Indiana Youth Institute’s State of the Child 2019 is bringing its Indiana Youth Worker quarterly event on Tuesday to the Jackson County Learning Center, 323 Dupont Center in Seymour.
The purpose of the event, set for 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., is to showcase the trends, challenges and solutions facing children and youth.
Over the past year, a partnership involving the institute, Jackson County United Way and Purdue Extension Jackson County, has been formed to bring youth serving professional development resources to Jackson and Jennings counties for free.
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The partnership came about after Heather VonDielingen, the Purdue Extension 4-H youth development educator and county extension director, contacted Tonja Couch, executive director of Jackson County United Way, in early 2018 with a request to build a group to ensure timely, relevant professional development resources would come to Jackson County, according to a news release.
VonDielingen, Couch and others have since been working with Kori Jones, the Indiana Youth Institute outreach manager, to select topics youth workers have requested.
“Using data to drive our decisions as youth workers is important to ensure we are meeting the needs of those we serve,” VonDielingen said. “The institute provides up-to-date and timely data that can help us strategically invest resources and volunteer time to meet the needs of an ever changing society.”
Couch said Jackson County residents want a community where people choose to live, that is healthy and safe.
“They want a community that is alive, vibrant and growing with places to go and things to do,” she said. “We want to be known as a place where we work together for solutions to take care of our neighbors and generations.
Couch said the presentation allows people to learn from the experts about trends to positively impact and serve the children and youth by understanding the issues and needs they face so that they can take action to become the kind of community they want to be.
The event is open to anyone who wants to become familiar with the most recent data and research on child well-being.
Registration is required and may be completed by visiting the event on Facebook or emailing Jones at [email protected] by Monday.