Overview
In Native American communities, the role of grandparent has always been not only a cherished one, but also one of privilege. As part of their tradition, grandparents are expected to serve as important models and communicators of customs, culture and language necessary for their community’s vitality. This includes discipline, morals, and position or connectiveness to the community. Yet over the years, the extent to which they are involved has changed, sometimes creating a role from which one once got much enjoyment to one in which grandparents are overwhelmed because of the extent to which they are involved, more recently due to the absence of the child’s own parents. Never before have we seen grandparents involved at the levels they are today, including with children’s education, healthcare, and socialization. But some of this is out of necessity, an effort to fill a void left by their own children.
Child Abuse: Challenges and Progress
Children in Native American communities are no strangers to abuse. With today’s focus on bullying in all its permutations, including social media, it is easy to forget that the abuse of children has been around for longer than one would wish and has taken many forms, particularly in the home.
Definitions of Abuse
In order to examine how these problems are perpetuated in Native American communities, it might be advised to first look at the different definitions of abuse. [Read more…]
Planning Organizational Change in the New Year
Times of change and transition can be both difficult to deal with and exciting. Managers tasked with guiding and directing staff, implementing new projects, communicating openly with employees and partners, mediating feelings of uncertainty, and much more can easily become overwhelmed when considering an organizational change. In management, it is common to feel like you are becoming a reactor to unexpected challenges rather than having the time to plan for the future and be innovative.
When managing projects to provide services to victims, we often feel that we don’t have the time to create strategies for organizational change. It is important to consider the idea of change more in depth. Ask yourself, “Who will be impacted by the change?”, “How will it affect staff?”, How will I, as a manager, respond to the impact of organizational change on my staff?”. Preparing for change in your organization is crucial to responding effectively to any questions or needs from staff throughout the process.
Brager and Holloway (2002) suggest that there are five stages of planned organizational change:
- initial assessment
- pre-initiation
- initiation
- implementation
- institutionalization
Developing Youth Programs – the community and you
Summer is here! Young people are out and about in the community to enjoy a few months of summer vacation or finding summertime employment. For service providers, summer can mean increased youth engagement. Many service providers ramp up their youth-focused activities during the summer to address social problems and respond to disparities in community services. Children and young adults engage with multiple systems in our communities, ranging from community service providers, schools, neighborhoods, peers, and families. Each of these systems has a strong influence on young people as they approach adulthood. Summer is a great time to engage young people and for service providers to ask themselves: How can we bring together and use multi-systems in our communities to ensure young people have the resources they need to make healthy and safe choices?
It is important to look at how youth programs focused on intervention services such as drug/alcohol use, gang activity, bullying, dating violence, etc. are developed. Too often these programs are designed without the input of young people. Adults in the community will observe a problem, apply for funding or financial support, and move forward with developing a new youth program. When the program is not as successful as was hoped, service providers and organizations are left wondering what happened. Young people are experts in their experience and add value to every step of the process of program development. Youth understand what activities and initiatives will resonate with their peers. They know what messaging will push youth away from a program and what will draw them in.
