January 2011 eNewsletter |
YSPP Services Threatened by Possible Elimination of State Funding
The 2011 Legislative session will open on January 10th and we will advocating for a continuation of our state Department of Health dollars in the budget for 2011-2013. We realize these are grave times for health and human services, but there is no other program like YSPP in the state and we are concerned that elimination of our state funding could jeopardize the safety of our teens and young adults.
Join us in educating the Legislature about the importance of the issue and the consequences if services are not funded.
SAVE THE DATE!
3rd Annual Night of Jazz:
YSPP's 3rd annual Night of Jazz is scheduled for Monday, May 16th at the Lake Union Crew House. Brooks Giles will be returning to play for us, so mark your calendars and plan on joining us.
Good News for Upcoming Webinars
Our December webinar on “Understanding Self-Harm” had over 150 participants!! More would have attended but the early afternoon time slot was difficult for some school personnel, so we are offering the webinar again on February 2nd from 4:30 to 5:30PM.
The remainder of our 2011 webinar calendar is being finalized, and we are happy to report we are planning to offer a number of trainings that address the link between bullying and suicide risk.
Take a look at the training calendar for dates and times for all of our training opportunities.
Welcome Aboard Shannon Bedard!
Thanks to a grant from the Empire Health Foundation, we have added another contractor to our work force in eastern Washington. Shannon Bedard will develop a volunteer speakers’ bureau and then recruit businesses for “brown-bag” speaking opportunities. She will also organize multiple trainings for educators and community providers to be prepared to deliver suicide awareness presentations in their own schools and organizations. We are grateful to the foundation for this chance to expand our reach on the other side of the mountains.
YSPP Welcomes New Board Member Katie Simmons
(And is Actively Recruiting for More)
Katie Simmons has joined the YSPP Board and we are actively recruiting for more new members. If you are interested in the cause and are willing to roll up your sleeves, we want to hear from you. Yes, there is fundraising involved. But there is also marketing and outreach and governance and financial oversight. This is a particularly important time for the organization as we say “goodbye” to Sue Eastgard at the end of June. The search process has begun and the position will be posted in early January.
Update on YSPP's New Bullying Prevention Curriculum
Our bullying prevention curriculum has completed its beta-testing and we are now in the process of finalizing the graphics and PowerPoint presentation. OUTLoud Project Manager, Heather Carter, has worked very hard on it and with a small grant from the Pride Foundation, we will be able to design and produce a marketing brochure for the curriculum and get the information out to schools, family groups, and community organizations.
Thanks to all of the End-of-Year Campaign Contributors
Our annual campaign could have focused on the gloom and doom of the state’s economy or the barrage of youth suicides as a result of bullying, but instead we decided that donors would rather hear about the reasons to be hopeful. Apparently we were right! To date our campaign has raised
$15,221.70!
Thanks to all of our generous contributors; we are grateful for your support.
We have created a Facebook page so please take a look – Youth Suicide Prevention Program-Washington – and then share with your friends.
