Leisure and prevention professionals: collaborating for the future of our youth.

Inspiring positive change engenders a warm and tranquil feeling for many professionals engaged in their calling. However, hopelessness, fear and anger reflect the feelings of many professionals who work toward change for youth living in high-risk environments. An intensive two-day search conference allowed professionals from two fields - working towards the same goal - to discuss their feelings. The results were feeling of connectedness and hope - for a positive future for youth - among those who attended. The conference brought prevention and leisure professionals together to collaborate on strategies to reduce and prevent ATOD (alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs) abuse among youth who live in high-risk environments.

"That these youth will be positively engaged and given skills and a passion for certain activities and people which will allow them to make personal decisions. To create and environment where children are safe to grow and take risks and have fun."

"More involvement in recreation and prevention programs. Additionally, they will have true alternatives to negative activities."

"A healthier lifestyle and the ability, mind and skills to make appropriate life choices."

RESULTS

The power of the search conference clearly was not limited to the two and half days in Indianapolis. Conference participants have gone back to their communities and are spreading the energy to their colleagues, forming new partnerships and in some cases already delivering new collaborative programs to constituents.

The final stage of the search conference assessment was the post-conference evaluation four months after the event. Letters of explanation, and a post-conference evaluation were mailed to all conference participants (42 evaluations mailed). Of the 17 responses received, five were from leisure professionals, nine from prevention professionals, and three from individuals representing both [both employed in parks and recreation agencies, one employed in prevention agency] professions.

ACTION PLANS

A number of action collaborations grew out of the conference. Many projects are in the planning and execution stages; they include:

* plans to host a second search conference to explore creating a formal NRPA-NAPPA partnership;

* a fall program for youth five to seven years old in Indianapolis;

* a "Summer is Fun" program tor 120 youth ages five to 13 years who may already be involved or may become involved with drugs in Kansas City, Missouri;

* an invitation to leisure professionals to participate in a quarterly prevention network in Grayslake, Illinois;

* a collaboration between the country health department and a teen recreation basketball program in Benton Harbor, Michigan;

* an art, play and prevention education program as part of a nine-week summer day camp serving 60-85 children ages 7-14 weekly in Holland, Michigan;

* a cooperative after-school art club between a prevention agency and the Salvation Army in Clinton, Iowa;

* and a teen advisory council in Evanston, Illinois.

DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS

Sixteen of the 17 respondents (94%) indicated that partnerships are indeed developing, both between the professions of leisure and prevention and with arts and cultural heritage programs, judicial and law enforcement systems, community development organizations, school systems, mental health agencies, and others in social service delivery. Some of the partnerships that have developed in response to the search conference are the following:

* Chicago Park District and Youth Service Project

* Northwest Youth Center and the Chicago Park District

* Project Rehab and the Michigan Parks and Recreation Association

* Project Rehab and Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation

* Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation and Jackson County Anti-Drug sales tax group, prevention specialists, art and jazz museum

* Toledo Metroparks, school system, juvenile courts, enforcement agencies

* St. Paul Parks and Recreation and Hmong Minnesota Pacific Association

* Chicago Park District and various neighborhood groups

* Lake Metroparks, Lake County ADAMHS, Lake County Human Services, Lake County Narcotics Bureau, Lake County School Superintendent Association

* Child and Family Services of Western Michigan, NW Community Association, and school system

* Evanston Recreation Department, the City of Evanston, IL, Evanston police, YMCA, local high school, "Mothers Against Gangs," and various volunteer groups

* New Direction and local parks and recreation department, and New Directions and Salvation Army in Clinton, Iowa

* Indianapolis Urban League, Indy Parks and Recreation Department and Blooming Kids (Butler University), Indianapolis, Indiana 

* Indianapolis Urban League, YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs

CROSS-PROFESSION CONTACTS

Twelve of the 16 who completed evaluations said they had made new contacts with the other profession. Contacts were made at information-sharing meetings, at functions hosted by a "partner" in the other profession, at meetings to discuss collaborative efforts, at national symposia, and at workshops. The four surveyed who had not made new contacts cited already-existing relationships with the other profession.

EFFECTS ON THE ORGANIZATIONS AND CONSTITUENTS

Predictably, it is the professionals who, three months after the conference, are garnering the greatest positive effect from the conference. In response to evaluation questions, participants reported feeling energized to work in collaboration and think in new ways, feeling energized to address the issues of youth living in high-risk environments, and have a new sense of hope toward actually making a difference. Individuals also said they gained new confidence and a vision of the potential for working together across disciplines and sharing resources for the good of the community.

The conference's impact on organizations has been experienced through an increased or new awareness of the benefits of working in collaboration, and a broader perspective on addressing youth living in high-risk environments. The effect on constituents is hardest to determine at this point, since it is still too early to evaluate any of the new collaborative programs. However, some respondents expressed a belief that their action plans would have a positive effect on youth in high-risk environments and the community at large. The search conference made measurable progress toward three goals:

Goal #1: Developing a strategic action plan to include collaboration with conference participants. Of the 17 who responded to the final evaluation, sixteen (94%) stated that collaborations/partnerships had been formed with those from the "other" profession. Six (35%) of those appear to be with other conference attenders.

Goal #2: Identifying new resources to use in implementing the action plan. New resources are both human (individuals) and intellectual (ideas and information).

Goal #3. Implementing the action plan and forecasting the long-term effect on high-risk youth. After four months, seven (41%) of the respondents reported their action plans are delivering services. None could yet forecast long-term effects.

The charge to curtail socially deviant behavior - drug, tobacco and alcohol use and abuse - among youth has been an up hill battle for leisure service providers for decades. Although over the years innovative strategies have helped to win the battle, the war is far from over. Now is the time for a more contemporary approach to winning the war. Our new charge is to think like prevention professionals - perhaps to become prevention recreationalists. The opportunity to share resources, training, theories, research findings, and the like has unlimited possibilities for all high-risk populations. When collaborating from these perspectives, models can be developed to better target and defuse both environmental and genetic factors that cause socially deviant behavior.

Why Link Prevention and

Leisure Professions?

Echoes of a lost generation perpetuate the need to curtail the astonishing statistics of youth violence and death due to alcohol and drug abuse. The severity of the situation warrants a unique approach to bringing key professionals together to make positive change. A search conference was designed to facilitate a professional collaboration and to intensify the possibilities of effective strategic outcomes.

So why prevention and leisure professionals? The characteristic make up of both the prevention and leisure professions make them ideal partners for collaboration when combating factors associated with troubled youth. Historically, these professions have developed programs and services that target environmental as well as genetic factors in social, emotional and mental deficiencies among youth. However, each field has different training, understanding and strategic approaches for helping youth. Both fields are competing against each other for federal dollars and using those dollars, `separately' to help the same needy population. Collaboration between these two professions can bring about unlimited possibilities for a strong and vibrant future for youth who deserve a life free from drugs, crime and violence.

The Collaborative Approach

A search conference is a participatory planning method devised to build collaboration among opposing interests, validate differences or increase opportunities for mutual appreciation and joint work. This approach is a systemic process in which groups design the future they want and strategies for achieving it: the "search" is for an achievable future. This may be a future that is more desirable than the one that is likely to unfold with no action, or a future that is totally unexpected.

The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) and the National Association for Prevention Professional Advocates (NAPPA) each identified 18 professionals who were willing to develop an action plan that would utilize cooperative or synergistic relationships. It was essential that this group include both administrators and programmers from various agencies and organizations, and that they share relevant information and experiences during the conference. Institutions of higher learning, non-profit prevention organizations, consultancies, the arts, and representatives from city and county recreation departments and special park districts convened for two days to change the future of our youth.

Participants brainstormed, discussed, discovered and developed sound strategic action plans that would significantly affect their communities. Participants learned about each others' program development approaches, community resources, and methods of service delivery. Subsequently, they discovered ways to bridge differences between the two fields and ways to use their commonalties to work together in collaborative activities.

The search process led the group to six directives (Fig. 1), which generated collaborative action plans between leisure and prevention professionals from the same or surrounding communities. Other action plans focused on participants collaborating with either a leisure or prevention professional upon their return to the communities. The most exciting part of the process, for many, was the opportunity to discover the potential impact these collaborations can have on positively affecting youth.