MYC, JAG and UWTC Logo 

MYC & JAG
January 2013
Newsletter
  
MYC After School Program

MYC Youth

Think you are funny? Feel like you are made for the stage? Bring your creative side to

Improv with Tank and you will learn how to put it all together! For more info, click here. This month, youth are able to enjoy this new After School program, along with Zumba and boxing!

 

The Milford Youth Center's After School Program is continuing to see over 100 youth each day! Youth must bring a filled out and signed registration form in order to attend the Center. Click here for the January calendar. 

 

The Youth Center offers a variety of free services for local youths, ages 8-18. The Milford Youth Center houses a gym, game room, computer room and lounge.

If you would like to volunteer or run a program  during the after school program please call or email the Director.

The Milford Youth Center is pleased to partner with the Teachers Driving Academy to offer students a great program, at a reasonable price, with the added convenience of taking classes right at school! Click here for more information.
 
The Milford Youth Center would like to thank the numerous volunteers, individuals and organizations that allow us to continue to grow and provide a safe and fun environment for the Youth of Milford! We would like to specifically thank this month: Linda Hertz, United Way of Tri-County, Teachers Driving Academy, Berry Plastics Corporation, Milford National Bank, Bank of America - Milford, Milford Boyscouts Troop 18, IPR-GDF Suez and Mike Volpe. 
 Find Yourself Friday!

The Milford Youth Center and JAG Youth Council will host the first "Find Yourself Friday of the New Year on Friday, January 25th from 6:30-9:00 PM at the Milford Youth Center. The event will include music, dancing, snacks and games!

 

The JAG Youth Council decided to have the event be dedicated to the the youth who lost their lives in the Newtown Ct. tragedy. The JAG Youth Council discussed that they wanted to celebrate the lives of the victims and make something positive from such a horrible event. The Youth Council is asking all youth who attend to either pledge to do at least one "Act of Kindness" this month! We are asking you to bring in either a picture of your Act of Kindness or to bring in "My Act of Kindness Pledge" with a written description of what you pledge to do! We will then create a Youth Center board of all our "Acts of Kindness." If you bring this to the event you will get a free raffle ticket! Click here to download Pledge form to bring to event!

 

Find Yourself Friday's mission is to create a healthy, fun and educational environment for our youth while offering them an opportunity to improve their community. Find Yourself Fridays are held once-per-month at the Milford Youth Center on a Friday night. These events give youth a safe environment to be with their peers and enjoy music, dancing, games and healthy snacks. These events are developed by members of the JAG Youth Council, they meet weekly to develop monthly themes based on what they feel is an important issue facing the community and give a portion of the money collected to the cause of the month.

 

Find Yourself Fridays have been an enormous success over the last 2 year, with over 150 youth attending each month and donating to various charities. Some of these include: Milford Housing Authority, Cell Phones for Soldiers, Best Buddies , Compassionate Care ALS, Kony 2012, Anti-Bullying, Milford Play Initiative, Milford Daily Bread Food Pantry, a sneaker collection for youth in the Dominican Republic, JAG members to attend a Youth Leadership Summit in DC, and for United Way of Tri-County's "Feed a Family for Fifty." Find Yourself Fridays are sponsored by the United Way of Tri-County, CHNA-6 and DoSomething.org

If you would like to volunteer at the event please contact Jen Ward.

Rivera Athletic Center
Helps Local Families this Holiday Season!

The Milford Youth Center would like to thank the Rivera Athletic Center, located in the Milford Sports Center,  for collecting gifts this Holiday season for local youth in need. The Rivera Athletic Center asked friends and family to collect gifts and cash donations this month to "Adopt a Family." As a result of the collection, the Rivera Athletic Center contributed over $4,000 worth of gifts. Due to this collaboration and the generosity of staff and members at the Rivera Athletic Center, five local families will have a joyful Holiday this year! 

MYC After School Program

 

MYC Youth

The Milford Youth Center would like to thank United Way of Tri-County and Pizza Chef of Milford for their generosity this Holiday season. The United Way of Tri-County provided gifts for 25 Milford Youth Center members and Pizza Chef provided pizza and drinks for the families and staff! 

 

Due to the support of local organizations and businesses, the Youth Center is able to continue to provide for our community and its youth members!

 

For Milford Patch article, click here

For more pictures, click here

Holiday Donations to the MYC!

The Milford Youth Center would like to thank the Milford National Bank and its Charitable Foundation for donating $2,500.00 to the Center to support our programs and activities. The mission of the Charitable Foundation is to provide financial assistance for the benefit of the community, charitable, educational and other benevolent purposes as they relate to non-profit organizations. We would also like to thank IPR-GDF Suez for their generous donation of $1,500.00 to the Center. Thanks to the generosity of local businesses, the Milford Youth Center will be able to continue to offer free after school programming and provide a safe and fun environment for the youth of Milford!  

JAG Meeting

JAG logo

Please join us for our next JAG meeting on Wednesday January 9th at 8:45am at the Milford Police Station Training Room. 

This year we have asked the  Mendon/Upton Schools and various community organizations to join us at our monthly meetings to begin the collaboration of our efforts and reducing the risk factors among the adolescents int he Greater Milford area. This year the JAG group is creating an resource guide to help support parents in need of services for their adolescents and their families. We hope to have this complete by the Fall of 2013. If you have any resources that have been helpful to you and your family or if you place of employment supplies a list of support services please feel  share this with Amy Leone at
communityimpactinc@gmail.com

"Dressed Up, Not Messed Up"

Fashion Show!


JAG logo

Join us for an informational and sign-up meeting for our 5th Annual "Dressed Up, Not Messed Up" Fashion Show!

The meeting will be on Wednesday, January 23rd from 7pm-8pm at the Milford Youth Center. At the meeting, youth and their families, will fill out permission forms, sign up for hair and/or make-up and outfit times. The date of the fashion show is Saturday, February 9th at 6 PM. 

 

The theme of our show for the fifth year will be "Dressed Up, Not Messed Up". Through this event we plan to raise awareness about underage drinking and help teens become better informed about the dangers of alcohol so they can make healthy decisions throughout life. We also hope this event will increase youth self-esteem and attitudes toward their body image.  Each year the show gets better and better, with more youth participating and community involvement! For photos from last years event, click here

 

If you have any questions, please contact jenward24@gmail.com

Milford Play Initiative Updates!

Help us build a fun and safe play area at Fino Field for children ages 2-12, including handicap accessibility! The Milford Play Initiative has begun the challenge of fundraising. Your donations big or small will help in funding this community based project. All donations are tax deductible.   If you would like to make a donation, please click here to download form. Click here to see playground items that also ca be purchased. Any group, business, or individual that purchases a piece of equipment will have a plaque with the name of those who donated at the playground.  

 

The Milford Play Initiative's next meeting is January 14th at 1pm at Palmer Family Chiropractor 114 Water Street Milford, Ma 01757.  

 

For more information and if you would like to get involved you may contact Tamara Palmer at drpalmer@milfordchiropractor.com and Amy Leone at communityimpactinc@gmail.com

Truth Yoga Studio- New Year Packages!

If anyone is interested with starting the New Year by making time for you- please check out Truth Yoga Studio for class packages on sale now!

  

Join us for a free first class or

Register for your 6 week sessions starting January 2nd!

Class Schedule:

Sunday

7:00 pm Pure Asana

Monday

9:30 am Prana Stretch & Flow

Wednesday

7:00 pm Pure Asana

Friday

5:30 am Awaken Your Soul

7:15 am Awaken Your Soul

9:30 am Prana Stretch & Flow


Location:
Truth Yoga Studio - 211 Main Street in Milford, MA. 01757
A Therapist's and Parent's Perspective Regarding Newtown Ct. 

As I heard about what happened in Newtown, I automatically dissociated from the tragedy that was all over the news. Like everyone else, I thought "How could someone do this to kids?" My thoughts then went to the kids who witnessed this horror and the effect this will have on them. As a therapist or someone that works in the human services field we are constantly dealing with secondary traumatic stress. With years of experience, we are taught to mentally separate from the tragedy and take a reality approach to deal with what lies ahead.

 

I was shopping last night and a woman said to me, "sometimes I can't stand my teenager but they are still here when some parents don't even have their children."  This really hit home to me because as a therapist I am constantly hearing "Does she hate me, I can't deal with these teenage years or everything is a need vs. a want."  However, when I think about all those parents who sit in my office and discuss these hard teenage years, tonight they are home thanking God that their children are with them and feeling the pain for all the parents affected by this tragedy.

 

As a parent of a 9-year-old, I had to explain to him what had happened in the world today after school. He received the message in a mature way stating "how horrible it was for the kids who had to see his friends die and why would someone want to do that to kids and a principal or a therapist like you mom?" I was stuck for an answer but lying wasn't an option for me. I had to be honest. I tried to simplify my answer because "I don't know" wasn't going to cut it. I answered the best I could knowing my son and how he could handle what I was going to say.

 

The event that occurred in Connecticut was just a reminder that life is not only fragile but can be fleeting. Raising children with all the challenges this world presents is not for the faint of heart but is not rocket science either. We often take for granted what we have. That includes a difficult child that is only doing what their age tells them to do. I couldn't ever imagine being a parent and finding out that something happened at my child's school to go and wait to see if my child walked out.

 

As a parent we just do the best we can. There is no exact formula to figure it out. Our job is to unconditionally love, teach, set limits, support, along with another million things. The only way to handle questions from your child about things that happen in this world is to listen with an open heart and open mind. Have faith in yourself that you will be able to be honest enough to tailor your answer to help your child understand something that can't possibly be explained. The world is a wonderful place and we have to be careful not to color it in based on the reality of what could happen.

New Behaviorist at Community Impact

Community Impact welcomes a new behaviorist! Lauren Jacobson specializes in applying the principles of behavior analysis to treat clients who have difficulties with socially significant behaviors. These may include social skills, communication, poor self esteem and day-to-day interfering behaviors. Lauren works with both families and children to provide strategies for reducing negative behaviors, as well as increase positive behavior by demonstrating the necessary tools to regulate the client's emotions and behaviors. 

 

Lauren lives in the Milford area and enjoys attending Boston sporting events, and spending time with her family and friends outside of work. She can be reached at Lauren.Jacobson0518@gmail.com 


Community Calendar 

 

    Visit our community calendar for more local community events.

     

    The MYC and JAG Monthly Newsletter will be e-mailed at the beginning of every month. If you would like to have something placed in the newsletter please e-mail Jen Ward, at jenward24@gmail.com.
January 2, 2012
In This Issue
MYC After School program
Find Yourself Friday
Rivera Athletic Center
MYC Holiday Party!
MYC Donations!
JAG Meeting
Milford Play Initiative
Truth Yoga
Newtown Ct.
New Behaviorist

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Juvenile Advocacy Group (JAG) mission is to work with its community partners to bring resources together to prevent substance abuse and address other emerging needs in the community. The Massachusetts communities included in JAG's service area are the towns of Milford, Bellingham and Hopedale. Through JAG's programs and services youth and their families are able to gain the information and resources to help live and lead healthier lives.  For more information, click here.

Milford Youth Center (MYC) mission is to provide a safe environment that promotes self esteem, builds character, and fosters the notion of community and the importance of respecting and serving others. For more information, click here.

The MYC & JAG work together to provide resources and opportunities for youth to make healthy decisions. The MYC & JAG have worked to provide local youth with the necessary activities and events that help them develop physically, mentally, socially and emotionally through their childhood years. By providing Milford youth with these types of programs and a safe environment during the after school hours and during our monthly events, we hope to address adolescent risk factors as well as promoting the partnership among community members to ensure a comprehensive vision and plan for the health of the youth in the town of Milford.