“It is only when people bring their differences together that we can weave a unique and beautiful world.”
- Youth Trust Motto
Program
Chattanooga Youth Trust is a leadership development program in Chattanooga that provides 8th grade students of our community the opportunity to share in a small group setting that they may better understand each other’s problems, concerns and viewpoints that determine the quality of life in the greater Chattanooga community.
Purpose
Our Chattanooga citizens not only have the usual concerns of race relations and class differences, but due to the geographic makeup of our community, we have natural barriers that prohibit the togetherness of our community. Either real or imaginary, we have established these barriers in the community due to race, economic standing, private or public schools, living on a mountain as opposed to living in the valley, and even by how long a family has lived in our community. To overcome these barriers, the Chattanooga Youth Trust starts with 8th grade students – who are at a pivotal time when the family unit’s influence starts to give way to peer groups and peer pressure. The students’ values and beliefs about their community are being developed and put to work toward a better community.
Objective
The involvement of community leaders, schools, and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga will meet the specific objectives of the program. Acting as a coordinating body to bring about the successful involvement of the total community into this program will be the YMCA staff. Each school in the Chattanooga are (public, private, preparatory and religious) that operates an 8th grade class will be asked to nominate two students for the program.
These students will be chosen by their guidance counselors and/or teachers for their overall leadership potential and ability to work with others.
Methods of Achieving Objective
Team building and leadership training will begin with an extended weekend session at YMCA Camp Ocoee. This time will be used to bring the group together, break down barriers, have open discussions on community problems, let the group find out what a community consists of and get the students involved with each other. The weekend is highly structures with talks be community leaders from both the private and public sector. Training session on leadership and community involvement will be conducted plus a great deal of group fun and challenging opportunities.
Maintaining the Objectives After the Program
After the weekend, the students will have the opportunity to participate in the YMCA Trustkeeper’s, an extension of the Youth Trust program and the YMCA Leader’s Club. Trustkeepers is an ongoing program that lasts the entire school year. Led by student leaders under the supervision of the YMCA staff, Trustkeepers continues the leadership building that began at Youth Trust.
Results of Program
- A core of youth from all of Chattanooga that know each other and can work together.
- A deep understanding among individuals from different races, economic backgrounds and lifestyles.
- A representative group of youth that can be drawn upon to advise or give their ideas on projects for Chattanooga.
- The removal of barriers between students who can then share their training and ideas with other students in their schools.
- The training of youth regarding community life and what it takes for a community to work.
- Trained individuals that can easily see and understand different points of view on community issues.
- Students who will continue to receive opportunities throughout high school for social and academic development.
To make sure the program is achieving its desired results, the students, teachers, and YMCA conduct extensive evaluations each year on the program. The young men and women who participate in the Chattanooga Youth Trust program will often go on to become the leaders of our community and what better leaders than those who are “homegrown.”
YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga
Teen Youth Programs
301 West 6th Street
Chattanooga, TN 37402
Tel: (423) 266-3766