Community Youth Action Crew - Maps Are Here!

Since November 2010, CYAC Youth Leaders have conducted over 1,759 surveys with students, program staff, businesses and community members throughout Carver County.  Of these surveyed, 1,632 were youth who shared information about what they participate in, where they hang out in the county, what barriers exist for them to participate in activities and what opportunities they would like to see in Carver County for youth, including activities/programs and places to simply hang out.

In addition to the information about youth engagement throughout the county, CYAC Youth Leaders identified the places throughout carver county that have opportunities for youth - from places young people hang out to structured activities and programs to faith communities to places they can find employment. The result of these efforts is a map of all the places youth identified as being important for other youth in the county. During May, 2011, CYAC Youth Leaders distributed maps and presented information from the results of the youth and community based interviews. Maps are available by contacting tdapple@aol.com. Click here to download the CYAC Map.

Community Youth Action Crew Youth Survey Results

During the course of the Community Youth Action Crew (CYAC) project, CYAC Youth Leaders collected 1,632 survey's from youth throughout Carver County. Click on the links below to see the results of the data from the four countywide teams.

Eastern District   Norwood Young Amercia   Waconia   Watertown-Mayer 

Community Youth Action Crew Fast Facts

Building on the excitement and energy of the 2009 LIVE IT Youth Summit, CCHP embarked on an action based project called the Community Youth Action Crew (CYAC) in fall of 2010. The purpose of the CYAC project is to increase connections between youth and their communities while providing youth and adults a chance to identify, promote and develop opportunities for learning, civic participation, personal growth and employment. In partnership with the University of Minnesota's Youthwork Institute, the CCHP CYAC has begun piloting a research model that will be used for statewide replication. The project seeks to:  

• Help youth generate community awareness and connections
• Create and share information with middle- and high-school youth about existing community resources and connections
• Offer young people meaningful opportunities to influence youth development opportunities in the communities throughout Carver County
• Build partnerships with local businesses, corporations and community members including economic support for CCHP CYAC sustainability

CCHP has coordinated the CYAC project by working with community partners to recruit and work with CYAC Youth Leaders from the key community areas of Carver County. Click here to see the CYAC Fast Facts sheet. CYAC Youth Leaders were selected based on demonstrated capacity or potential for leadership and knowledge of the communities they will work with.

CYAC Youth Leaders have conducted interviews with students, program staff and community members, they have been trained in data entry and they worked with a graphic designer to help design the project outcome - a map of Caver County with the places and resources available to youth in the community. The maps are expected to be available in April 2011, at which point the CYAC teams will begin a social marketing campaign to get the word about the map and project findings out in the community.

Healthy youth lead to healthy communities. We are excited to be embarking on the CYAC project and invite you to learn more by contacting Theresa Dolezal. Also, you can stay up-to-speed on the project by following the CYAC Blog.  

To inspire and educate youth to take action in their communities, the county and beyond. That was the purpose of the first-ever LIVE IT! Youth  Summit--an important event which had a meaningful impact on our future. On October 10, the summit brought together youth from throughout Carver County and empowered them to play an active role in shaping their communities.