Welcome to MYAN's Healthy Maine Partnerships page

This is the place to find tools and resources to support you to engage youth in the important work of HMPs and to share your stories of inspiring youth-adult partnership on policy and environmental change.

The Healthy Maine Partnerships (HMP) were originally developed in response to the Fund for Healthy Maine legislation and tobacco settlement funding. HMP is an initiative that links and coordinates Maine CDC efforts with the related health promotion efforts of the Department of Education and with the Maine Office of Substance Abuse.

The intention for the current year of the HMP RFP is to have a program that actively involves youth in making positive changes in their communities around physical activity, healthy eating, substance abuse prevention, and tobacco prevention and control. The purpose of involving youth is primarily to engage youth as effective agents for change by contributing their unique perspectives, fresh energy and desire to take action. Secondarily, active involvement of youth gives them an opportunity to be integrally involved in community life across multiple sectors and promotes the development of new leaders and concerned citizens. With an emphasis on looking at health disparities through the lens of social justice, youth develop skills that inspire them to advocate for changes that promote health in their communities.

Each HMP engages youth in different ways. Some HMPs have paid staff whose role includes overseeing youth involvement efforts. Other HMPs give stipends to teachers in schools to create groups, or to add HMP-related projects to the work of existing groups. Other HMPs do a combination of these, or use another format entirely. The important thing is that each HMP is actively thinking about ways to engage youth in the process of community change and health promotion!

If you are involved in engaging youth in Healthy Maine Partnership work (as a group leader, youth coordinator, community partnership specialist, etc), make sure you are on MYAN's contact list of HMP folks! Contact MYAN at myan@opportunityalliance.org.

 
MYAN is available as a resource for Healthy Maine Partnerships (HMPs) as they engage youth as partners in achieving HMP objectives for creating environmental and policy change around tobacco, physical activity, nutrition and substance abuse.

In addition to the features of this page and the resources offered at myan.org, there are some other ways that MYAN can support HMPs in the work you are doing. We look forward to working with you! Please don’t hesitate to contact us for support.

• You can submit requests for MYAN to offer customized training for youth and/or adult audiences. The first 3 trainings requested in each public health district will be FREE!
• Our newest youth leadership event--the MYAN Youth Leadership & Advocacy Summit--brings together all of the skill building, resource sharing, and networking opportunities that MYAN formerly made available through the Annual Peer Leadership Conference and the Anti-Tobacco Youth Summit. Our new two day format will give you MORE skill building- including new MYAN facilitated trainings on the leadership and advocacy skills you need to create lasting change in your communities and beyond.

• The updated Need to Know Guide: An Orientation for New HMP Staff is available below under Resources for HMPs.
• The HMP Youth Activity Resource Guide for 2010-2011 can also be found below; an updated version will be available in January 2012.
• We offer technical support by phone or email. MYAN staff are available to talk through challenges, offer suggestions, and connect you to handouts, articles, events and other groups. MYAN also does targeted outreach to our HMP contacts to connect you to relevant events, trainings & resources. Visit our consulting page for more information or to submit a request.
• Find events in MYAN's Events Calendar 
• Submit your event to us and we'll add it to help you spread the word!

Develop Youth Leaders

• The MYAN Youth Leaders Alliance is a year-long leadership skill development program for youth in grades 9-11. The application period for the next year will open in spring 2011, so keep your eye out for youth you think would be a fit. Special consideration is given during the selection process to youth connected to a Healthy Maine Partnership.

Where Else Can You Find Help?

• Use your Healthy Maine Partnership director and your Project Officers for support! Not sure who your project officers are? Talk to your HMP director, or contact MYAN.
• Find resources & announcements at www.healthymainepartnerships.org.
• The Maine Prevention Calendar lists events & trainings related to health promotion, disease prevention and professional skillbuilding.
• Questions about evaluation of HMPs? Evaluators from the University of New England are responsible for statewide HMP evaluation. Contact your HMP director for more information.

We especially want to highlight and archive news stories about HMPs so we can all read about and be inspired by the great work being doing by HMPs across the state. Have an article (print or tv) we should add to this page? Great! Email it to Nicole at nicole.mckenney@opportunityalliance.org.

Check out the press attention for HMPs below and visit our Stories from Maine page to read more stories about youth leadership.

• Belfast 5th Graders Celebrate Kick Butts Day (WABI TV5, 3/24/10)
• 5th Graders Learn About Smoking Dangers (Bangor Daily News, 3/25/10)
• Close to Home: Snuffing Out Smoke in Gorham (Portland Press Herald, 3/11/09)
• LOFT students host supper, meeting on substance abuse (Island Ad-Vantages, 4/24/08)
• Wake-up call from LOFT students (Island Advantages, 11/20/08)
• LOFT students attend training session on substance abuse (Island Ad-Vantages, 4/10/08)
• Fake Chew Not Cool: Letter to the Editor from Caravel MS YAP (Bangor Daily News, 12/9/09)

The below documents are specifically for folks working with/for a Healthy Maine Partnership (HMP). Please note: this is not the primary source for documents related to the HMP world--Project Officers, District Tobacco Coordinators and the www.healthymainepartnerships.org website are also important resources for documents.

Want more? MYAN creates & compiles resources on building & supporting groups, youth empowerment, program sustainability, health promotion & much more.  We recommend that HMP staff regularly check out the MYAN resource pages which are continually updated with contacts and web links, particularly those related to advocacy, action planning, youth-adult partnership, group development and youth leadership.