Earlier this year, the First Selectman’s Task Force on Substance Abuse was awarded funds from Middlesex United Way to support a community-based asset building initiative. Like many other communities, we are using research from the Search Institute which has identified 40 positive experiences and qualities that all of us have the power to bring into the lives of children and youth which are called developmental assets. The assets can be called building blocks of healthy development that help young people grow up healthy, caring, and responsible. As part of this grant, the Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors Survey (A & B) was administered on May 16 to Clinton students in grades 6 through 12 to assess these assets.

What are these developmental assets? The assets spread across eight broad areas of human development. The asset categories focus on external and internal values, skills, and beliefs. Research has shown that programs that emphasize a young person’s strengths can lead to an overall decrease in substance abuse and high risk behaviors. The A & B survey provides schools and communities with a wide range of information, attitudes, behaviors, and needs of its youth. The survey has been administered in over 1000 communities and to well over 1 million students in urban, suburban and rural settings. The survey contains 156 questions about school climate, parent and school boundaries and expectations, and structured time use, and a wide range of risky behaviors. Everyone one can be an asset builder in Clinton. To get a free copy of the 40 Developmental Assets and an Asset Checklist, contact Andrea Kaye, Prevention Specialist at 669-1103, email ysbureau@snet.net, or stop by Clinton Youth & Family Service Bureau at 112 Glenwood.

A program of the First Selectman’s Task Force