Background Information about the Windham County Youth Initiative

In April 2002, United Way of Windham County published the Windham County Community Assessment to gain perspective on the wellbeing of people in the county from birth through old age. The data revealed that young people in the county are having a harder time in areas such as substance use, participation in out of school activities, and completing high school compared to their peers around the state. As a result of these findings, United Way in partnership with Alliance for Building Community, other youth serving organizations and local foundations, began the Windham County Youth Initiative.

Over sixty community members came together in the initial stages of creating the Youth Initiative. With broad community input, outcomes for our community's youth were created, as well as action strategies to achieve these outcomes. Through this process a steering committee evolved and now meets regularly to ensure the success of the Initiative.