Essex celebrates being recognized for excellence in youth support
Rep. Marybeth Redmond speaks next to the honorary certificates during the QYD Community recognition ceremony.
ESSEX -- Local representatives, elected officials, and other leaders from throughout Essex gathered in front of the village offices at the Five Corners Saturday to celebrate excellence in youth development and support.
Essex was recently named one of the first Quality Youth Development (QYD) communities in the state along with Middlebury. The distinction and certification comes through a town achieving seven of 10 benchmarks aimed at demonstrating community support of youth.
“This entire project was spearheaded by a small steering committee who worked tirelessly to document benchmarks already achieved, as well as to fulfill those that our community has not yet met,” said Nathan Wu, a recent Essex High graduate and member of the Essex QYD Steering Committee. “All of their hard work continued through the pandemic, too, even with quarantine in effect… Of course, the projects require tremendous support from community support as well, and we're incredibly grateful for the enthusiasm behind it and the cooperation of so many different departments.”
Wu went on to give special thanks to Dominique Sweat, the former chair of the Essex QYD Steering Committee who recently moved to Virginia and could not make the ceremony, for the tremendous amount of work she put into helping Essex garner the certification.
An independent body, the QYD Credential Committee is made up of non-profit and educational professionals and youths from several states including Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon, and New York and is in charge of evaluating communities’ efforts to determine if they do, indeed, warrant achieving each benchmark.
Other members of the Essex Steering Committee spoke to the small crowd on Saturday including Liam Redmond who read a letter from Barbara Abraham, chair of the QYD Credential Committee.
“We believe you are paving the path for other communities in Vermont and across the country to also demonstrate their commitment to support, engage, and inspire, and empower youth,” the letter stated, in part. “You should be proud of your community’s investment in youth and of the efforts by your local QYD committee.”
Liam’s mother, Rep. Marybeth Redmond, and Rep. Dylan Giambatista were also on hand to share some thoughts.
“I just think we need to acknowledge that: this is a really unusual time,” said Giambatista. “But the strengths of a community are really what's going to help us rebound, and having those goals to meet the three other benchmarks is so important, because it sets a goal for our community to rally around.”
Local officials were present and expressed their joy in Essex becoming one of the first communities in the state to achieve the certification.
“It's something I personally am incredibly proud of, and I'm sure our entire selectboard is thrilled to have evidence of the way we value our youth,” said Town of Essex Selectboard Chair Elaine Haney. “I'm kind of excited to know that there's still three more credentials to earn. So it's a great way for us to recognize how far we've come in bringing students into our community in a meaningful way.”
Village Board of Trustees President Andrew Brown had a hometown touch to his comments.
“I can tell you personally, as somebody who grew up in Essex -- and this is a beautiful place to not only call home as an adult, but as a child -- to truly feel that your voice is heard and represented at the table is something that I hope we continue to do,” said Brown.
The first two benchmarks Essex achieved were “Welcoming, inclusive, and accessible space in the community for any youth (including LBGTQ youth, youth of color, disadvantaged youth) to gather safely when out of school” and “Internship opportunities for youth.” The other five that were later achieved were:
Funding by the community in support of youth programs.
“Youth Are Welcome!” posters displayed by downtown businesses.
The engagement of youth as members of the Board of Directors of local non-profits providing services to youth.
An annual youth conference or legislative forum for middle and high school students.
Effective recruitment of young people for local community-wide committees.
The three benchmarks Essex is still striving for are:
A professional youth-mentoring program serving the community.
An elected community youth council, consisting of high school students that will advise the community on issues directly and indirectly related to youth.
Youth access to social services and resources outside of a school setting.
Achieving all 10 bumps a community from having a one-star distinction to having four stars -- something Wu and the rest of the steering committee hope to not only accomplish but surpass.
“We also need to remember that the mission of QYD does not stop at 10 benchmarks within a single town,” he added after the unveiling of a celebratory banner. “Our hope is that youth can find a place in their community beyond just these 10 ways, and we also hope that other communities can follow in the footsteps of Essex.”
This story was updated at 6:48 a.m. Aug. 16, 2020 to clarify which benchmarks Essex had achieved to earn its certification.
