COLLECTIVE STEP COALITION UPDATES!
PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE NEXT COALITION MEETING!
Wednesday, February 7th, 2018 | 1:30-3:00pm | 1535 W. Jefferson St., Phoenix, AZ 85007
The next coalition meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 7th from 1:30 to 3:00pm at the Arizona Department of Education building. You will receive an updated calendar invite from Tracy Pedrotti; the original invitation from Carla Pelletier can be deleted.
HOST NEEDED FOR APRIL COALITION MEETING
Wednesday, April 4th, 2018 | 1:30-3:00pm | Location TBD
We're looking for a host for the April coalition meeting. This is a great opportunity to showcase your organization and space. If you have an open space available from 11am-4pm on April 4th that can hold up to 40 people and allows food, please  email

DECEMBER MEETING MINUTES & HIGHLIGHTS
THANKS TO ALL THE WORK THAT WENT INTO A SUCCESSFUL COALITION MEETING!
A special thanks to our youth Steering Committee members, Izaiah Lopez and Nemesis Salazar, for all of their help!
From setting up, to tearing down, and leading the fun networking activity, we couldn' t have done it without the help of our youth Steering Committee members.

If you received an email to complete the PARTNER survey, please do so by next Thursday, December 21st. Those who complete the survey will be entered into a drawing for a gift card! See here for more information about the survey.

 For details on the last meeting, check out the minutes 
here!
COALITION WORK GROUP UPDATES

You can find detailed descriptions of each Work Group (WG) here.

COLLABORATION AND/OR GRANTS
Several people have asked what the Collaboration and/or Grants WG is intended to accomplish, so here's more information...
The two main goals of the WG:
  1. Obtain funding to sustain the coalition and other program services
  2. Support partners who may need funding and partnerships
Most of you know that Collective STEP for Youth has a grant from the Office of Adolescent Health that is ending in June 2018; what you may not know is this grant represents 100% of the financial support for the Collective, including the coalition and all support staff.
Efforts are being made to secure funding or a partnership that will allow capacity-building services to continue: 
  • Two letters of intent were written for grant opportunities that ultimately declined our applications. 
  • The Steering Committee is developing a Grant Opportunity Database to provide a snapshot of hundreds of funding opportunities. In doing so, they are actively screening for potential funding opportunities for STEP. Once complete, this database will be available for coalition members' use as well.
At the December Coalition WG meeting,  discussion included  exploring a possible partnership with ASU's Opportunities for Youth
as an avenue to collaborate with a similar initiative for youth-serving professionals and pursue a grant from a private funder who supports projects in Maricopa County. 
 
We would love to hear any ideas you have about opportunities for partnering or funding to sustain the coalition and other services STEP offers (such as ongoing professional development and the annual Adolescent Summit).
If you are interested, please contact Tracy Pedrotti at 
or (602) 372-1441.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The Professional Development (PD) WG focuses on ensuring professionals working with youth continue to strengthen their skills to enhance adolescent wellbeing in Maricopa County by providing learning opportunities, which include but are not limited to conferences, summits, training, workshops, and webinars.
 
At the December Coalition WG meeting, members:
  • Reviewed the PD WG purpose and revised the timeline
  • Reviewed the Coalition Member Information Form that will be sent to coalition members to  collect information about our members for creating a repository, helping us to select training panel committee members and to use for resource sharing (date to be determined)
Eileen will send the Request for Applications for Trainers  document to PD WG members for review by January 4th.  A WG meeting will be scheduled mid-January to finalize both documents.
 
If you are interested in being a part of this WG, please contact STEP lead Eileen Aguilar at [email protected]  or (602) 859-4763.
 
THE HUB
The Hub WG focuses on developing  an online clearinghouse of resources and information for youth-serving organizations.

At the last Coalition WG meeting, members:
  • Were updated on the new direction of the RFP- we will now be partnering with a community-based organization throughout the process rather than finding a partner to take it on later in the process
  • Discussed advice from the director of the Rhode Island Prevention Resource Center who also created a similar Hub
  • Talked about what content is most important to include on the Hub and who the target audience should be
 If you are interested in being a part of this WG, please contact Ashley Suarez at [email protected]
  or (602) 506-5002.
FOURTH ANNUAL ADOLESCENT SUMMIT
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
CONNECTING HOPE: UNITING FOR YOUTH
Collective STEP for Youth will be hosting the Fourth Annual Adolescent Summit
Wednesday, February 28th, 2018 | Black Canyon Conference Center

We invite you to this FREE event to expand your network and build future partnerships! Join us and connect with thought leaders and content experts to equip yourself with knowledge you can take back to your organizations. Breakfast and lunch are included and there will be a number of exhibitors, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities to connect with colleagues working in adolescent health and wellbeing throughout Maricopa County. You will walk away from this Summit with strategies and solutions to enhance youth services.

Who Should Attend: People who are passionate about improving the lives of youth. This Summit unites seasoned and new professionals, students and community members from various disciplines with a focus on adolescent wellbeing.

Registration ends February 14th, 2018

The project described is supported by Grant Number TP1AHOOO129 from the Office of Adolescent Health.  Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.