East Grays Harbor Youth Collaborative working for youth in East County
The East Grays Harbor Youth Collaborative is looking to make changes to assist local youth.
Summit Pacific Medical Center tells KXRO that they have worked to align their vision of focusing on preventative health with the Summit Pacific Medical Foundation’s 2023 goal of creating measurable improvements in the health and well-being of our youth.
“We have a responsibility to represent our youth and we need commitment to action through our collective efforts that will drive results,” states Josh Martin, CEO Summit Pacific Medical Center.
In a release, the hospital says that the Foundation and stakeholders assessed the community’s current youth programs, activities, and services and identified needs to build up those opportunities for future generations.
The outcome of that research was the formation of the Youth Collaborative, formerly known as the Youth Summit, which is made up of 50 leaders from the community that are intended to serve as resources to bring ideas and initiatives to better develop the youth population.
The Youth Collaborative worked to review existing youth programs, services and activities in East Grays Harbor, and identified additional opportunities available for youth.
The group created a list of the top areas of focus for a number of areas.
This includes their programs category, concluding that job readiness, college preparation, financial skills, trade skills, STEM skill opportunities, childcare and after school programs are of high importance for future development.
They add that given the statistics the region’s youth show regarding suicidal ideation and the 60% increase in primary care clinics seeing youth for anxiety/depression, the group decided that mental health services should also be focus for 2023.
“Having the support of mentors and trusted adults is imperative to our youth’s mental health”, states Kody Harris, Community Development Manager for the Girl Scouts of Western Washington.
The goal of the Youth Collaborative is to create more activities for youth in East Grays Harbor County, and they say that their goal is to provide extracurricular activities focused on exercise and wellness such as open gym, swimming, gymnastics, mountain biking, hiking, cross-fit, yoga, cooking classes, and more.
The Youth Collaborative consists of five subgroups that will each focus on one of the priorities that the larger group identified for 2023, meeting on a recurring basis to establish and execute an action plan.
The next group gathering will be held on Sept. 26, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. at Summit Pacific Wellness Center.
If you would like to learn more or take part in the process, contact the Summit Pacific Medical Foundation at 360-346-2250 or email [email protected].
