Quality Counts Nashville

Nashville is an exciting place to be for Positive Youth Development!

The Positive Youth Development Coalition is meeting regularly the fourth Friday of each month with action teams in marketing, youth engagement, quality standards, professional development, and membership. There have been over 50 youth serving organizations or government entities represented in the coalition so far. The Coalition recently met with the Forum for Youth Investment to explore becoming aligned with Ready by 21.

The next Positive Youth Development Coalition meeting is February 26th at 11:30am-1:00pm at the Downtown YMCA.

Nashville After-Zones Alliance (NAZA) is set to begin in January. Martha O’Bryan as the Coordination Agency for the Northeast Zone and Jane Fleishman as director practically ensures success. Zone Anchor Partners are now in place which means that youth and families in East Nashville now have 250 additional opportunities for quality afterschool experiences either at their school or in their neighborhood!

Susan Ragsdale and Louisa Avery have created a 4-hour Introduction to Positive Youth Development training, which is being offered next on February 12th from 1-5pm at the Downtown YMCA. (Please register for this training by emailing Louisa Avery at louisa@louisaavery.com) All NAZA anchor partner site managers and front-line staff are expected to attend. Participation is also expected for NAZA complementary partners either then or later. A 2-hour version for NAZA front-line volunteers will be offered regularly starting in January or February as well. NAZA trainings will be open to YPQA pilot sites and Nashville youth serving agencies as space allows.

The Quality Counts Initiative is reving up! It has been a wonderful two years of no cost program assessment and training thanks to the Forum for Youth Investment, High Scope and AED National Training Institute.