Council Update: Birth to 22 Alliance celebrates 10 years, plans for future

After 10 years of community collaboration to address youth violence and disengagement, Birth to 22: United for Brighter Futures is looking forward to the future. At a Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County board meeting this month, Birth to 22 staff shared the alliance’s accomplishments, including:

•    Creation of the county’s Youth Services Department
•    Publication of the Youth Master Plan
•    Launch of the EveryParent Campaign
•    Establishment of the PBC Youth Summit
•    Creation of the Girls Coordinating Council of PBC
•    Distribution of more than $400,000 in Help the Helpers funds during COVID-19
•    Creation of a Behavioral Health Specialist Certification
•    And much more 

As the alliance – which involves dozens of local organizations including CSC and the county’s Youth Services Department, providers, parents and youth - strategizes for the future, it has outlined the core components of its upcoming plan: safety, education, economics and mental health. 

In other business

CDI Funding: The Council approved funding for seven Community-Driven Innovation nonprofits for fiscal year 2024-2025. The nonprofits include: Delray Beach Children’s Garden ($100,050); Gold Coast Down Syndrome ($100,050); Soil and Soul, Inc. ($100,050); The Children’s Healing Institute ($99,681); Esperanza Community Center ($90,975); 4Knowledge is Power ($56,616); Boldin Community Impact ($56,616).

Summer Camp Scholarship Funding: The Council approved $300,000 from use of under expenditures to fund additional summer camp scholarships for about 600 more children. Total funding for the program is now $4.5 million, which is expected to serve about 4,000 Palm Beach County children.

Summer Camp Scholarship Marketing Campaign: CSC’s Communications Team’s most recent video campaign promoting summer camp scholarships performed well on social media, reaching thousands of users and garnering hundreds of likes, share and comments in both English and Spanish. The campaign also included user-generated content, shared by social media influencer Kitty Lundan. Overall, the boosted campaign and UGC videos increased awareness and engagement for summer camp scholarships.

Leading the Fight Series: CSC sponsored the first of a three-part education series hosted by Center for Child Counseling and the Palm Beach Pediatric Society. The goal of CCC’s Leading the Fight Series is to advance efforts to address Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma. More than 80 health care providers and partners who serve children and families in Palm Beach County attended the April 17 event. The first part of the series focused on how pediatric medical professionals can provide mental health integration by being trauma-informed in their offices. 

Lifeguard Update: In the year since CSC began funding lifeguard and water safety instructor training to increase the opportunity for children to learn to swim, Palm Beach County has seen:
•    58 new certified lifeguards
•    26 new certified water safety instructors
•    A total of 12 trainings at three pools

Of 42 participants surveyed, 73 percent were between ages 15-19, 17 percent were 20-25 and 10 percent were between 26-52. The goal of the program is to increase the number of lifeguards and safety instructors so more Palm Beach County can learn to swim and have safe access to swimming locations.