Valencia County Youth Resiliency Corps

Envision resilient, rather than at-risk, young people. The New Mexico Department of Health’s Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (YRRS)  provides valuable data that illustrate the risks middle and high school students face as well as the resiliency factors that support a healthier and safer life. The Office of Injury Prevention is launching the Resiliency Corps as a “strategic action step,” informed by the YRRS.

Corps’ Prevention Goals

The Resiliency Corps will focus on community mobilizing--empowering county residents to develop and sustain comprehensive, multi-strategy youth injury prevention efforts addressing:

suicide

alcohol-related injury

drug-induced poisoning

motor vehicle injury

teen dating violence

physical assault  

The Corps will focus on promoting evidence-based strategies, policies and programs that reduce risks and strengthen the protective factors of young people.

The five-year initiative will first be piloted in Valencia County, New Mexico, with the Office of Injury Prevention evaluating successes, challenges, and protocols for replication throughout the state.

The Certificate E-Course

The Resiliency Corps is now recruiting community residents in Valencia County to  enroll in the “Youth Risk to Resiliency” certificate course. This 16-week course, developed in collaboration with UNM and offered through the UNM-Valencia Campus, includes distance learning and face-to-face instruction. The course provides an overview of injury, resiliency factors, advocacy, and prevention best practice.

The Corps’ Projects

Course graduates become members of the Resiliency Corps and work on team-identified youth injury prevention goals and ways to increase protective factors. The focus is on promoting resiliency factors throughout childhood and adolescence--addressing social and environmental factors.

Evaluting Progress

The Corps will promote the distribution of injury data to inform prevention strategies. Technical assistance, including the effective use of information technology, science-based strategies, and culturally relevant programs, will be provided to support and evaluate progress toward community-driven youth injury prevention outcomes.

Welcome To Our Next Meeting

What : Resiliency Corps Organizing Meeting

Where: UNM – Valencia Campus, Student Community Center (SCC), Room 108

When: Tuesday, June 23, 2:30 – 4:00 PM

Contact: UNM-Valencia Campus, Dubra Karnes-Padilla 505-925-8832. dubra@unm.edu

Please RSVP by June 19.