Youth Village Foundation Launches Dog Training Program

The Youth Village Foundation announces it’s Partnership with Canine Dimensions, a dog training company to launch a unique program to serve young men at the Youth Village and the Medlock Treatment Center. The program pair’s juveniles that have been involved in the juvenile court system with experienced dog trainers to learn the basics of dog handling, management and training.

The program is P.R.E.P. Dog Training, which stands for Patience, Responsibility, Empathy and Partnership, all describing the behaviors and skills developed through participation in this program. Jerry Silhan, Executive Director of the Youth Village Foundation, explains, “the program helps these boys develop important life skills like anger management, impulse control and self-discipline. This helps them become more consistent in their responses, more reasonable in their expectations, and inclined to creative problem solving rather than acting out of frustration in response to negative influences. It also helps students to identify with ‘their’ dog because of unfortunate shared life experiences such as abuse or neglect and to develop empathy and form healthy attachments. It is a second chance for both the young men and for the dogs.” The program is designed to teach practical skills that could lead to a career in canine management, grooming, veterinary sciences, or assistant trainers.

Youth Village Foundation is a 2009 addition to our Social Investment Portfolio. Currently our partners are involved in strategic planning based on a recently completed organizational assessment. Partners involved include Lead Partners Dave Miller and Scott Chase; and also George Ellis, Barbara Errickson, Charlotte Keany to name a few!

Shree Gangeshwori Lower Secondary School Room

DSVP's Room to Read Giving Circle has successfully raised enough money to help build a school in Nepal! The school's construction is well under way, with community members pitching in regularly to help provide a new and improved learning environment for their children. The project is being closely monitored by a local School Construction Committee to ensure that they are providing the students with a safely constructed learning environment. This school is one out of 368 schools that Room to Read will be building this year! Estimated completion of the school is Summer 2010!

Partners are already discussing plans for a trek! A special thank you goes out to Ellen Wood, our partner who organized this giving circle and inspired the group to be bold!

2009 Investment Committee Kick Off

On August 25th, seventeen DSVP partners attended the first of two Investment Committee orientation sessions at The Richards Group. Social Venture Partner philanthropy relies on a model in which the investment decision is determined by the partners. We convene an investment committee each year, and it is open to all in the partnership. Through a competitive grant process, we look for nonprofits in the community that focus on children and education. Then together, the partners explore, assess and determine who will be their next investment.

This year, we recieved forty-one proposals. A variety of issue areas relating to children were presented in the following focus areas: Early Childhood (4), Arts and Culture (3), Child health and welfare (10), Civic/Engagement/Leadership (1), College Prep/Drop out prevention (9), Mental Health and Disability (3), Environment (4), and Family Support (7).

Thank you to Brad Logan and Susan Hoff, this year’s IC chairs for all of their hard work.
For those partners still interessted in joining the committee, the next IC Orientation is scheduled for Thursday, September 10th from 4:30-6pm. Please contact Sari at sraskin@dsvp.org to join the ’09 IC!