It’s never too early to start learning about building community. In Sarasota County, FL babies joined teenagers and younger kids in a forum called Community Data 2.0: A NeighborKID Perspective, the fourth workshop in a year-long, county-wide series that emphasizes “community data for community change” designed for kids and adults throughout Sarasota County who believe in the power of kids to affect community change. Co-hosts included the Central-Cocoanut Neighborhood Scavenger Hunters, SCOPE (Sarasota County Openly Plans for Excellence), Youth of Bethlehem Baptist Church and Greatness Beyond Measure.
Writing in the Herald-Tribune, Erica Newport said that the event helped participants young and old answer questions like:
What does my community look like and feel like to children? What matters most when it comes to child and community well-being? How are adults and children actively contributing to my neighborhood to make life better? How can a clearer understanding of local realities help neighbors to make decisions and take action with and for youth?
Some of the kids are also hitting the streets in the Newtown neighborhood of the Central-Cocoanut area of Sarasota to help with community data collection while “connecting neighbors and contributing to positive change” in the process.
Read Newport’s article about the July 14 forum at http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120718/ARCHIVES/207181012?p=1&tc=pg. For more on the SCOPE community data initiative go to http://www.scopexcel.org/data/index.html
Image: SCOPE
