Youth development has been a major focus in Bartholomew County for years, but now local efforts are going global.
Last week, The Council For Youth Development, the Indiana Department of Education, the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. and the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. announced the county will be a community pilot for an international research team to study and enhance youth development.
The team is led by the International School Psychology Association, the International Institute for Child Rights and Development, Search Institute, and the Indiana Department of Education.
Bartholomew County was chosen as a pilot in part of its several recent initiatives to address social, emotional, mental, and physical well-being of local children and teens.
Those initiatives include Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation’s Counseling Counts Initiative and the Council for Youth Development’s Youth Master Plan.
Working with the international team, the county will study whether asset-based practices “reduce the effects of childhood trauma and improve youth resiliency.”
To start, students enrolled in Bartholomew County public schools, in grades 4-12, will have the opportunity to share anonymous feedback on their current well-being. Surveying could begin as early as April, and the pilot phase is expected to finish by the end of 2021.
Once the first phase has reached conclusion, youth, families, stakeholders and community partners will work together to address the needs of local youth.
Results of the surveys will help provide best practices for other Indiana schools and communities.
The prospects of the pilot are exciting, as they will not only help community letters gain a better understanding of the well-being of local youth, but will also showcase the successful initiatives already in place in the county.
Making Bartholomew County an exceptional place to grow up is something that all locals can get behind, and this pilot will help enhance the efforts already being made by local leaders.
