Resource of the Week: What is Connected Together? (attached)
Did you know that SARCC operates a communities that care initiative in Lebanon county? We send a quarterly update to both PCCD and our cohort of key leaders. Check out just a few highlights below:
Our Connected Together Community Board that is implementing the Communities that Care process in Lebanon County met four times, held multiple CTC Leader planning meetings, and organized and ran strategic planning meetings focused on increasing mental health awareness in our community.
We also love our partnership with the Community Health Council & their Youth Advisory Board (YAB). Together with them, we were able to assist in planning this year’s Better Together Summit – a local day where professionals get together to learn about current community initiatives and have time to network and share ideas. Not only were we invited to the planning committee this year, but we were also specifically asked to present about our Connected Together/Communities that Care work and the various initiatives that we bring into the community.
When it comes to the Youth Advisory Board, recruitment and scheduling were our two huge goals over the summer. We were able to hold both a summer recruitment event at a local restaurant and a focus group with a small subset of students over the summer. Both were well attended and increased the number of return students in the fall. Orientation for YAB school year 24-25 is set for beginning of October.
Planning for the Community Health Council’s bi-yearly “I’d Rather Be” social norming campaign is up and running. YAB students helped to provide feedback on this campaign and their suggestions for how to make it speak to youth in a more effective way is now being utilized as we work to schedule the photoshoot, select models and develop the campaigns story. In the end, we expect that this partnership and campaign will help to decrease anti-social behaviors in our community, while promoting positive healthy behaviors that teens can engage in.
Are you interested in joining the work of the Connected Together Community Board? Contact Caitlin Lockard at clockard@sarccheals.org.
