Partners For Youth

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Director says Partners for Youth stronger a year after acquiring Grand Futures

Steamboat Pilot, Jan 25, 2023

A year after acquiring Grand Futures, Partners of Routt County has updated its branding, introduced a new logo and changed its name to Partners for Youth — but the desire to help youth is unchanged.

“It’s been a full year since the acquisition at this point,” said Lindsay Kohler, Partners for Youth executive director. “I think the biggest transition has just been working to integrate all of our staff and our programs.”

She said the name change has not distracted from the organization’s mission to support youth through mentorship, empowerment, and trusted adult engagement so that they can face life’s challenges and thrive. The only difference is that Partners for Youth has broadened its scope and added Moffat and Grand counties to the mix.

“I think it’s been really neat to have just this one unified effort behind serving these communities,” Kohler said. “What (the board and staff of Grand Futures) wanted, was what we all want. That is to provide the best possible services to youth.”

HRC Column: Partners for Youth supports community through youth engagement

Craig Daily Press, Jan 3, 2023

Mackenzie Mixon, Youth Development Coordinator

Partners for Youth’s Moffat County Youth Action Council is a youth empowerment program that encourages middle and high school aged youth to make a difference in their community.

We aim to give youth a voice in our communities and take an approach that focuses on the strengths of each young individual. Since August, the Moffat County Youth Action Council has doubled in size, meets weekly at the Craig Chamber, and has chosen to focus on some inspiring topics that they truly care about.

The Youth Action Council’s main focus this fall has been the most recent wave of the opioid epidemic, fueled by fentanyl. The youth have brought in members of local law enforcement and the Foundry Steamboat as guest speakers to learn more about the issue and how it’s affecting our community. The youth then partnered with Moffat County Communities that Care and the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention to host a Narcan Training for local middle and high school aged youth earlier this month.

Steamboat Springs Teen Council teaches school staff about overdoses

Steamboat Pilot, December 13, 2022

The current class of the Steamboat Springs Teen Council does not want to see any more Yampa Valley residents die from opioid or fentanyl overdoses.

So, last week, 15 members of the Teen Council spoke at Steamboat Springs School District staff meetings to teach attendees about the use of naloxone spray — also known by the brand name Narcan — to reverse an opioid drug overdose, especially for illegal drugs laced with fentanyl.

Following the student-led trainings, which were conducted in conjunction with nonprofit Partners for Youth, more than 300 boxes of the two-dose Narcan were distributed across the school district to teachers, coaches, nurses and bus drivers. Presentations are planned in January for Steamboat Mountain School staff.

Training for local youth to help prevent opioid abuse and overdose

Craig Daily Press, December 1, 2022

A group of local youth will host a Narcan training event next week with hopes of combating opioid abuse in the community.

From noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 9, Moffat County Youth Action Council and Communities That Care will join forces to host “Don’t let fentanyl cancel the show,” an event that aims to teach youth how to stay safe in a straightforward, nonjudgemental way.

The event will be free and open to any middle and high school residents in Moffat County who want to learn more about opioid issues and become a part of the solution.

Mackenzie Mixon, the Moffat County Youth Coordinator for Partners with Youth, said the event was created after a group of young locals expressed interest in learning more about the risks of fentanyl, how they could identify the signs of use or overdose, and how they might be able to help. Mixon added that a lot of the interest in prevention work came about because many of the youth have seen the challenges of substance abuse at home, at school or in social settings.

Partners in Routt County invites community to celebrate 25 years in Steamboat Springs

Steamboat Pilot, October 3, 2022

Partners in Routt County is celebrating 25 years, and the nonprofit is inviting the community to gather Oct. 15 at the Steamboat Grand to celebrate a long list of accomplishments.

Since 1996, the group has grown from just a few mentor-mentee matches to more than 60. Lindsey Kohler, executive director of Partners, believes those partnerships between youth and adults make the community stronger.

“What always comes to mind, for me, is connection,” Kohler responded to a question about

what Partners brings to the community. “It’s that connection between adults and youth who might not otherwise have known one another. We have so much support throughout the communities from businesses and individuals that just do it because they know it has a benefit to the community.”

Partners in Routt County acquires Grand Futures

Steamboat Pilot, January 2, 2022

Two well-known local nonprofits have combined forces, as Partners of Routt County acquired Grand Futures Prevention Coalition at the start of the new year.

The mission of the two groups, now under the umbrella of Partners, is to mentor, support and prevent substance abuse in youth and young adults ages 6 to 24 in Routt, Moffat and Grand counties.

Partners Executive Director Lindsay Kohler said the nonprofit has assumed the programming, associated responsibilities, staff and funding of Grand Futures, which has dissolved. Three board members from Grand Futures will serve on the Partners board of directors.

The two nonprofits long had a close working relationship and related missions, and were housed in the same building complex on Jacob Circle in north Steamboat Springs.

“Considering how close our work that we do is aligned, we always had good working relationship for many years. Both Grand Futures and Partners collaborate with a lot of youth-serving agencies,” Kohler said. “Partners was a natural fit, because we all serve youth, and both work with trusted adults, and mentoring and prevention go hand in hand.”

Grand Futures - the biology of youth resilience

Steamboat Pilot, March 14, 2021

Sarah Valentino, Community Education Coordinator

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Imagine: It’s a quiet night, you are settling in for the evening, and then crash! A loud noise from the kitchen startles you. You bolt upright. Your heart begins racing. You think about grabbing a tennis racket as a weapon before investigating the noise.

This psychological response comes from your sympathetic nervous system. Your senses put your brain — and your body — on high alert to protect yourself from a possible threat. When you find the noise was caused by your mischievous cat experimenting with gravity, you begin to calm down. Your breathing slows. The return to rest is managed by your parasympathetic nervous system.

Both of these systems are parts of your body’s unconscious autonomic nervous system. There is a saying in this field: Everything psychological is biological.