HEROES Leadership Training

The FYA team was in western Massachusetts last weekend training with HEROES, FYA’s partner organization there. Set in a beautiful location with all of the magnificent fall color, FYA trainers Mitch Findley and Jayette Hightower conducted a visioning process with five youth leaders to help them determine what they wanted HEROES to be and how to get there.

 

Included in the three-day training was a discussion of roles and responsibilities of youth and adults, expectations for each other, and the development a strategic plan that established their goals. 

The HEROES team wants to focus on being a youth advisory board with the goals of raising awareness of foster care issues in Massachusetts and recruitment of additional youth members. The trainers also participated many team-building activities to help the youth come together as a strong group; they also went hiking and cooked s’mores!

Training for the three adults focused on youth empowerment and engagement, including using the training tool of Hart’s Ladder, and learning to trust the process of giving more leadership responsibility to the youth for the running and coordination of their group.

There are lots of great things to come from this group. This is an exciting time for HEROES, and FYA is happy to be working with them!

 http://www.fosteryouthaction.org