The following is a brief summary of my interview with Christina Weigler, Community Organizer with Partners 2. Christina works primarily with students and adults in the Burlington public schools, Catholic Central, as well as with homeschoolers. In addition to her community organizing work, Christina is also a wife, mother or two college students, and a member of the Burlington Catholic Tri-Parish.
You can contact Christina on Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday at her office in the Burlington High School: 262-763-0200 Ext. 1052
PS.. Everyone is invited to attend the next Partners2 informational meeting on Thursday, February 12th at BHS Library/6:30-8 PM.
What are the BIG NEEDS we are facing in our community?
- People from different generations need to get to know each other: Many teens acknowledge feeling disconnected from adults. This sense of alienation is also associated with the belief that the only time kids get noticed is when they doing something bad.
- More drug and alcohol education for parents: Alcohol and drug use is rampant in the Burlington and Waterford areas, and many parents continue to enable young people to make poor choices by providing alcohol to unrelated minors and allowing high school students to have drinking parties on their property. Many Teens are also reporting that one or more of their parents are abusing alcohol at home.
- More realistic and practical drug and alcohol education for young people entering adulthood: Many young people complain that they were simply not prepared for the intensity of the culture of binge drinking/drug use, and sexual behavior (hooking up) at our Wisconsin colleges and universities. School staff/Partner2 have attempted to address this by getting smaller groups of students to meet with speakers who have to been through the transition to college life and can answer practical questions, but more must be done.
- Funding: The down turn in the economy means that funding to support educational programs and leadership development is much harder to come by.
What are the GOOD THINGS that happening here that we should know
about… and who is doing them?
- Friday Night Live: Regularly scheduled social events at BHS where parents and grandparents can mingle with teenagers
- Programs like Partners2 and DRIVEN: These are programs that identify young people with leadership potential and equip them to take meaningful roles in on our schools and local community organizations (e.g. the Veteran’s Board, the Chamber of Commerce, etc)
- School/Community cooperation in limiting access to alcohol: Law enforcement, city officials, and school personal have done an excellent job in enforcing of existing laws and amending local statues to more effectively stop minors from obtaining alcohol.
- The Starfish program offered through Love, Inc: This is a Big Brothers/Big Sister kind of program that matches up kids with adult mentors in the community.
What could the local churches do to help strengthen, encourage, and/or
equip you and/or other leaders in our community to make a difference?
- Communication and Networking: The churches in the community could help by making sure that they had members who actively participated in the various coalitions currently at work in the area. Hopefully these members would act as liaisons with congregations ensuring that information was disseminated to the people in the pews, and that more feedback could be given to groups as they make plans and develop programs. The need for publicity is particularly urgent as the Burlington area is becoming more of a bedroom community where social problems are more likely to be ignored by the average person.
