Published in the Oct. 2-15, 2013 issue of Morgan Hill Life

We at Morgan Hill Life care about the kids in our community. We want every child and young person in Morgan Hill to have an opportunity to experience a high quality of life and enjoy their early years in our town. That’s why we support the endeavors of Project Cornerstone, an initiative of the YMCA of Silicon Valley that seeks to share 41 “developmental assets” with residents and businesses of our community to benefit all children and teenagers. These assets, if actively implemented, will help young people make choices for a healthier life and lower their chances of getting involved in risky behavior that might harm themselves or others.

The first 40 developmental assets were created by the Search Institute based in Minneapolis. They are grouped into eight key areas: support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, constructive use of time, commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity. The forty-first asset was added in Santa Clara County and promotes the development of a positive cultural identity.

The assets provide guidelines for behavior. For example, under the “support” key, asset No. 4 lists a “caring neighborhood” where young people experience the compassion of neighbors. Under the “empowerment” key, asset No. 9 lists “service to others” where young people provide benefit in some capacity in their community for one hour or more each week. Under the “positive values” key, asset No. 28 lists “integrity” where young people stand up for their beliefs.

Studies have found that the more assets young people experience in their lives, the happier they are and the better they do in their school and in their social lives. The assets also impact the quality of life for the community as a whole because they help reduce criminal activity and build a quality of leadership and citizen participation that will enhance Morgan Hill in the future. Focusing on bringing as many of these assets as possible into a young person’s life will reduce the tendency toward violence, problems in schools, drug and alcohol use, and other dangerous behaviors.

Morgan Hill Life is teaming with Claudia Rossi, the outreach coordinator for Project Cornerstone, and Chiquy Mejia, the community services leader with the city of Morgan Hill, to share with our readers the 41 developmental assets and encourage their widespread use in our community. In future issues of our newspaper, you’ll read stories describing how you can participate in Project Cornerstone projects. Students of the Youth Action Council (YAC) in Morgan Hill will also write regular short commentary columns sharing specific developmental assets and explaining why these assets are important for them to grow into happy and productive adults.

We also encourage the public to move from simply building awareness to actually taking action. Parents can seek to serve as good role models for their children, and share healthy values and priorities. Families can regularly participate in activities together including household projects, fun recreational activities and service projects such as cleaning up a creek or helping out a nonprofit organization.

Local businesses and service organizations can also get involved in taking action to build up young people through the 41 developmental assets. They can provide mentoring, peer helping, service learning or educate mothers and father to improve their parenting skills. They can also provide opportunities for young people to contribute to others through their organizations. Businesses in particular can develop employee policies that will encourage workers to participate in asset building by volunteering in youth development programs.

We at Morgan Hill Life encourage all parents and everyone in Morgan Hill who care about kids to learn about the 41 developmental assets and — more importantly — take meaningful action to incorporate these assets to help our community’s youth. For more information about Project Cornerstone, visit www.projectcornerstone.org.