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Some people define “at risk” to mean youth who are economically disadvantaged and come from dysfunctional homes. Although this sometimes innocent perception permeates society in general and rural communities in particular, it does not mean that the people should be satisfied with it. It does mean that we (as community) would/should see the term “at risk” in a new light and in doing so seek to (for the sake of our youth) refine our individual, group and organizational values, temperaments, priorities, and perceptions. The official Resource Initiative for Safe Kids (RISKids.org) definition of “at risk” summed up in our mission, vision and ethos; means ANY youth who experiences a significant mismatch between their circumstances and their basic needs. This mismatch can be enhanced or minimized dependent upon the willingness of the community (family, church, school, business and government) to accept, accommodate, and respond to them in a manner that supports maximum spiritual, cognitive, emotional and behavioral growth in youth. If the degree of mismatch increases, so does the likelihood that youth will fail to progress towards pro-social spiritual, cognitive, emotional and behavioral transformation. Eliminating youth development mismatches is a high priority for RISKids.org; because doing so improves society by enhances the communities ability to ensure that youth have the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to be successful in the next stage of their lives— pro-social spiritual, social, economic, and political adulthood. Both adults and youth have the power to remove “youth damaging” cultural, political and spiritual boundaries; but the adults are the ones are primarily responsible, unfortunately many rural “grassroots” folk/leaders regardless of status either don’t know how to or don’t care to change. This lack of knowledge and parallel apathy is expressed in Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (KJV) and Proverbs 29:16 “Where there is no vision the people parish” (KJV). |
