RedLine is a proud partner and administrator of the Arts in Society grant. This collaborative program provides grants to both individuals and organizations that use art as a vehicle to promote social justice and community welfare.

We love highlighting our Arts in Society (AiS) grant recipients and all the unique and impactful projects made possible by their grant. And we’re excited continue this series with the 2022 AiS Grantee: Northwest Colorado Health.

Learn about the Northwest Colorado Health’s AiS project, the Youth Resiliency Program, and how it supports the resilience capacities of Routt and Moffat Youth and their caregivers through art, music, and nervous system regulation.

About Northwest Colorado Health

The Youth Resiliency Program is part of the prevention programming at Northwest Colorado Health, an agency that also houses the regional Federally Qualified Health Center, among other key community health initiatives.

Northwest Colorado Health’s mission is to improve quality of life for all Northwest Colorado residents by providing comprehensive health resources and creating an environment that supports community wellness.

Youth Resiliency aims to increase the resilience capacities of Routt and Moffat Youth and their caregivers through art, music, and nervous system regulation. By fostering resiliency capacities, youth have access to healthy behaviors and prosocial activities, increase attendance and productivity in school, reduce the stigma associated with behavioral health, and improve long term health outcomes.

The key concepts of resiliency as identified by Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2015, p.5) are woven into each group include:

Identifying a supportive adult: Harvard’s research into resiliency shows that the number one factor in increasing resiliency is having the presence of a safe, stable, and consistent adult

Building self-efficacy skills: Capacity to judge personal ability to cope with a situation. If kids believe that they can do it, research indicates they will be able to resource through difficult situations.

Self-Regulation: Developing awareness of thoughts, feelings, body sensations and nervous systems states to then teach coping and regulation skills. These are woven into each group.

Mobilizing sources of hope and community

Tell us about your project that utilizes your AiS grant: The Youth Resiliency Program

The Youth Resiliency Program is a trauma-informed upstream approach to prevention utilizing trauma-informed practices to teach resiliency skills through art and music.

The AiS grant is enabling us to incorporate music into all sessions, expand the service region for programming, and enhance the tiers of service.

There are several tiers of service of the Youth Resiliency Program, but all are community-based. We travel to where youth are so that:

They feel comfortable in an environment they are familiar with, and
Overcome barriers to access such as transportation/scheduling.

Tailored Services

Tailored services are delivered on a time-limited basis. Many times when there is a death, access to therapy services is limited by access and waitlists.

Additionally, there are times when issues arise in a group setting that need to be addressed on a 1:1 basis. When the need arises for intervention rather than prevention, YR staff work with the family to set up therapy services with a local professional.

Tailored services also include volunteer onboarding, family support, and professional consultation. With the AIS grant, we’re focused on expanding youth volunteer and mentoring opportunities as well.

Focused Small Group Sessions

Art and Music-Based small group sessions are focused for 8-10 sessions. These groups are referred to as “closed groups” which means that the same cohort of students continue through entire program.

Small groups generally occur during the school day at the students’ school.

At times, these groups also occur outside of school hours. Examples of these include an after-school Grief Group at the Rollingstone Respite House and the “Nothing About Us Without Us” group at the Steamboat Springs Library.

The AIS grant allows us to incorporate music into each session so that 50% are art-based and 50% are music-based.

Large Format

These large format events function to increase awareness of resilience skills.

These include guest-lectures to health classes, wellness events at Craig Middle School, single session open-format groups at Boys and Girls Club/Totally Kids, and adult trainings for youth-serving organizations such as Partners and Steamboat Springs School District.

Community

Community Events are defined as open to the public and/or community activism. An example is lectures at the Routt County Youth Services Coalition (RCYSC) Parent Connection Summit.

Fostering collaborative community relations is integral in the successful implementation of the YR program. To this end, program manager also participates on several community boards/committees such as RCYSC board, Communities that Care, North Routt Charter School and Steamboat Springs School District Wellness Committees, and Hayden School District Multi Tired Support Services (MTSS) to name a few.

Feedback enhanced programming always occurs. We solicit ongoing feedback from students, families, and community partners. All are welcome and we work with partners/families to eliminate barriers.

What other projects are you dreaming up this year, and how will your Arts in Society grant help to support these projects?

In 2021/2022 we were able to serve most schools in Routt and Moffat County. Our goal with the support of AIS is to be in ALL Routt and Moffat County Schools + Boys and Girls Clubs. This is over 20 locations spread out over approximately 120 miles.

New to the 2022/2023 school year, we will be adding in drumming. We will be incorporating UCLA Arts and Healing’s Beat the Odds and Mindful Music Making evidence-based curriculum.

Additionally, as we incorporate drumming, to honor the Ute tribe whose land we occupy, we have been seeking guidance from Roland McCook with Native American Cultural Programs, Tread of the Pioneer Museum, and Dr. Patrick Staib with Colorado Mountain College’s Native Studies Program. We have also reached out to local community drumming groups as well.

The AiS learning community day inspired seeking collaboration with both local resources and the native community.

Youth Resiliency has also been collaborating with Colorado Music Bridge as they create their “Piano Atlas.” This reciprocal partnership is providing Youth Resiliency with additional training on teaching piano and Youth Resiliency is consulting on how to weave trauma-informed principles into their work.

Last year, we were able to highlight art produced by Moffat County Youth Resiliency participants at the annual “Cherish the Little Things” Art Show.

We are dreaming about having a Youth Resiliency art exhibit at our local Steamboat Art Depot and creating a yearly book highlighting the work produced by participants.

A hope for the 2022/2023 school year is to increase the participation of youth volunteers to give them an experience of being a leader in their community for younger students and help co-create curriculum so that youth voices can be elevated.

We are working hard to refine our registration process to eliminate barriers, measure outcomes, and critically analyze our impact through our program evaluation process.

What was your experience like when applying for an Arts in Society grant? What tips would you share with other artists or organizations looking to apply for an AiS grant?

Applying for the AiS grant was straightforward and comprehensive. A tip to share with others looking to apply would be to have a team collaborate on the process.

Northwest Colorado Health is very fortunate to have our grant writer, Emily O’Winter. Her knowledge of the grant-writing world is invaluable. We collaborate and have ongoing conversations so that she knows exactly what we are up to with our “boots on the ground” programming.