It began as a rancorous "town hall" meeting, where angry parents pointed their fingers at the local high school.
It became a model of cooperation between the faith community and the school district, empowering thousands of parents to understand and respond to their kids' world, offering solutions instead of blame. And it just might work in your community.
In 2012, after the tragic deaths of several teenagers in the Poway area of San Diego County related to drugs and alcohol, and the contentious meeting mentioned above, Daryl Nuss, CEO of NNYM and a long-time resident of Poway, was in that meeting.
The next day, moved by the relative absence of church leaders at the town hall, he initiated a conversation with Scott Fisher, principal at Poway High School at the time. They talked about how the faith community and the schools could work together to address the issues facing students in the community.
That initial conversation quickly grew to include another high school principal in the district. They reached out to include 85 other leaders from the faith community, as well as law enforcement, counselors and other community groups. As a result of the strong response, a steering committee was formed that includes a lead counselor at Poway HS, a mom and community leader, three principals, two senior pastors, a junior high dad/football coach, and Nuss.
First came assessment: what were the key issues? A survey was conducted by area youth leaders and within local high schools to hear from students on the issues they were facing. They narrowed it down to troubling issues such as academic pressure, depression, self-harm, substance abuse, and social media.
A parent forum, presented at least once per semester, is called What I Wish My Parents Knew: Empowering Parents to Support 21st Century Teens. It's a community conversation that includes large events with interactive break-out sessions addressing the issues facing the teenagers, as well as smaller group meetings around the community. The purpose has been to support parents, believing that healthy homes produce healthy teens which produces a healthy community.
Finger-pointing has evolved into a healthy conversation that is fully supported by all six district high school principals and many other leaders in the community. To date, more than 1,200 parents representing many cultures of origin have been helped to engage the culture.
The church and school are working together.