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Over the past few months, the Social Services Division has been providing an array of services to children and their families in the community. Youth and families continue to benefit from our evidenced base preventive services that support education, advocacy, social emotional learning, family cohesion and engagement. Each one of our signature programs include activities to keep children and youth in our community engaged through quality programming. We aim to prevent them from participating and being exposed to activities that may lead to risky behaviors which in turn jeopardize their future. The goal of the Social services department is to create leaders through evidenced based quality services and programming.
Youth Council Achievements
Congratulations to our Youth Council members as the Florida League of Cities (FLC), the united voice for Florida’s municipal governments, announced the City of West Park Youth Council as one of three winners of the 2023 Municipal Youth Council Community Service Contest. The annual competition showcases community service projects performed by municipal youth councils that successfully address specific needs in their local communities.
This past August, the Youth Council members also attended the 2023 Youth Council Annual Conference in Orlando. They attended many activities including workshops which provided the members with the essential skills and knowledge to foster a culture of teamwork and collaboration within the group, through a combination of discussions and group activities while interacting with other Councils from around the State.
While in Orlando, the group also visited the University of Central Florida (UCF) as part of the City’s Post-Secondary and College Readiness Initiative. They toured the campus and learned important things about each school including: degree programs, admission requirements, college life, and other pertinent information based on their particular interests.
The Youth Council is a group of engaging and community minded high school students with the goal of enacting constructive changes within their communities and to be examples to other youths. They use their time, creativity, and leadership skills to participate in projects that have positive influence on our local leaders and residents.
Camp B.R.A.V.E.R.Y. and Youth Force Program Updates
We concluded the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) sponsored After and Out of School Programs for the 2022-2023 school year and transitioned right into the summer program. In addition to the DJJ program, some of our elementary school children participated in the Children’s Services Council (CSC) of Broward’s MOST program, while middle schoolers participated in the CSC’s summer portion of the year-round Youth Force Program. The daily program implementation included academic support, healthy meals and snacks, nutrition and fitness activities, cultural arts and activities, enrichment activities, project based learning activities, and career exploration opportunities. This year’s student-led project theme was entrepreneurship. The students chose a lemonade business. The final project was a lemonade stand created and managed by the students.
There is never a dull moment while at our programs! On any given day you can find the children engaged in painting, dancing, theater, outdoor games, and educational enrichment activities, or enjoying college tours, career exploration activities, and engaging field trips. This year we had over 10 field trips to include a Florida Marlins baseball game, visits to the Historic Virginia Key Biscayne, Lion Country Safari, and the Broward Performing Arts Center, as well as bowling and golfing.
