Youth-Led Community Dialogue May 18th

By Jackie Fischer

“What do you have to say?”  “We all have something to learn, we all have something to give.” “Community gets built when people show up.” These are phrases youth facilitators use to describe the Youth-Led Community Dialogues. 

The Dialogues bring people of all ages together to listen carefully to one another, and for each to express one’s own experience through a safe and respectful structured dialogue process.  OCP and partners, youth and adult, have used the Community Dialogue process throughout the last couple of years to discuss important issues facing our community. The specific topics are carefully chosen by youth facilitators.  On May 18^th the Community Dialogue topic is: Public Spaces in Woodstock: How Welcome Do You Feel?

The Community Dialogue is being sponsored by OCP and the Youth Matter Community Collaborative, a group that focuses on increasing youth connectedness to community.  A strong asset of the Woodstock community is that people tend to pay attention when youth take an active role in leadership around a community issue and invite people to dialogue about an important question. Giving youth an active role in leadership in the community is an important way to connect youth to community.  

 “There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about” writes Margaret Wheatley, author of Turning to One Another, stressing another important role of dialogue in the community.  Community Dialogues are based on the premise that the very best way to address an important issue is to encourage people to talk openly about it.  Addressing the questions around use of public spaces is not a simple matter, but the Dialogue will focus on “what’s possible” rather than “what’s wrong.”  Wheatley makes the point that the simple act of bringing people together to dialogue enhances community building.  She writes, “As we share our different human experiences, we discover a sense of unity. We remember we are part of a bigger whole…we also discover our collective wisdom. We suddenly see how wise we can be together.” 

Youth leadership, community engagement, important topics addressed in deeply respectful way - this is what Community Dialogue is all about.  Add your voice to the Dialogue on May 18^th in the North Universalist Chapel Society Social Hall in Woodstock from 6:30-8:30.  With questions, call OCP at 457-2679.

Community Coalition Topic on May 10th is “Parenting”

By Jackie Fischer

How fitting that Mother’s Day, high school graduation, senior prom and Father’s Day all fall within a month’s time of each other.  The rituals celebrating high school completion and new opportunities are bookended by days honoring mothers and fathers, the most important people in supporting children’s optimal development.  But how and where do parents get the support they need? We’ll talk about that at the upcoming Community Coalition meeting, on May 10^th from 5-7 p.m. at the Woodstock Union Middle/High School library.  Parents of children of all ages are invited to attend – to share parenting joys and challenges, and to learn more about great local resources available to parents.  

Parenting challenges abound! One example is in the transition from 6^th to 7^th grade.  Many sixth grade children relish leaving their small town elementary schools, to go off to the seventh grade in the big middle school in town. But parents of children in the sending towns of Barnard, Bridgewater, Reading and Pomfret are sometimes less than keen about the idea.  Often parents lament that once their children move into 7^th grade they often know less about their child’s friends, and have less connection with other parents and with the school.  

The WUMS Parent Network is trying to change that sense of parent disconnectedness. The Network is led by a handful of parents with support from principal Dana Peterson, counseling staff at WUMS and OCP.  The Parent Network provides an opportunity for parents to dialogue about the concerns and achievements with raising children and challenges with raising children in our media saturated culture. The Parent Network describes the importance of their work: “Involvement with your child’s school and education is important to the health and well-being of your teen. We’re only parents of middle schoolers for a short time (although these two years may seem to last a lifetime.)  The Parent Network aims to be a resource, a home to school connector, a source of information and a gathering of parents to address the small and large questions of and about parenting.”  Second Mondays for Parents are workshops based on specific parenting topics. Last year’s included: Cyberbullying, the Adolescent Brain and Talking about Healthy Relationships.  

Other supports for parents locally include the parenting series Guiding Good Choices and LifeSkills for Parents.  Offered through OCP in towns throughout the district, the five session Guiding Good Choices is a program that provides parents with the knowledge and skills needed to guide their children through early adolescence. It seeks to strengthen and clarify family expectations for behaviors, enhance the conditions that build assets within the family and teach skills that help children resist peer pressure.

LifeSkills for Parents is a parenting program stemming from Botvin's LifeSkills Training, the substance abuse and violence prevention program taught to 6th - 9th grade students throughout the district.  Jason Tarleton, middle school health teacher, teaches the parent portion of the curriculum. This training familiarizes parents with the LifeSkills curriculum that their children are receiving in school, and teaches skills for reinforcing lessons at home that children are learning in schools. 

Join the discussion about parenting at the Community Coalition meeting on May 10, from 5-7 p.m.