Project ACTION seeks to engage youth

Project ACTION members to reach out to town's youth.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150326/NEWS02/703269889

Project ACTION seeks to engage youth By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer | March 26,2015 SPRINGFIELD — Project ACTION wants to join the youth movement. Or it wants youth to join Project ACTION. The community group said Tuesday one of its top priorities is getting students and young people involved in its community-building activities, said Stephanie Thompson, executive director of the Springfield Family Center and a leader of Project ACTION. She is also a member of the Springfield Select Board. Thompson said “there definitely is a gap with youth” in the project’s efforts so far. She said she and others address students at Springfield High School every Monday morning. “We want to engage with them,” she said. Project ACTION members will also head to the high school during lunch periods in the next couple of weeks to “have a presence” and try to get kids interested. Thompson said the town’s Green Up Day effort is also looking to tap into the high school students, who could get credit for their community service, expected of all students before they graduate from Springfield High School. The “re-emergence” of the Springfield Area Prevention Coalition is a strong and positive sign, said Christian Craig, executive director of the Edgar May Health and Recreation Center. The coalition had been on hiatus for more than a year. In the past it provided an alternative to underage alcohol use and drug use. Springfield needs more neighborhood groups to help continue the community building that is at the core of the mission of Project ACTION, members said. Project ACTION is designed in part after the example of Rutland’s Project VISION. In Springfield, the project is divided into three subcommittees addressing different concerns in town: crime and safety, community and housing, and the mental health community. The town now has at least two active neighborhood groups, the Park-Union and Commonwealth-Wall groups. Groups representing the neighborhoods in North Springfield and even Main Street would be a plus, said Wendi Germain, executive director of the Springfield Justice Center. Germain also said the liaison committee between the town and the Springfield prison was being revitalized with new members. The committee had been established after the state’s maximum-security prison opened in Springfield about 12 years ago, but the committee hadn’t met in quite a while. Germain said she was talking with Town Manager Tom Yennerell about restarting the corrections liaison committee, which in the past included representatives from the Springfield Police Department, the prison, the neighborhood near the prison and other community members. Germain said two businesses close to the prison, including the Holiday Inn Express and the Irving Springfield Bluecanoe truck stop off Interstate 91 had concerns about the prison.