On December 14, Birth to 22: United for Brighter Futures hosted its sixth annual stakeholder task force meeting virtually titled
Reimagine & Create Pathways to Success. The annual meeting serves to inform, engage and plan with the key champions, coalitions, and young people about the work of Birth to 22: United for Brighter Futures. Over 170 individuals participated in the annual meeting.
Geeta Loach Jacobson, Youth Services Director of Community Outreach and Programming, kicked off the task force with welcoming remarks and reminded participants of the purpose of Birth to 22. The meeting transitioned to having participants pause with a Mindful Moment facilitated by Knelle Bisram from Prime Time Palm Beach County. Tammy K. Fields, Youth Services Department Director and Lisa Williams-Taylor, CEO of the Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County presented an overview of accomplishments, including Palm Beach County being named a national winner of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize. Birth to 22 was noted as a major highlight of why Palm Beach County was named a winner of this honor.
Breakout sessions were held for participants to learn more about different Birth to 22 action teams and to set forth proposed 2022 action team priorities. Topics presented and priorities set included:
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Achieve Success In Higher Education: Finalize transition to Palm Beach State College; Reignite workgroups to accomplish objectives.
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Access to Health and Wellness: Compile a resource guide to identify insurance assistance and safe spaces for youth in PBC.
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Becoming a Trauma Sensitive Community: Increase participation in Get Your Green On; Expand reach to law enforcement, first responders and non-English speaking community members.
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Economic Access: Increasing agency participation in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) process.
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Engagement Team: Host Community Conversations: strengthen and expand Communication Subcommittee; develop centralized data platform.
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Education to Employment Pathways for Disconnected Youth: Identify and align databases to access resources.
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Ensuring Safety & Justice: Implementation of Enhanced Mentoring Initiative in PBC; Publication of a pro-social resource directory for target population; Production of a Safety and Justice infographic.
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Future Leaders: Develop and implement outreach strategies to connect with youth and sustain youth engagement.
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Girls Coordinating Council: Strengthening GCC Network and completing second network analysis survey; hosting an event to highlight findings from network analysis survey and Girls Voice Task force members.
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Racial Equity: Continue supporting Advancing the Mission's Learning Cohorts to implement proven practices and replicate success, changing the norm of what is expected and possible to advance racial equity in Palm Beach County.
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Social Emotional Learning: Build SEL capacity among youth serving organizations, youth/teen leaders and families; scale SEL practices and competencies in the school day and out-of-school time setting community-wide and educate national and local stakeholders in the field on best practices.
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Strengthening Quality Out of School Time: Reactivating the OST team; Integrating the changes and adjustments made over the last year into the current and future group objectives; Redefining the team's objectives and moving toward implementation