The Wilmington Coalition for a Healthy Community, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Wilmington and the Will County Health Department, sent 14 Wilmington teens to the Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute (CGTI) leadership camp this summer at Eastern Illinois University. This 5-day youth leadership conference sponsored by the Illinois Alcoholism & Drug Dependence Association is an award-winning program that offers opportunities for teens around the state to learn about leadership, healthy choices, and working with others to create better communities.
This year, our Wilmington YCAT (Youth Community Action Team), organized and led by Coalition Coordinator Christina Dyer and Will County Health Department's Dominique Harris, won the award for the most outstanding CAT in the State of Illinois, in only their first year as a team. CATs are made up of youth who attend the same school or live in the same geographical area. Action teams receive training and guidance to become local agents of change for their own school and/or community. Teams work cooperatively to determine the needs in their schools and/or communities and then create "action plans" specific to those needs. The goal is that youth return to their schools/communities ready to implement a plan of action for positive change.
Wilmington YCATs accomplished the following in their first year as a team:
Presented policy suggestions to the WHS Principal and Vice-Principal to tighten up the tobacco policy at the high school and create a new e-cig policy;
Presented the facts about medical marijuana to the Wilmington community at a youth-led Coalition meeting;
Created a smoking bench at the baseball fields to keep the second hand smoke away from the dugouts and bleachers;
Completed a media campaign via radio and billboards aimed at parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of underage drinking;
Completed a Your Actions Matter underage drinking campaign in partnership with Wilmington's packaged liquor establishments;
Cleaned up our city's parks in a Cigarette Butt Clean-up Day.
The YCATs have more plans ahead for this year's team. These are youth who believe in doing something about our community's issues and taking proactive steps in making the community a healthier place for everyone.
From left:
Kassidy Hansen, Max Narine, Brendan Czys, Keaten Hansen, Aidan Ekberg, Hunter Imhof, Ava Narine, Martina Flowers, Holly Robbins, Delaney Pigott, Tristen Ekberg, Cortney Eaker, and Becky Fischer
Front row squatting:
Dominique Harris, Liz Palkoska, and Grant Imhof
YCAT members not pictured:
Skylar Flynn, Kylie Gerovac, Sunny Winker, Susan Soda, Alec Roth, & Meghan Bloom