Coalition goal: Help young people in the QC

When it comes to helping young people in the region, Jennifer Byczynski has this advice: Dream big to help create programs that will help people in need. Those big dreams could create more services, educational offerings, more healthcare and just about anything else that could help young people facing a crisis. Many of those options […]

When it comes to helping young people in the region, Jennifer Byczynski has this advice: Dream big to help create programs that will help people in need. Those big dreams could create more services, educational offerings, more healthcare and just about anything else that could help young people facing a crisis. Many of those options were discussed Monday afternoon,  March 11, as about 50 people representing area social services agencies met for the first Youth Wellness Coalition meeting at The Project of the Quad Cities, 4101 John Deere Road, Moline. 

“We want to get some broader ideas. … We want to see how our services can be used,” said Ms. Byczynski, who is chair of the coalition, which is now part of the Bethany for Children & Families organization. She added that a top goal of the first meeting was to bring stakeholders together, listen to their ideas, form partnerships and develop new and better ways to improve the mental and physical health of young people in the Quad Cities. That goal is especially vital right now because local agencies are noticing more stressed and anxious junior and senior high school students. “While poor mental health was reported throughout the COVID pandemic, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recently reported that 44% of high school students said they persistently felt sad or hopeless during the past year,” according to information from the coalition. During the launch meeting, most of the activities centered on five large poster-sized pieces of paper taped to the walls. The goal was to use the posters to get comments and suggestions in various areas concerning youth wellness, such as: challenges; assets in the community; groups and people who should be invited to other coalition meetings; ideas to help young people; and resources local groups can provide. Some of the suggestions made on the posters and during a question-and-answer session included:

• No limits to free mental health resources.
• More youth-centered activities in the community.
• More tutoring services.
• Form a subcommittee of young people to get their views on the issues they face. “We can speak for them, but we also need to hear from them,” said Ms. Byczynski.
• Working with parents.
• Provide transportation for young people to activities.
• More programs in and through area schools.
• Another suggestion was to make the Youth Wellness Coalition its own nonprofit organization to coordinate activities to help young people. 

Organizers said the ideas and suggestions presented Monday will be included in an upcoming coalition newsletter. Several attendees called it a good event with good ideas. But several also said they hope to see more focused goals and projects in the future. “I hope they have more meetings to narrow down what they want,” said Laura Mahn, founder and executive director of NEST Cafe Quad Cities. (NEST Cafe is a  pay-what-you-can nonprofit restaurant in Rock Island that uses locally sourced food.) The Youth Wellness Coalition is scheduled to have three additional quarterly meetings this year. Those meetings will begin at 11 a.m. on April 17, July 17 and Oct. 16 at The Project of the Quad Cities. Ms. Byczynski said she was pleased with the results of the first meeting. “Our posters are full of good ideas. … It was a good turnout with good questions,” she added. For more information on the group’s efforts, email the coalition at [email protected].