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Carol’s Bio An entrepreneurial, strategic leader with over 16 years of experience
providing nimble and pragmatic vision to turn challenges and crises into opportunities:
Interim and permanent CEO, COO and Executive Director roles with community nonprofits focused on early childhood and youth development, mental health, and family violence, including New Community for Children, The Women’s Center, CrisisLink, and Women Empowered Against Violence.
Led efforts to raise over $27 Million for community-based charities, as well as garnered coverage by CNN, NPR, MSNBC, and the Washington Post.
Served as Secretary of the Alexandria Early Childhood Commission and Issue Leader for At-Risk Children for the Northern Virginia Interfaith Coalition for Social Justice.
Designed and developed a “Civics and Youth in Action” initiative to get 17 high school students appointed to 13 city boards and commissions, and 4 nonprofit boards. In just one year, this program has become the largest of its kind in the United States.
As Co-founder of Sustainability Nexus, she focuses on bringing her unique depth and breadth of experience in community organizations to building coalitions with schools, government, corporations and other nonprofits.
Community Engagement –
Why?
Why focus on community engagement?
“The 3 R’s”:
Resources
Reach
Relevance
Community Partners for
Schools
Who are community partners?
Families
Local Government
Churches
Businesses
Community Organizations
○ Nonprofits, Clubs, Civic Associations, etc
Who else?
What is community
engagement?
Schools & community partners can
collaborate to:
to engage students and
provide supports in a
community-based
holistic approach
to learning and education
for students
Developmental Assets
Model Developed by Search Institute in 1990 with
the release of The Troubled Journey: A Portrait of 6th to 12th Grade Youth
Introduced framework of Developmental Assets
Studies conducted with over 4 million youth across U.S. since then
Strengths-based approach
Developmental Assets – A
Strengths Based Approach Rather than “fixing broken kids” this is a
strengths-based approach
Identifies the traits and supports that help kids to be resilience, less likely to engage in risky behavior, and more likely to succeed academically
Through research, identified 40 building blocks for healthy development
2 Main Categories
External Assets Community
Family
School
Neighborhood
Faith
Internal Assets Habits
Values
Behaviors
External Assets – 4 Groups
Support
Family Love & Support, Parent Involvement
in Schooling, Positive Adult Relationships,
Caring Neighborhood, Caring School
Climate
Empowerment
Community Values Youth, Youth as
Resources, Service to Others, Safety
External Assets – Continued
Boundaries & Expectations
Family Boundaries, School Boundaries,
Neighborhood Boundaries, Adult Role
Models, Positive Peer Influence, High
Expectations
Constructive Use of Time
Creative Activities, Youth Programs,
Religious Community, Time at Home
Internal Assets – 4 Groups
Commitment to Learning
Achievement Motivation, School
Engagement, Homework Time, Bonding to
School, Reading for Pleasure
Positive Values
Caring, Equality & Social Justice, Integrity,
Honesty, Responsibility, Restraint
Internal Assets – Continued
Social Competencies
Planning and Decision-Making,
Interpersonal Competence, Cultural
Competence, Resistance to Peer Pressure
Skills, Peaceful Conflict Resolution
Positive Identity
Personal Power, Self-Esteem, Sense of
Purpose, Positive View of Personal Future
Resources
http://www.search-
institute.org/content/40-developmental-
assets-adolescents-ages-12-18
Example #1: Suicide Prevention
CrisisLink, a regional nonprofit providing crisis hotlines & education to prevent suicide
Partnered with Fairfax County H.S. guidance counselors & faith community
Collaborated on an annual conference to prevent teen suicide called “Bridging the Gap”
CrisisLink wallet cards funded by Fairfax County
Loss team outreach to families, schools and students who lost someone to suicide
http://crisislink.org/about-us/press-releases/may-is-national-mental-health-month/
Community & Asset Building
How did community engagement work in
this example?
Which of the 40 Developmental Assets
did this collaboration build?
What do you think some of the
challenges were for this collaboration?
Example #2: New Community
for Children NCFC is an after school & summer program for
kindergarten thru high school students in Shaw Neighborhood of Washington, DC
Developed hip hop multi-media curriculum to improve literacy for middle school & 9th grade students
Art program with pottery & printmaking to build identity and sense of community
https://www.facebook.com/NCFCDC
http://ncfc-dc.org/
Community Partners
What do you think NCFC brings to kids in strengthening Developmental Assets?
What does NCFC do that schools may not be able to do?
How could NCFC and schools work together to even more effectively build Developmental Assets?
Example #3: CBC Youth Reps
Initiative Collaboration between Citizens for a Better
City, a 50+ year old civic group, & schools, government, and other nonprofits/civic organizations
Only program of its kind in the U.S.
In 10 months became the largest program engaging students as Youth Reps to City Boards, Commissions & Civic Groups
http://www.youthrepsinitiative.org/
360 Community
Collaboration What’s unique in the CBC Youth Reps
model?
How does it address Developmental Assets?
What contributed to its success?
What would the challenges be of replicating this model in other communities?
Community Engagement,
Development Assets & Schools
Why is it important?
What makes it work?
What doesn’t work?
How does this relate to your educational
essay?
Carol’s Contact Info
Carol Loftur-Thun
Principal, Sustainability Nexus
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 703-346-5104