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.
Manatee County, Florida
By Christopher Epps
Founded in 1925, this great city deemed the “Diamond of the Gold Coast,” is meticulously cut and fashioned to help improve the lives of its young people by building self-esteem and developing values and skills during their critical periods of growth.
Including roughly six miles of shoreline against the Atlantic Ocean, the city’s government shapes its initiatives around a mission to ensure that “…all who live, work and play in the city of Hollywood enjoy a high quality of life.”
One of the community’s significant challenges is the unequal distribution of wealth. Some families in the community are burdened with a low income status while others are able to meet personal and family needs and wants. To bridge this gap, the community, local business, and city staff come together to provide multiple levels of funding assistance through a variety of resources. One program, supported by the city’s Chamber of Commerce, does just that. Grapes for Grades, an annual scholarship fundraiser, raises funds for the Hollywood Florida Scholarship Foundation by hosting an event including entertainment, gourmet foods and fine wine tasting. The event’s proceeds fund college scholarships for students attending Hollywood public schools.
Even when crime hits Hollywood, negatives are transformed into positives. Through this community’s law enforcement efforts, money confiscated from criminals involving drug deals and other activities breaching the law is given back to the community to build homes, provide play areas, enhance schools curricula and continue youth-focused programming.
Although “gold” is helpful in any community, other programs that led the city of Hollywood to become a 100 Best community include:
Born to Read:
This was founded with the purpose of educating parents on the importance of reading to their babies. This clinic-based program strives to break the cycle of illiteracy by encouraging parents to read to their children during clinic visits and ultimately, at home.
Summer Youth Program (SYP): SYP provides educational and constructive activities for its youth while encouraging community pride and affording participants Opportunities to Help Others. Targeting low-to-moderate income families, SYP operates during the summer months while children are out of school. One great benefit of this program, among others, is the youth gain essential community service hours needed for high school graduation.
Volunteer Hollywood: This organization has a goal to promote, foster, and support the growth of volunteerism. Volunteer Hollywood has encouraged youth to directly impact the residents and the community while providing a number of volunteer opportunities, service events, and special projects with a fun and educational approach. In 2006, Hollywood’s youth accounted for more than half of 4,521 reported volunteers, contributed to at least 40 percent of the over 34,000 logged volunteer hours and participated in at least 50 of the 91 special events and projects.
This 2007 100 Best winner continues to create Safe Places and a safe education for its young residents. Lucky for this community’s children, interactive safety education is the focus of Safety Town, a program for children in kindergarten through first grade. In Safety Town, children are taught bicycle, fire, stranger, pedestrian and water safety. The program enrolls 10,000 annually and provides children with a place to learn and interact with other youth in the community.