WAKEFIELD — Executive Director Margie Daniels is pleased to announce that Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth awarded the organization’s inaugural Champion of Children award on Friday to Senator James Eldridge.
The award recognizes an elected official who demonstrates an outstanding commitment to the health and safety of youth.
“This is the first year Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth is presenting this award, and Sen. James Eldridge is someone who has demonstrated a dedication to supporting the health and safety of young people throughout the Commonwealth,” Daniels said. “He additionally helped to secure an earmark for funding last year which has allowed our organization to offer a variety of conferences, trainings and other valuable opportunities for students and educators throughout the state.”
Eldridge was presented the award during a professional development conference Friday, March 6 at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School in Marlborough. The conference was the final of three professional development conferences titled “Lessons in Uncommon Sense” MPY held last week. The conferences featured nationally acclaimed motivational speaker Dr. Adolph Brown, who spoke to educators, school psychologists, social workers, guidance counselors, school resource officers, and administrators about equity, diversity and inclusion and how they can make a difference in the lives of students. In particular, Dr. Brown examined the impact of implicit bias and how professionals in school settings can work to recognize and address implicit bias in their own roles.
The conferences also featured Kathy Lopes, an expert in educational issues related to equity, diversity and inclusion, and Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Boston University’s Wheelock College Dr. Raul Fernandez.
The professional development conferences were also part of a series of student and adult conferences last week hosted by MPY and featuring Brown. In student conferences Monday, March 2 and Tuesday, March 3 Brown spoke to students about the everyday pressures they face and the importance of perseverance and staying true to oneself. He also discussed implicit bias with students, and encouraged them not to “judge a book by its cover.”
About the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc. is a non-profit 501.c(3) organization that provides training, fosters collaboration, and develops programming to increase the health and safety of students. MPY is committed to bringing cutting-edge information and high quality trainings to constituents and endeavors to provide solution-oriented, community-based, multi-disciplinary approaches to reducing and ideally eliminating risky behaviors for youth.
The nonprofit is governed by a Board of Directors made up of school superintendents, police and fire chiefs, and other community leaders who work closely with MPY staff to deliver this mission.
To learn more, visit www.mpyinc.org.
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