth development approach.

Partners:

University of Kentucky, 4H Youth Development Program (grantee agency)
Partners for Youth (lead local partner)
Metro Group Homes, Inc. (Runaway and Homeless Youth grantee)

In Fiscal Year 2005, the Kentucky project

• Assessed programs serving young people in the State in fiscal year 2004 (July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004), providing a snapshot of resources, supports, and services available to Kentuckians ages 8 to 24
  
• Appointed two young people as cochairs of its Community Advisory Team
  
• Began developing a plan to evaluate the project, with strong involvement from young people

Challenges to the collaboration project’s work include

• Finding funding
  
• Keeping enthusiasm and participation high