A great deal of data analysis has taken place this year. The results of the June 2001 Profiles of Student Life, or “Assets” survey, and the Centers for Disease Control’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey were made available in October 2001. Since that time, the Data Coordinator and the Partnership Data Committee have carefully reviewed the survey data and its implications for the Partnership’s work and the community as a whole. Presentations and reports on the data have been prepared for numerous audiences, including after-school programs, public and private health professionals, prevention professionals, and parent groups. The Partnership has provided the Schools with special analyses of the assets data related to the Schools’ mission around academic success and closing the achievement gap.

The data have been helpful in advocating and refining the Partnership’s recommendations. For example, the data on the significantly higher levels of depression among Arlington youth relative to other communities have strengthened the Partnership’s commitment to the need for increased awareness on the signs of depression and anxiety among teachers, parents and youth themselves. And, the low level of Arlington youth who report that they feel valued by the community (22%) has been a wake-up call to virtually every sector of the community to re-examine their practices around giving youth a voice and responding to that voice.

Both public and private non-profit agencies working on behalf of children and families have benefited greatly from this rich set of valid data on Arlington youth—in designing and evaluating services and in fundraising or leveraging support for additional services. Research demonstrates and our data confirms that assets protect young people from risks. The combination of risk data with assets data for the same youth population supports a powerful prevention approach. The Partnership has identified eight risk behaviors that are being considered for a prevention/awareness campaign within the Arlington community. The eight risks are: alcohol use, drinking and driving, illicit drug use, cigarette use, sex, suicide attempts, violence/property crimes, diet/exercise/body. The Partnership is seeking community partners who would like to participate in a media prevention campaign using an asset-focused message.

The Partnership is developing a community report card that will feature certain indicators of the health and well-being of Arlington’s children and their families. The report card will be released in the fall of 2003. The first report card will represent a baseline. The Partnership hopes to engage the community in setting goals for specific areas addressed by the report card. Progress toward these goals will be reported in future report cards.