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The Dutchess County Children's Services Council (CSC) was the brainchild
of County Executive William R. Steinhaus. In his 1998 State of the County
Address, he spoke of the need for a single conversation among the
county's agencies, organizations and community leaders about the needs
of, and provide services for, the county's children, youth, and families.
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Dutchess
County Executive
William R. Steinhaus
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The County Executive's proposal was to create
a public-private partnership to foster networking, collaboration and
partnerships. A team comprised of representatives from Dutchess County
Departments of Social Services, Youth Bureau & Health Department,
along with executive office staff and the
United Way of Dutchess County
formed the original core of the CSC. Together they developed a Council
comprised of members from agencies, not-for-profits, businesses,
faith-based & educational institutions, caregivers and youth. The
Council is now housed at Mental Health America of
Dutchess County,
the fiscal agent for the CSC.
Over 175 youth and adults came together at the 1st Annual Conference and
created a vision and mission for the CSC. The Council also developed a
county-wide Needs Assessment, integrating plans and data from various Dutchess County youth & family-focused
entities. With this assessment, the CSC went "on the road" to
organize six public town meetings throughout the county.
The information collected from these community meetings and the Needs
Assessment was used to develop the first Status Report for Children,
Youth, and Families. Through these efforts, the CSC was able to identify
three areas where the Council's resources and influence were most needed:
 1.
Increasing youth volunteerism
2.
Decreasing youth drug and alcohol abuse
3.
Establishing and maintaining opportunities for positive youth
activities
throughout the County.
With these areas providing a direction, The Children’s Services
Council became a catalyst in forming several new efforts:
Children’s Health Initiative
In 2000, County Executive Steinhaus funded the Children's Health
Initiative (CHI) as part of the CSC to reach Dutchess youth with a
prevention message to help them make healthy choices. The initial program
was Youth Tobacco Use Prevention. In 2005, County Executive Steinhaus
added the Childhood Obesity Prevention program.
Choices for Change
The Children’s Services Council was instrumental in creating
Choices for Change, a research-based community partnership for southern Dutchess County. Various agencies,
not-for-profits and businesses collaborate to provide a broad spectrum of
educational services geared to promoting healthy behaviors and
strengthening families while countering substance abuse among youth. The
lead agency is Council for Addiction Prevention & Education of Dutchess County.
FAST (Families and Schools Together)
In the late 1990's, Mental Health Association, under the auspices of the
Children's Services Council, was awarded funding to implement a national,
well-respected program, FAST (Families and Schools Together). FAST is a
multifamily group intervention designed to build protective factors for
children (4 to 12 years old) and empower parents to be the driving force
in creating positive change for their children.
Youth Developmental Assets
When you combine the promotion of positive youth opportunities with the
encouragement of active family, caregiver and community involvement, you
have a framework for developing youth assets. The nationally acclaimed
Youth Developmental Asset Framework, developed by the Search Institute,
offers clear and dependable building blocks for youth to grow into
healthy, positive and responsible young adults. The Children’s
Services Council worked with the Dutchess County Youth Bureau to
establish the Youth Assets Committee. This committee oversees the
distribution of mini-grants to local not-for-profits to promote
developmental assets in their programs as well as other educational
ventures.
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