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NRYSSA is a registered non-profit 501-c3. To make a tax deductable donation, please mail checks payable to: NRYSSA 286 Park Street North Reading Ma 01864 |
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NRYSSA is a registered non-profit 501-c3. To make a tax deductable donation, please mail checks payable to: NRYSSA 286 Park Street North Reading Ma 01864 |
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North Reading Youth Services Support Association (NRYSSA) was formed to provide the missing piece to the puzzle of North Reading youth organizations.
Its beginnings go back to the spring of 2005 and started, as many groups do, with discussions around critical events. Each week the “Police Blotter” in the North Reading Transcript announced the latest in the world of drug and alcohol arrests in town involving the youth of North Reading. We knew the individuals. We knew their families. We knew their parents. We remembered them as good kids. How could things have gone so wrong? And why, in a town with so many programs and so much to offer, was this happening?
As a group, we attended the Youth at Risk meetings with the Superintendent. At the same time that spring our Police Department ran a Drug Awareness Forum for NR residents. In the fall, the NRPD introduced a 6-week Citizen’s Academy designed to educate citizens about the drug and alcohol problems which existed in NR. Our group also researched a number of programs designed to combat drug and alcohol abuse among teens. The discussions and research all indicated that the focus had to be on changing attitudes. Our energy had to go to programs which would develop self-esteem in our young people to give them the tools they would need to make tough decisions. These things are not attained through any one sport, club, activity or youth center. We believe there has to be a common thread throughout the existing community and a Youth Services program was the missing piece in North Reading.
Our immediate goal was to develop and institute a new program called North Reading Youth Services. We reached that goal in October 2007 when we hired the first Youth Services Director! The purpose of this program is to provide information and referral sources to teens and their families in town. Every organization in town would benefit by having these services available and would not have to agonize over the appropriate way to handle situations which come up on the fields or at the park. The North Reading Youth Services we envisioned would work closely with our schools, town, the recreation department, police, sport leagues and other youth organizations in an effort to provide the community, youth and their families with staff, resources, and programs in an effort to empower and build self-esteem.
We also recognize that empowering and building self-esteem is not something we can just wish for our young people. No program will be successful without our young people buying in. We want not only to hear what our young people are looking for, but we want teens to be an integral part of developing and eventually running aspects of the program.
Our long term goal is, together with the entire community, to create a centralized facility offering recreation, entertainment, and outdoor adventure in addition to counseling and support services.
Please join us in providing North Reading’s young people with the tools they need to be happy, successful and productive members of our community now and wherever their travels take them in the future. |