Columnist Sandra Thompson: UNLV retreat focuses on youths' needs

A NATIVE AMERICAN elder was putting on ceremonial garb that included a long scarf hanging around his neck. On each side of the scarf was a picture of a wolf.

A little girl asked what the images meant.

"One wolf represents the good in each of us and the good in society," the elder said. "The other wolf represents the evil in each of us and the evil in society."

The girl thought about it for a minute and then asked, "Which is stronger?"

"It depends on which side you feed the most," the elder replied.

Last week, a group of 100 adults and youths at UNLV tried to feed the good wolf.

The timing could not have been more appropriate. Although the conference on families and children had been planned for months, a presentation and panel discussion opened the conference one day after the tragic school shooting in Littleton, Colo.

How do we reach kids? How do we strengthen families, and increase community and parental involvement with youths? Simply put, how do we make youths a priority in our lives? Somewhere along the line, we put them on society's back burner.

One thing is sure: All kids are "at risk," no matter what their socioeconomic status, I.Q. or ethnicity is.

"InterChanges: A Focus on Partnerships for Families and Children" was sponsored by the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, in conjunction with the Colleges of Hotel Administration and Education. It included a two-day retreat to map out a plan to get the community interested in determining what youths need to succeed and how we can provide it for them.

While the program took place in an academic setting, it focused on following through with actual practices, not just spouting theories. It's part of the urban affairs college's goal to become an integral part of the community and UNLV's efforts to become a "premier urban university."

The Minneapolis-based Search Institute presented the retreat program, which outlines 40 "developmental assets" that form the building blocks to help youths grow into healthy, caring and responsible adults.

The external assets youths need are support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, and constructive use of time. Internal assets are commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies and positive identity.

The institute's own research showed great need among young people to help them develop these assets.

In a survey of 100,000 youths:

* 26 percent believed they had positive family communication

* 24 percent felt they had a caring school community

* 29 percent said there was parental involvement in the schools

* 20 believed their communities valued youth

* 27 percent had positive role models

* 29 percent said they knew how to plan ahead and make choices.

* 37 percent said they could resist negative peer pressure and dangerous situations

How do we, on a community by community, family by family, or school by school basis, raise those numbers?

The UNLV retreat participants broke up into smaller, different groups to develop a plan to approach each segment of society -- schools, business, media, youth-service organizations, government, etc. -- to help youths develop needed assets. Each group was asked to identify strengths and issues in the community, and what structure and support youths need.

The ultimate goal is to ensure that the positive influences outweigh the negative.

It's the beginning of a community-wide initiative that hopefully can be sustained.

We need to feed the good wolf.

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