Case Study

In 2004 the Erie County Health Assessment survey (Ohio Health Assessment Project), showed an alarming picture of youth behavior. According to the report 21% reported having problems in school which including skipping class and grades below a C average. Anti-social behaviors included trouble with police, vandalism and shoplifting, to which 23% of the youth admitted. Violence including fighting, threatening physical harm, or carrying or using a weapon accounted for 29% of responses. And, finally, 12% had claimed having sexual intercourse three or more times in their lifetime.

While these may appear to be separate incidents, low self-esteem is a common factor that influences risk taking behavior. The level of self-esteem a person has can be linked to the number of positive assets they possess. There are 40 assets that are needed for success in life, and the more assets a person has the less likely they are to engage in high risk behaviors, such as substance abuse and risky sexual behaviors. In a survey done by the Erie County Health Department, Erie County students had a total of 18.2 assets on the average.

This data shows the need for a program in the schools to build assets among students which will lower their engagement in high risk behaviors. The long term benefits of this will include fewer problems in schools, lower teen pregnancy rates, less gang related activity, and a lower rate of substance abuse.

Available in our community are many organizations that deal with helping youth but there are few programs that deal with promoting self-esteem. The programs that do promote self-esteem, such as the Boys and Girls Club, use it as only part of their mission. Or there are programs that focus directly on self-esteem but limit participation to a certain age group or sex. The two programs found directly working on promoting healthy self-esteem were the Erie County Health Department's "I Believe I Can Fly" summer camp and Adam Junior High School's "Soul Beautiful" program. However, both are limited to girls ages 12 to 13. There needs to be a program that targets a wider range of students and at an earlier age. Problems with bullying, teasing and violence can be found early among children in elementary classrooms (Olweus, 1993). Poor self-image and depression are also seen in younger children. The statistics provided by the Erie County Health Department show the need for improvement of the self-esteem of Erie County youth. And since there are no existing community programs that deal with elementary age students with a sole emphasis on asset and self-esteem building, the need for the creation of such program is obvious.

Pick up a newspaper or turn on the news, and you are bombarded with children displaying inappropriate, scandalous behavior. For the local perspective, sit at a football game or local sporting event and witness the many behaviors and actions, and you will hear exactly what the youth of your district were up to last week, or even the night before. Too often, we have witnessed children acting out, making poor choices, to gain attention, knowing very well what they may get away with or not. Many factors influence our youth today, media playing a big role in our children's lives. Parents and adults are willing to sacrifice their children's morals and spiritual growth for natural gain. What message are we giving to our children? What a person gathers in their years of youth will be placed in their bag of tricks that they will draw upon for the rest of their lives.

The focus would be on early prevention rather than treatment. If our community could place fewer resources into things like drug rehabilitation programs and teen pregnancy counseling we would have more money and resources to put back into school programs. The overall goal would to spend time preventing high risk behaviors through building assets rather than focus on treating the inevitable outcomes and devastating results of low-esteem.

Our program is designed to target self-esteem, and to guide children in building a positive self-image. Empowering children with qualities that make up good character ensures them a chance to be productive individuals who are welcomed and desired to be in a community.

Character is not something you are born with, it is learned. Adults cannot teach values without having lived them (Stevenson, 1992). How can we expect children to make positive choices and be happy with themselves if we aren't setting the examples? Character and self-esteem is built through activities like music, athletics, crafts, or any other human endeavor, which requires rigorous training. Raising children with a positive self-image is very time consuming and hard work. It requires consistent teaching and discipline, not to mention demonstrations of goodness by one's own actions and interactions. A person's word must match their actions, if not, they do not balance, and children will not buy into it. A person needs to see the importance of something before they invest their time or themselves.

Children will learn and grow through helping other people including their peers. Community service will provide a tremendous sense of accomplishment, self-satisfying reward of recognizing that it makes yourself and other people happy when giving to others.

There are many assumptions that people in the community and in the schools have about children. There are at least six assumptions that are going to be addressed in this section of the report. The first assumption is that young children are not affected by society or by media. Young children face pressures everyday from community all the way up to television. There is a constant pressure for children to be the best and not to try their best. This can lead to eating disorders, suicide, and bullying. Children are affected by what they see everyday and it causes them to develop a low self esteem and self image on themselves or on other people. In addition, we can't look at children like they are "kids" all of the time and not teach them any responsibility. "They're just kids," "Boys will be boys," "They're just having fun," "They don't know any better," and "There is no harm being done to them or by them," are