VPT Online: What About Teens


		Community Calendar

		Community Listening Sessions

		Rx for Survival

		Vermont Primary Tracker

		VPT & You

		Vermont World War II Stories

		What About Teens

		VPT Blood Drive

How It All Began

In fall 2005, VPT and its community partners kicked off What About Teens?, a community education and outreach effort to identify and address issues that impact our teens/young adults and communities around Vermont.

In conjunction with The Voices Project, this statewide campaign hosted a series of nine town hall–style meetings (see community meetings, below), resulting in community-level initiated action plans that were developed into policy suggestions presented to the Vermont Legislature on March 30, 2006.

Teen Awareness Day
at the Vermont Legislature

The recommendations presented to the Legislature were:

Create initiatives for youth/adult interaction. It’s crucial to increase opportunities for youth and adults to interact.
Create incentives for businesses to hire and retain youth: Invest in building job skills for youth.
Continue financial support for successful family and youth service programs.

The What About Teens? community collaboration supports:

Continued and increased funding for SAPs (School Assistance Professionals).
Youth representation on school, select and community boards.

Community Meetings

The community meetings brought together adults and teens for discussion in Barre, St. Johnsbury, White River Junction, Bennington, Middlebury, Brattleboro, Rutland, Burlington and St. Albans. Each meeting was co-facilitated by an adult/teen team. The notes are available for download below (in PDF format) or call 1-800 639-3351 to receive your copy.

Community Meeting Notes
• Barre • Bennington • Brattleboro	• Burlington • Middlebury • Rutland	• St. Albans • St. Johnsbury • White River Junction

Collaboration members

What About Teens? is a community collaboration funded in part by the National Center for Outreach. Collaboration members are:

ASAP (Association of Student Assistance Professionals) of Vermont
Kingdom County Productions
NFI (Northeastern Family Institute)
Vermont, SRO (School Resource Officer)/Colchester Police Department
Spectrum Youth and Family Services
Vermont Children's Forum
Vermont Coalition of Runaway and Homeless Youth
Vermont Coalition of Teen Centers
Vermont Public Television

For more information about the project, please contact VPT's Outreach Department at learning@vpt.org or 1-800 639-3351.