Developmental Asset Message of the Week

Returning back to work this week after a restful holiday vacation I started to think about connecting this week’s message to New Year’s Eve. The easiest way to do that is around asking folks to spend some time making a resolution that included supporting young people, possibly even making a promise (alla www.assetpromise.org – shameless self promotion, I know!). However, I remembered that was exactly what we did last year and I really want to try not to repeat ourselves just yet.

So thinking a little deeper about it, I asked the question, what if we changed it from asking people to create resolutions supporting young people to asking people to support the resolutions of young people. Some might be very specific like “get better grades” (Asset #21 Achievement Motivation), “get involved in xxxx club/sport/group” (#17 Creative Activities, #18 Youth Programs), or “make better friends” (#15 Positive Peer Influence) or they might be more general like “make 2012 a better year than 2011” (#40 Positive View of Personal Future). Either way, many young people will take the new year as an opportunity to set goals for themselves.

Regardless of what that goal might be they’ll need help to achieve it. It might be that they need help brainstorming and problem solving how they go about it or it could be they need some roll-up-your-sleeves-help. Encouragement and cheerleading are other key factors along the way. However, the all important first step is simply asking a young person what their resolution is in the first place.

So as the first week of the new year nears conclusion, let us just remind you that so many young people still have these wonderfully optimistic goals of how their lives could be better in 2012 and that you can play a huge role in helping them realize it.

Happy New Year! and thanks again for all you do to support our youth.

Best wishes, Justin