For the fourth time in the last ten years, the Upper Bucks Healthy Communities Healthy Youth Coalition (UBHCHY) has completed the bi-annual youth survey given to 3,000 students in 8th, 10th and 12th grades in the Palisades, Pennridge and Quakertown schools. The collected data will be shared in March of next year in the form of the 2012 Upper Bucks Student Support Card (UBSSC) .
The UBSSC is the first and only data source in the area to measure the quality and quantity of support that young people feel in their lives through the evaluation of the 40 Developmental Assets. The UBSSC shows that the more assets and support a young person has, the more likely they are to succeed in school, make wise choices in regards to their mental, emotional and physical health and accept the values and beliefs of people from different cultures. The average number of assets possessed by Upper Bucks youth as measured in 2010 was 19.1 out of 40. The UBHCHY Coalition has seen positive increases each time the survey is conducted. When the UBHCHY Coalition began measuring assets ten years ago, the goal was to progressively see the majority of youth possess the majority of the assets.
The idea of defining, measuring and using 40 Developmental Assets to help support youth in their development was the brainchild of Dr. Peter Benson, President of Search Institute in Minneapolis, MN. Sadly Peter recently lost his battle with cancer on October 2, 2011. Peter played an instrumental part in the launching of the UBHCHY Coalition, going out of his way to deliver a speech to a group of ‘kindred spirits’ at the Quakertown Fire Company in May of 2000. Lee Rush, Executive Director of justCommunity, Inc and Community Mobilizer for the UBHCHY writes of Peter’s inspiring message that day in this moving tribute. UBHCHY Community Mobilizer, Lee Rush, pays tribute to Search Institute Founder, Peter Benson here.
The UBSSC is the first and only data source in the area to measure the quality and quantity of support that young people feel in their lives through the evaluation of the 40 Developmental Assets. The UBSSC shows that the more assets and support a young person has, the more likely they are to succeed in school, make wise choices in regards to their mental, emotional and physical health and accept the values and beliefs of people from different cultures. The average number of assets possessed by Upper Bucks youth as measured in 2010 was 19.1 out of 40. The UBHCHY Coalition has seen positive increases each time the survey is conducted. When the UBHCHY Coalition began measuring assets ten years ago, the goal was to progressively see the majority of youth possess the majority of the assets.
The idea of defining, measuring and using 40 Developmental Assets to help support youth in their development was the brainchild of Dr. Peter Benson, President of Search Institute in Minneapolis, MN. Sadly Peter recently lost his battle with cancer on October 2, 2011. Peter played an instrumental part in the launching of the UBHCHY Coalition, going out of his way to deliver a speech to a group of ‘kindred spirits’ at the Quakertown Fire Company in May of 2000. Lee Rush, Executive Director of justCommunity, Inc and Community Mobilizer for the UBHCHY writes of Peter’s inspiring message that day in this moving tribute. UBHCHY Community Mobilizer, Lee Rush, pays tribute to Search Institute Founder, Peter Benson here.