I recently had the opportunity to speak to a group of concerned parents about Create the Vision and its objectives for teens in our community. The group calls themselves Parents of ’07, and as you would guess, they are parents of high school juniors.

One of the best parts of my job as Project Manager for Create the Vision is speaking to groups and clubs that want to learn more about Create the Vision and its role in the City of Centerville and Washington Township. Although public speaking puts knots in my stomach and makes my hands sweat, the opportunity to make connections with others is what drives me to do it again and again.

Create the Vision is the joint-Comprehensive Plan for Centerville and Washington Township that was adopted in 2004. It is a guide for development in the community over the next 20 years.

By producing Create the Vision, the City of Centerville and Washington Township have put in writing how they plan to accommodate grow in this community.

The Create the Vision Comprehensive Plan contains several strategies and objectives aimed at teens. One of the objectives is to expand recreational offerings for teens and calls for the community to establish a Youth Council. This Youth Council will be created with input from the Centerville-Washington Park District, the Centerville City School District, the City of Centerville, Washington Township, and the Washington-Centerville Library. Another Create the Vision objective is to expand services for teens and to create a Youth Resource Clearinghouse that would assemble and distribute lists of programs and activities just for teens.

Many years ago you may have heard about a national program called America’s Promise in which five essential resources were identified that every young person needs; caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education and opportunities to help others. Research has shown that young people who receive all five “promises” are much more likely to become successful, productive adults.

Create the Vision also contains the objective to increase civic and volunteer opportunities in the community. And this does not mean just volunteer opportunities for adults, but for teens too.

Youth volunteerism is currently at record highs in this country, and a federal study by the Corporation for National and Community Service reported that 55% of teenagers volunteered in 2004, doubling the volunteer rate of adults. More than 15.5 million teens contributed to more than 1.3 billion hours of service.

Teens who volunteer are more likely to do well in school, graduate, and vote – and are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. Also, the majority of adults who volunteer today say that they began when they were teens.

The Create the Vision Implementation Task Force has recently published a booklet titled Civic Volunteer Opportunities – Places in our community where you are needed.

The directory lists a wide range of volunteer opportunities and its publication is a joint project of the City of Centerville and Washington Township, Centerville School District, Centerville-Washington Park District, Hithergreen Senior Center and Centerville-Washington Township Historical Society.

The directory fulfills a need cited in the Create the Vision plan, in which lack of civic involvement of the public is due to their unawareness that such opportunities exist.

The directories are free and may be picked up at the Centerville-Washington Public Libraries, the City of Centerville Municipal Building, the Washington Township Government Center and Hithergreen Senior Center.

If you would like a copy of the directory mailed to you, please call the City of Centerville at 433-7151 or Washington Township at 433-0152. You may also download a free copy of the directory from the Create the Vision website at www.createthevision.org.

Create the Vision is helping our local government protect and maintain the high quality of life enjoyed here in Centerville and Washington Township. It is our responsibility to ensure that we put forth today the policies and procedures that will solidify the future for today’s youth.

I was so impressed to meet the Parents of ’07 who were very involved with their teens and I believe in the big, overall picture – we all want the same thing for our kids – a future full of wonderful opportunities and possibilities, and I believe Create the Vision will help us obtain that.

Thank you for joining me this month in the Create the Vision column. I am the Project Manager for Create the Vision and if you missed last month’s column, you may read it on our website at www.createthevision.org.