Executive Director Announcement

November 27, 2007

 The Board of Directors wishes to announce that Bill Crawford has made the decision to step down from the role of Executive Director of the Dam Youth Drop-in effective 3 December, 2007. Bill’s contribution to the growth, vitality and vision of the organization has been enormous and I’m sure I speak for all “stakeholders”: youth, volunteers, staff, community and donor supporters, when I say that we wish him the very best of God’s blessings as he explores his future ministry..

 We also wish to acknowledge the work and leadership of our Drop In Director, Carol Reist. Throughout the last few months, Carol has demonstrated even more of the qualities which have made her work with the youth so successful and it is our pleasure to announce that effective December 3, Carol will assume the role of Executive Director of the organization.

 The organization has always been blessed with talented leadership whose efforts have directly impacted the lives of youth in our community. We all have a responsibility to ensure that legacy continues to grow and thrive in the future and with the established foundation under the leadership of Bill Crawford and the future stewardship of Carol Reist, we are confident of exciting and rewarding developments in the growth of the ministry.

Sincerely

Jim Kitchen
President
Dam Youth Drop In

The Dam's Annual General Meeting

The Dam's 2006 Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday, April 19th, 2007. The meeting started with a presentation from Affinity on the Food For Life program. The business of the AGM included handing out the 2006 Annual Report and 2006 Audited Financial Statement, voting in new board members as well as adopting the vision statement and core values for the organization.

We welcome Norm Gauthier, Rick Beharry, Cathy Bruce, Steve Puersten and Erin Emmons as new members of the Board of Directors.

What makes a youth “at-risk”?

We have just completed a short survey of the youth who come to The Dam’s drop-in on a regular basis, many of whom are new since the start of the school year. As we compiled the results we were pleasantly surprised to find that over 90% of our regular members are currently attending school. Does the fact that most of the youth who go to The Dam attend school mean that they are not at-risk?

The truth is that dropping out of school is just one of many at-risk factors… Results from the survey confirmed what we already knew, that alarming numbers of our youth are using drugs and alcohol on a regular basis and are involved in unprotected sex, self-harming activities, crime and violence towards youth and others. Sixty percent of youth surveyed have run away from home or have been kicked out at least once. According to those who rate these risk factors, our youth would very much be “high risk” youth.

The good news is that all youth who come to The Dam reported that they feel safe there - 80% said they feel “very safe”. Most reported that they feel staff know who they are and many are connecting with at least one staff or volunteer on a significant basis.

At The Dam, our definition of a youth at-risk is a youth who does not know where he is or where he is going. In addition to responding to the many at-risk factors that we all can see, we go deeper to help our youth find the answers to some more fundamental issues such as identity and direction. Most of the time, dealing with the issues inside helps significantly in resolving the behaviours on the outside.

The Dam Youth Drop-in Newsletter is in Adobe PDF format for local viewing and printing for reference. If you do not have Adobe Reader loaded on your computer, you may download it for free from Adobe.