Thursday, January 17, 2008

Making A Difference

Last year, I acted on my "resolutions" slowly throughout the whole year - slipping in and out of my resolve like a greased pig out of its pen. (That was my obligatory dirty reference in homage to the title of this blog). One of the things I intended to accomplish was a notion pretty vaguely outlined in my head... get involved, make a difference. I wish I might have been a little more specific, so as to limit perhaps how involved I actually became. This year already I've spent more time in committee meetings, planning sessions and seminars than I have at my real job - Real Estate (no pun intended... well, ok yeah, the pun was intended - the dorkiness however, was not).

As a part of the Chamber of Commerce Leadership class I'm involved in, we have an assigned project that we work on throughout the year. Our project this year is to establish a community wide Asset Champions Network after the model established in St. Louis Park, MN. When we first heard about this - 3 months ago - we all looked at each other blankly. What is an Asset Champion? And why do they need a network? Briefly, a study was done which showed that there are 40 Assets that young people need in order to grow up making good choices and eventually become a productive adult in society. These Assets are things like positive family communication, a caring neighborhood, other positive adult relationships. Asset Builders are like mentors, or role models - adults who provide one or more Assets to a young person. Asset Champions are Asset Builders who help other Asset Builders recognize how valuable they are in a young person's life and support or encourage them to continue. Confusing, yes? I'm still not sure I quite get it....

Tonight, we held our first training session for Asset Champions. Someone other than me (thank goodness) explained the theory and after 3 months of putting together this presentation, once I saw it done, I actually started to get it, and I think, once it gets put into action, it will make a difference for some kids - a big difference!

Anyway, getting my head around that, and coordinating this presentation to be included in my work with theatre kids, as well as trying to be a good Realtor has pretty much drained my brain today. I wanted to write it down, to see if I actually could get the message across in less than 30 seconds. If you are still reading this far - you are a trooper! If you understand Asset Builders, even a little bit after reading this, drop a comment and let me know - it will make a difference in my life. Thanks for reading.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aha! A Self-esteem pyramid scheme and you get to be at the top of the pyramid! Niiice.

You have been tagged.

Anonymous said...

Good for you. I'm such a big government democrat, but I think stuff like this is really important.

Jill said...

i get it , its like growing up good for dummies, right? (bad grammar intended)

Ev said...

Don't you think it's sort of funny and horrifying that we need to have other people teach our kids to communicate effectively with their families and take an interest in their communities? It reminds me of the story of the Japanese kids who have to be take somewhere to be exposed to germs because their homes are so sterile that their immune system is weakened by it.

You're doing a great thing, but it's a little bit awful that the actual parents of those kids aren't making sure they can communicate and care about the rest of the world.

Liz Hinds said...

So the Asset Builders mentor the children and the Asset Champions mentor the Builders (sort-of)?

Anything that builds up the self-esteem of young people and tecahes them how to be great community members must be a good thing.

Aoj and The Lurchers said...

Soooo...Asset Builders fulfil the role that ought to be filled by um...parents? Or is that being a bit too simplistic!?

But still, it if it helps kids get life off on the right foot I'm all for it so good for you for getting involved!