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Ballinger Action Teens (A Program of The Center For Human Services)
How do you come together and share a resource?
The Ballinger Action Teens (BAT) is a service learning group run through the Center For Human Services. The group is run at The Ballinger Family Support Center (a community room inside of the Ballinger Homes housing complex). The 22 high school teens that make up BAT are from diverse backgrounds (13 cultures!).
BAT teens share everything from pizza to secrets and shoes – but most importantly they share the opportunity they have been given to impact their community. When CHS created the teen group the teens could have chosen many directions for it to go – instead they chose to share the resources given to BAT (small amounts of money for funding and field trips) with those who need it most in their community!
CHS staff facilitates the group but the teens decide where we go and what we do. BAT began working on environmental issues in 2007. They made a video for their community on the importance of picking up trash, removed non-native plants at Mt. Rainer, helped mulch Magnuson Park with Earth Corps, planted seeds for food banks at Marra Farms and provided labor to build a raised bed garden for the Ballinger Homes Community.
Last year they began to cook dinners once a month for themselves in order to explore different foods from within their community. The teens didn’t want to stop there and soon decided to serve the food to local homeless shelters. They cooked for Nickelsville and The Orion Center. This year kicked off with the WA State Prevention Summit where they underwent leadership training regarding preventing substance abuse among peers. The teens brainstormed about everything from what barriers prevent youth in their community from graduating high school to why underage tobacco use is so prevalent in their community.
The teens foster leadership by speaking up in their community. They have spoken at King County budget meetings about the importance of this type of funding. They have also spoken to teachers undergoing training to become principals at the UW, as well as to all of the Shoreline School District Principles about what is challenging to refugee students.
Check out the Center For Human Services Family Support blog (http://www.chsfamilysupport.blogspot.com/) to see photos and stories from all the amazing activities BAT has engaged in. They are a vibrant and growing group making real change for themselves and their immediate community by working together to share the resource of CHS funding for their group!
How would your group use the award money?
If the money was awarded to BAT the youth would come together on how to best spend the money. Most likely the money would be spent on a combination of food, transportation, entrance fees, tshirts and other supplies which help BAT be able to impact their community.
In these financial times the award money would be the funding boost that BAT needs to take its group to the next level. The youth are ready, developed and capable and ready to make a huge difference in their world!
