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Healthy Community Healthy Kids (HCHK) is a nonprofit, primary prevention organization
Healthy Community Healthy Kids in Bemidji, Minnesota that was established in October 1994 by a group of concerned citizens. The main goal has been to be a catalyst for systems change through community organizing and collaboration.
HCHK’s work is based on research by Search Institute of Minneapolis that outlines a youth development model, which describes 40 building blocks (assets) that all youth need in order to grow to be healthy, productive citizens.
Healthy Community Healthy Kids’ vision and mission are as follows:
Vision: Inspire the community to create an environment which enhances the ability of young people to develop assets that promote personal competence, community involvement, and caring and responsible behavior.
Mission: To stimulate and support a process of community involvement that focuses on long-term asset-building for the families and youth of Bemidji.
In the early years, Healthy Community Healthy Kids focused on implementing projects that met immediate needs and included:
- Writing and receiving the implementation grant that established the Beltrami Area Service Collaborative
- Writing and receiving an After-School Activities
grant through the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and
Learning that served over 1100 area youth
- Serving as the lead agency for the America’s Promise
movement and hosting regional meetings
- Working with Bemidji youth to form a 95 member Bemidji Skate and Bike Association
to teach leadership and cooperation, and to build a community
skateboard park
- Promoting youth and adults who were taking the time to “Make A Difference”
in the community
- Distributing the Ideas for Parents
newsletter to parents of elementary students
As the Healthy Community Healthy Kids organization grew it became more sophisticated in its approach to community organizing and developed a series of strategies designed to energize the community to intentionally build positive developmental assets. Some of the major achievements during the past eleven years include:
- Providing the foundation and framework for the Kinship North mentoring program. Kinship North is a one-on-one mentoring program that matches caring adults with youth. Kinship North is an affiliate of the National Kinship Network. Kinship North has served over 200 matches during the past five years, and has provided a host of activities for the youth on the waiting list.
- Establishing the Youth Asset Building Program
that provides activity fees for youth who have never had the
opportunity to participate in after-school activities. This
program serves over 300 at-risk and low-income youth each year.
- Establishing the Bemidji Youth Advisory Commission which acts as the “youth voice” for the Bemidji City Council. Each year, twelve Youth Advisory Commission members learn leadership and citizenship skills through participation in City Council meetings and by providing a series of venues for all Bemidji youth to participate in including open forums, community dialogues, Listening Lunches, community dances, and an annual regional youth rally.
- Providing the vision and foundation to establish the
Boys and Girls Club of the Bemidji Area that opened in November 2003. As the lead agency, HCHK followed a multi-step plan outlined by the Boys and Girls Club of America that established a nonprofit organization, recruited and trained new governing board members, secured funding for the first year of operation, and hired an Executive Director. The Club now has over 700 members and serves about 130 youth per day.
- Providing baseline and outcome data for the community through implementing the Search Institute Profiles in Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors
survey three times (1995, 1999, 2003) in cooperation with seven
area schools. This 156-question survey assesses thriving
indicators and risk-taking behaviors regarding alcohol, tobacco,
and other drug use and has provided the impetus for discussion and
change in our community.
- Establishing the Suicide and Violence Prevention Coordination Program. This program was very recently begun on September 1, 2005 after HCHK completed a comprehensive Community Needs Assessment to determine where gaps and services exist in the Bemidji community regarding suicide and violence prevention.
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