Crozer-Keystone Health System’s Wellness Center was awarded a $1,145,100 grant from the William Penn Foundation to implement a neighborhood-based youth development system. The focus of the initiative is to enhance the quality and duration of out-of-school youth programs within the city of Chester.

“We are very grateful to the William Penn Foundation for making such a strong commitment to the Wellness Center and to the youth in Chester,” says Gerald Miller, president and chief executive officer of Crozer-Keystone Health System. “This grant will allow us to work with community leaders and organizations, and the residents and children who live in Chester to develop programs that meet their individual needs.”

The 3-year grant is the result of a 2001 William Penn Foundation grant that developed a community-wide strategic planning process focusing on strengthening and sustaining youth development programs in Chester.

“Over the past three years, we have worked with community organizations to develop a strategic plan to help the city’s youth,” says Gwen Smith, chief operating officer of Springfield Hospital and CKHS vice president, who oversees Crozer-Keystone’s Community Outreach initiative. “The plan is based on the foundation that youth and communities thrive when young people have opportunities to take part in comprehensive out-of-school programs that include the development of leadership, academic and workforce skills, in addition to recreational activities offered in after-school programs.”

The Wellness Center will serve as the lead organization for the community-wide initiative, and will work to meet the objectives of the grant.

“Our primary goal is to develop four leadership councils that will help us implement our plan and shape the grant,” says Kate Blackburn, director of the Youth Development Program for the Wellness Center. “The components will include a city-wide youth council of individuals ages 12-22, a community council of adult residents, a youth-serving organizations group, and a key leaders council comprised of members from area business organizations who have the ability to affect policy and leverage resources for youth.”

Once in place, the four councils will work with youth groups to identify their specific needs, develop new programs and support existing programs that fulfill these requirements and help prepare students for their future.

“This grant provides us with the opportunity to expand on the outstanding work that has been done in the schools by our Wellness Center staff,” says Joan K. Richards, chief operating officer of Crozer-Keystone Health System, and president of CKHS Hospitals. “We look forward to working with existing programs and developing new ideas that will help develop the leaders of tomorrow.”

In addition to the leadership structure, the success of the grant is based on the provision of training and technical assistance to youth-servicing organizations; establishment of an outcomes database for youth participating programs affiliated with the project; implementation of a year-round civic engagement initiative targeting adolescents; establishment of a youth fund; establishment of a computerized tracking and referral system among participants in youth-servicing organizations; development of a communications system to improve access to programs; and the development of core standards for youth programs.