Connecting Detroit Youth to a Brighter Future

Like many of you we are experiencing difficult and challenging times. The Covid-19 pandemic, racial tension, and the disparities that dramatically impact the population that we serve are overwhelming. We do not have the option to close our eyes and hope things will blow over and get better. Our youth and families have needs and concerns that go beyond our traditional services. But if we are to stay true to our mantra of connecting youth to brighter futures we do not have the choice to opt out and say its’s not our job. When our state shut down we had to rethink how we would be able to stay the course and connect youth to futures that were being compromised by the rise of the pandemic in their communities, school closings, and having their basic needs threatened. We also had to remain solvent and see how, when, and where to provide the funded services we knew our youth and families needed.

It was evident that our GlobalGiving Family had faith in us because we saw your donations continue. Your encouragement helped us to persevere. Quitting nor failure were not options. Our staff was sent home to work and we provided them with the tools needed to work remotely. We reviewed each of our grants and determined how we would continue to provide the work and alerted our funders that we were still operating. We reached out to the families we serve and provided them with information on where to obtain food, medical services, and community resources.

The Health, Wellness and Prevention Division is providing resource information to over 200 families. Staff are making calls to check on our families and were a comfort and resource to families trying to cope with unprecedented circumstances. They continued program services and YOU CAN BE PROUD because they worked with the developer of the Strengthening Families 10 -14 at Iowa State University, Catheryn Hockaday, to develop and implement the Strengthening Families 10 -14 virtual program which we piloted implementing all of the sessions with fidelity and resounding results. Hats off to Deb ‘O Rah Mitchell, Frederick Smith, and Adrema Price for a job well done.

Our youth stepped up to the plate and not only showed up but showed out. The Youth Committee for the Love Detroit Prevention Coalition worked with our Drug Free Communities Community Organizer Charise Johnson to implement a virtual Photo voice project, conduct a virtual environmental scan for marijuana dispensaries sign compliance, prepare a zoom presentation for our City Councilman Scott Benson, and present at the National CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) Mid-Year virtual conference in July. They received positive feedback from Councilman Benson (who vowed to follow up on their findings) and rave reviews from many of the over 250 virtual participants at CADCA! A high five to our youth DeAndra, DeAna, Denzell, Justin, David, Mya, Kendell, and Duwan!

The Youth Connection Career Academies was once again asked to serve as a lead agency for the Grow Detroit’s Young Talent summer youth employment program. We were tasked with providing virtual work experiences for over 200 youth. Our staff, led by Nicole Hill, scrambled to create virtual trainings and job sharing opportunities and ensure our youth had the equipment and IT to participate. We have zoomed into homes throughout Detroit and have made a difference. The summer culminated with a drive-by celebration. Staying in their cars we tossed them backpacks full of school supplies, hard cover award winning books from First Books, PPE masks, hand sanitizers, TYC logo stuff, portfolios, award certificates, and more. We also celebrated our graduates and delivered off to college supplies and resources. Staff drove to their homes honking horns, waving banners, wearing mask and feeling proud.

Nicole’s staff continue to provide services to over 100 youth aging out of Foster Care. Our foster care youth already have the odds stacked against them are now having to face a devastating pandemic with the opportunities to gain footing slowly eroding. One of our youth died during this pandemic and, with the support of the United Way, KBP Foods and GlobalGiving, we were able to cover the bulk of the funeral expenses for his home going. TYCCA has been able to help youth who are vulnerable and frightened with limited resources.

As you can see, no one has rested and we will not quit. Each time an email comes that says we received another donation from GlobalGiving we are so excited and above all encouraged. It tells us that we have your support. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for believing in us especially in this time of crisis.

Links:

• The Youth Connection's Website
• TYCDetroit On Facebook!
• TYCDetroit On Twitter!

As we adapt to our shared new reality of sheltering in place and socially distancing, The Youth Connection (TYC) is continuing to do what is in the best interest of our youth. We appreciate your support as we outreach to all of the families and youth in our programs to make sure they have adequate resources, virtual programs, and basic necessities to help them through the COVID-19 pandemic.

How have we responded to the COVID-19 pandemic? Days after Governor Whitmer issued the Shelter-In-Place executive order, TYC launched a social media campaign that targeted the neighborhoods and zip codes we serve through the use of geo-fencing – a virtual fence that sends messages to mobile phones of everybody inside the “fence” – to let families know about resources available to help them.

Since the launch of this campaign, TYC has heard from dozens of families calling / texting / emailing their thanks for this resource that is helping them during this pandemic. As proof that people are receiving our messages and clicking on our link, the new page we created listing these resources has almost 5,000 visits in the past 3 weeks and more are logging on every day!

TYC staff have also responded to the pandemic by reaching out to our families to make sure that we are helping every way we can. The Youth Connection Career Academies staff are keeping in touch with all of the youth in our career development tracts to provide them with virtual trainings so they can continue to receive the benefits of our programming as well as working with them to make sure they have food, have access to kitchen appliances and accessories that can help them cook and store food, and in some cases making sure any shortages of rent are paid so that nobody is kicked out of their living situation. In many of these instances, private donors like you and members of our board of directors are the reason we are able to help these youth in their time of need.

Staff from our Prevention Division have instituted phone trees to stay in touch with all of the families involved in our substance abuse, obesity, and other prevention programming. As part of a “Live, Laugh, and Love” outreach campaign, our staff are keeping in touch to provide prevention messages, asking what they can do to help these families, and even continue to find ways to provide essential programs during the pandemic. As part of the campaign, our tremendous staff are also spreading messages of hope and listening to parents and youth as they talk about what their daily lives are like and what they struggle with. Many of our families and youth have said that just knowing that TYC staff will be calling them every week has been a blessing and something they can count on in these uncertain times. Through it all we will be implementing our largest strengthening families 9 -14 program virtually! Usually we host about 10 – 15 families (20 -30 individuals). We have signed up over 30 families which translates into over 60 individuals. The hallmark of this program is sharing a meal together. Your generosity will help us deliver pizzas each week to each family that participates. It makes a difference.

Finally, what we are most proud of in how our agency is reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic is how our substance abuse prevention youth committee leadership council is taking the lead to conduct essential prevention activities in our communities in spite of the shelter-in-place order. DeAndra, Kendall, Denzell, and David are busy conducting virtual environmental scans of marijuana dispensaries to ensure that those businesses that are not licensed to sell marijuana are not doing so in our neighborhood. They are also working to promote substance abuse prevention education by having their friends, families, classmates, and others take a quiz that is a part of National Alcohol and Drug Fact Week to dispel myths about substance abuse and promote understanding of the challenges people with substance use disorder face. They successfully got over 100 people to take the quiz and learn more about substance abuse prevention by using only the internet. Also, they have submitted a proposal to teach other substance abuse prevention coalitions what they have learned about promoting prevention education during the COVID-19 pandemic at a future conference with thousands of attendees from around the world. We’ll keep you updated on how this amazing group of youth’s proposal is accepted or not.

In closing, we want to ensure all of our donors and supporters that though we may be experiencing challenging times, TYC will continue to fight to connect our families and youth to brighter futures. Allow us to leave you with a quote from one of the parents of a youth in TYC programs – “I’m so thankful that my son is still able to participate with The Youth Connection. It’s something that he can look forward to and I know that there are people out there who are looking out for him.” As a supporter of TYC, she’s talking about us, but she’s also talking about you. We wish you and your family health and safety in the months to come and a promise that we’ll keep doing everything we can to support our youth. Please Stay Well and Stay Safe.

Links:

• The Youth Connection's Website
• TYCDetroit On Facebook!
• TYCDetroit On Twitter!