America's Promise is our Promise By Amanda C. Outlaw, Urban Regional Extension Agent

America's Promise is a network of community partners dedicated to fulfilling the Five Promises for every young person in America:

1. caring adults;
2. safe places;
3. healthy start;
4. effective education; and
5. opportunities to help others.

Caring adults start with caring parents. Parents or guardians are expected to develop a safe and secure home for youth to feel connected to when they feel unsure about navigating the road to adulthood and moving from one transition to another in school. Youth need to have ongoing relationships with other caring adults such as mentors, tutors, and coaches that can offer support, care, and guidance. Safe places with activities that are meaningful and structured where they can grow and learn. Many safe places have signs outside of them to let parents and youth know there are sanctuaries where they can feel nurtured and safe. A healthy start means that in the home and community young people receive adequate nutrition, exercise and health care so their bodies and minds can develop to their full potential. Effective education helps young people go from school to work with skills that are marketable, and can provide for a transition to technical school or college.

Opportunities to help others build citizenship skills enhance their self-esteem. Community service is linked to good character building that includes trustworthiness, responsibility, being respectful, caring, and giving back to the community. Ask young people in your home or in your school if they can name at least three adult acquaintances that truly cares about them. Encourage youth to become involved in activities that will put them in contact with other caring adults.

Extension's Urban Center in Mobile County offers youth development activities in the form of the Urban Teen Leadership Academy. The Mobile County Urban Center serves Mobile and Baldwin Counties. The academy helps youth to tap into their unused potential by being a creative part of a leadership team. Leadership skills are shared by caring professionals, while youth have an opportunity to provide input into the training they receive, thereby learning how to think outside the box. Community service is a natural part of the academy and projects are highlighted at the 4-H Congress and Leadership Conference in June of each year.

According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation's 2004 Kids Count Data Book, there are many young people that do not make enough critical connections to the community. Many are unprepared for adulthood by the time they reach the age of 20. In our society, we expect young people to be able to go off to college or go out into the world of work and make good choices and decisions. But, if parents or guardians do not lay the groundwork for young people to start assuming adult responsibilities, they will be back home before the end of their first semester. There is also a population of young people that often fall between the cracks in our society and are not afforded the opportunities many youth receive. These are children in foster care and the juvenile system. Many do not have the family support when they make the transition from the foster care system or the juvenile system. These young people can benefit from the Five Promises that America's Promise advocates. The Five Promises can have a profound impact on the lives of these young people so that when they make the transition there will be a community that cares and will not be afraid to lend a hand. When youth engage in positive activities with caring adults they are more likely to pursue higher education. They are less likely to engage in risky behavior and are more likely to become productive citizens in their community. Working together as a community of promise and a community of caring any goal that a young person will set can be accomplished. As the wise saying goes it does take a village to raise a child and the village is you and I. For more information on the Urban Teen Leadership Academy or other programs offered, please contact Amanda Outlaw, urban regional Extension agent at 251.574.8445, aoutlaw@aces.edu or Susan Wingard, Baldwin County Extension Coordinator at 251.937.7176.

America's Promise. (2005). Youth action. Retrieved September 29, 2005.