How we got started?

The events that lead to what is now the La Plata County Children, Youth and Families Master Planning process began several years ago. In 2003 a Community Prevention Policy Board (PPB) was formed to oversee a grant-funded local mentoring program (administered by Durango Latino Education Coalition, now Del Alma) and elevate the level of local support for programs that were attempting to prevent problem behaviors among youth. A PPB “study group” explored this latter question as well as how to sustain the mentoring program when the grant ended. Those issues, however, evolved to looking for ways to bolster community-wide support for positive youth development programs. Although the single program the PPB monitored was providing positive youth development services and preventing problem behaviors, they realized that only a total commitment from the entire community – parents, government, civic entities, community and faith-based organizations—would make a significant and enduring difference.

This type of comprehensive effort would require not just continued or more grant-funded programs, but a wide-scale campaign that would fundamentally change the way our community addressed youth development. The PPB study group then developed a slide show highlighting the need for positive youth development that would go beyond simply providing "services" for youth, especially after they had already gotten into "trouble". To campaign for positive youth development as well as assess community readiness and political will, they invited representatives from the city, the county, the schools, Department of Human Services and a few other stakeholders to a meeting in which they presented their case and call to action. The hope was that the stakeholders would respond to the call to action with some ideas that could be implemented. But what the stakeholders said was, well done, you have presented a good case to do something, but we don't know what that something should be. Go back, figure it out and let us know what our part should be.

The PPB study group then explored what Jefferson County had done with "Build a Generation"work as one of our team members had direct experience with the success of that model. Building off that idea of a countywide initiative, further research identified other models, one of which was Youth Master Planning. At the 2006 La Plata Community Summit, the Youth Master Planning model was presented in a break out session on positive youth development. Because it is a youth engagement model, the Service Learning Initiative of SW Colorado offered financial support to bring an expert to La Plata County to teach us more about the model. The presentations by that expert in the Fall of 2006 to stakeholders were compelling because of the success in other communities, the inclusive nature of the model, and the fact that it would lead the community to answer the question, "Are we doing all we can to ensure all children, youth and families in La Plata County thrive?" The managers of La Plata County, the City of Durango, Town of Ignacio and Town of Bayfield expresses interest in working together to create a Children, Youth and Families Master Plan. The PPB evolved into an interim steering committee to suggest how the communities could begin the work of developing a Children, Youth and Families Master Plan." Each government body, then, contributed funds from their 2007 budgets to create the Plan. An RFP was generated to solicit proposals and a contract was awarded to Onsite-Insights in April of 2007 and work began immediately. In addition to the consultant's contract, the County hired a part-time person to serve as the local representation for the planning process.

Finally, the consultant’s home city of City of Hampton, VA, which had recently been selected to receive Harvard University’s Innovation in American Government award for their Children, Youth and Family Master Planning was holding a “by invitation only” conference to share their initiative with ten cities/counties from around the county. Because the consultant was a chief architect for Hampton’s plan he was able to secure an invitation for three people to attend this conference. County Commissioner Joelle Riddle and Durango Mayor Doug Lyon and newly hired staff, Jenny Bruell attended the three day conference in Hampton.