Highlighting America’s 100 Best Communities for Young People
The 100 Best Communities for Young People competition honors outstanding efforts on behalf of young people by multiple sectors of communities. In cities, suburbs, small towns and counties across the country, this annual competition is leading communities to assess their efforts, work more effectively together for young people, and share best practices. Each week one of the 2007 100 Best Communities will be highlighted in the America’s Promise Bulletin and on our web site.
Hanover County, Virginia
By Cynthia Hobgood
Hanover County, Virginia, is known for many things including the Hanover Tomato, 30 nationally registered historic sites and landmarks, nationally ranked schools, two national battlefields, Randolph-Macon College, the oldest Methodist school in the country and Paramount's Kings Dominion amusement park that has more than two million visitors annually.
But what is most impressive is the strength and commitment of Hanover’s community partners that provide services, opportunities and resources for the 25,000 children and youth in the county. The spirit of service is also very important in Hanover. In 2005-2006, more than 9,000 volunteers contributed more than 440,000 service hours in the community with 76 registered Hanover organizations.
The key strength of Hanover County is in its collaborative spirit that transcends sectors. For example, County agencies and the school district partner to provide services for families and youth through the Practical Parent Education program, which enhances parenting skills through classes such as Raising Children of Character, Avoiding Homework Hassles and Understanding the Complexities of Bullying.
Additional collaboration example is Families and Schools Together (FAST), which offers parents an opportunity to become more involved in the school and community by spending family time with children through learning group activities and attending parents support groups, and the Family Assessment Planning Team, which consists of school, community and county representatives that determine services for at-risk youth.
Hanover provides opportunities for youth to be creative thinkers, problem solvers, decision makers and effective leaders in the community through countywide partnerships such as Emerging Leaders and by supporting teens to attend regional and state leadership conferences including Celebrating Youth Summit, Youth Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Project and Commonwealth Youth Conference for Leadership Effectiveness Program. Hanover Youth Perspective, an organization of board-appointed middle and high school students, provides youth a more formal role in the county's planning process and an outlet to voice issues important to them, including plans of new parks, schools and libraries with the Hanover Planning Commission.
Some initiatives that led to Hanover County’s selection as one of 100 Best Communities for Young People include:
Hanover's Promise
, supported by the Board Supervisors since 2003, includes non-profits, businesses, schools, government agencies, congregations and youth, encourages access to the Five Promises and collaborates on behalf of youth. Successes include the creation of Rites of Passage Community Workshop Series, a forum for teens and parents to address teens and independence issues.
Graduate Warranty:
The program is a policy of the School Board guaranteeing the competence of Hanover high school graduates. Hanover guarantees employers and post-secondary institutions that its students will be capable of communication, computation and career skills. If the student does not have these three basic skills necessary for success in the workplace or college, the school district will pay for remedial training.
Community Policy Management Team:
A team of appointed officials, county department heads, parent representatives and private providers that approves funding, makes policy decisions and maximizes Comprehensive Services Act dollars – state code for seamless service delivery for children in need.
Cares for Kids Program:
The program meets the needs and wishes of Hanover children in foster care by pairing them with community partners, who have donated more than $27,000 to the program over the last three years. Of the cases that were closed this year, at least 95% of the children assigned a CASA volunteer achieved permanency and 100% of the children served did not experience a new founded CPS complaint.
With a goal of instilling the value of volunteerism in its youth, Hanover provides numerous ways for youth to give back to the community. Through inclusion-based programs for special needs kids, service-learning programs, programs that enable youth to be decision makers and advisors and programs that teach leadership through service, youth are introduced to becoming contributing, productive members of the community.