Community Youth Mapping

Posted by on August 18, 2006

[posted from Promising Practices in After School listserv]

The AED Center for Youth Development and Policy Research (the Center) constantly strives to keep you aware of current issues that effect your afterschool programs.

Community Youth Mapping

For over a decade, the Center has implemented Community Youth Mapping (CYM), a skill building activity for youth as well as a civic engagement process for communities around the world. Youth survey community needs around issues that are of particular interest to them as well as learn the communication skills necessary to present their findings to, and strategize solutions with, local and statewide policy makers. To date, over 100 cities have been mapped in the United States along with multiple countries including Haiti, Jordan, and Egypt focusing on a variety of community needs ranging from youth workforce opportunities to healthy living projects.

CYM Healthy Living/Food Marketing

One particular CYM project funded by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has received much attention for the positive outcomes youth have helped generate. Food Marketing to Children and Youth is greatly relevant to your afterschool programs as the health risks young people face daily are often prompted by food and beverage marketing practices. As leaders of your afterschool programs, you are often tasked with ensuring that the young people in your programs develop eating habits that help them avoid early onset of diet-related chronic diseases, reduce their intake of high-calorie, low-nutrient snacks, fast foods, and sweetened drinks, all of which make up a high proportion of the products marketed to them.

The IOM report “Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?” provides recommendations for different segments of society to guide the development of effective marketing and advertising strategies that promote healthier foods, beverages, and meal options to children and youth.

Links:

For more information on Community Youth Mapping please visit: http://www.communityyouthmapping.org/Youth/

For more information on the Institute of Medicine and Youth-Focused Food Marketing projects please see the attachments and the following site: http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3788/21939/31330.aspx

Contact:
Should you have questions about either of these projects, please contact either: Raul Ratcliffe, AED Center for Youth Development and Policy Research at 202-884-8295 and rratclif@aed.org
or
Eric Kilbride, AED Center for Youth Development and Policy Research at 202-884-8374 or ekilbrid@aed.org