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About Us
Schenectady's Promise is a community partnership, composed of individuals, families and organizations, dedicated to nuturing and empowering youth and families by fulfilling the five promises.
Whenever a violent event occurs, blame is cast, but rarely do we recognize that we all share in the blame. We also share in the solution. The solution begins with the recognition that injustices have occurred and are occurring. Our youth are not a problem to be fixed. The solution begins when we begin to recognize that our youth are our greatest underutilized asset.
We are, as a society, two-faced in our treatment of children and youth. We profess they are our future, we love and care for them. On the other hand we do not treat them as equals. We direct and command. We do not seek their opinion. We tell them what to do. When respect is given, respect is earned.
Schenectady has become a Community of Promise. We are working to ensure that every child is given the opportunity to succeed and be a welcomed member of our community. To begin us on the road toward viewing our children as assets and not problems to be fixed, Schenectady’s Promise: The Alliance for Youth has established Action Teams to fulfill the five promises that research has shown that, when fulfilled, our youth will reach their fullest potential. By fulfilling the five promises, the negative outcomes we have seen: violence, substance abuse, teen pregnancies can all be cut dramatically.
What are the five promises? A Healthy Start is necessary to have good health in the future, where health is not just the absence of disease, but a positive state of well-being. Caring Adults are needed to help guide and partner with youth through the difficult years of growing up. Safe Places are needed to enjoy life as well as to simply live. Marketable Skills through Effective Education are critical to be able to become fully integrated into society, insuring the youth’s and the community’s future. Meaningful Opportunities to Serve are crucial in both the education of youth but in the development of connections to our community.
What is an Action Team? It is an open forum where the issues that impact the fulfillment of the promise, the assets in the community as well as the barriers, are discussed and a plan is developed and action is taken toward positive change. The Action Teams are open to all youth and all adults in the community.
What is Schenectady’s Promise? It is a movement to involve youth and adults to become part of the solution. Youth are an asset. Every citizen in our community is an asset. When we come together over how to fulfill each promise and then act, we build a community in which we can all be proud.
What can you do? Join an action team. If you are part of a business, work to become a Business of Promise. If you are part of a school, work to become a School of Promise. If you are part of a congregation, work to become a Congregation of Promise. If you are part of an organization that serves youth, become a Site of Promise. Check out our website: www.schenectadyspromise.org to find out more. Each person, each place, each group becomes the start of a ripple of hope and as Robert F. Kennedy said: “crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls.”
Let us begin.
Kevin Karpowicz MD, Schenectady Pediatrician and former Chair of the Leadership Team, Schenectady’s Promise: The Alliance for Youth.
By: Kevin Karpowicz, M.D.
Goals
1. To give Schenectady County youth access to all five America's Promises of providing a healthy start in life, a caring adult relationship, a safe place with structured activities, marketable skills through effective education, and opportunities to give back through community service in order that each youth may believe in themselves, exceed expectations and succeed in life. 2. Establish and strengthen collaboration among communities, private, non-profit agencies, and Federal, State, local governments to support the efforts of community coalitions to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth. |
Objectives
To support youth and their families by: Enhancing mentoring relationships between young people and caring adults. Providing easy access to GED services. Enhancing early literacy efforts. Developing career exploration opportunities for young people. Working with the business community to develop places where youth have a safe place to grow, learn, socialize and have fun. Reducing childhood obesity. Increasing the number of mothers who breastfeed. Creating a match of volunteer opportunities for and with youth and to communicate those opportunities countywide. Identifying and training potential Sites of Promise to fulfill all five promises. For more information, please call (518) 464-3949.
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