OHIO PARTNERSHIP FOR YOUTH
About OPFY
On January 29, 2004 representatives of youth serving organizations and programs gathered to effect the future forever. They agreed and committed to teach and model for youth within their organizations to reach out and partner with other youth groups around the cornerstones of community service, prevention, and positive youth development.
Guiding Principles - click here
The Time is Right
Today’s young people are living in an exciting time, with an increasingly diverse society, new technologies, and expanding opportunities. To help ensure that they are prepared to become the next generation of parents, workers, leaders, and citizens, members of the Ohio Youth Partnership Initiative are working toward a shared vision– Ohio youth will have the skills, character and civic responsibility to assume leadership roles. In order for youth to achieve their fullest potential, barriers that limit their development must be minimized or eliminated and factors which promote their positive development must be increased and reinforced across all sectors of the community.
Partnership Vision
Youth organizations join forces and work together to assure that Ohio youth have the skills, character, and opportunity to achieve their greatest potential as responsible citizens.
Partnership Mission
The Ohio Partnership for Youth cultivates cooperative partnerships among youth organizations by promoting community service, prevention, and positive youth development as cornerstones in healthy y outh development.
Partnership Cornerstones:
The cornerstones represent those activities employed by youth-serving organizations to provide youth the opportunities to get involved in positive activities and with positive peers and adults. Understandably, community service and peer prevention promote positive youth development. However, there are organizations within communities that have long-standing image and success in mentoring programs, tutoring and skills-building that have not engaged in peer prevention programs such as Teen Institute. The intent of this initiative is to facilitate partnering among these local groups to maximize the impact of positive youth development activities across Ohio. Definitions of the cornerstones follow:
Community Service
Volunteering time and effort to address the human needs of a community and to promote the wellbeing of all its members.
Peer Prevention
Prevention is a planned process for change designed to preclude the onset of unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol and other drug abuse and addiction. Peer prevention is the engagement of youth to conduct prevention activities with
their peers.
Positive Youth Development
An approach toward all youth that builds on their strengths and their potential and helps counter the problems/challenges facing them.