ACRS Receives $150,000 Grant to Improve Health of Boys and Young Men of Color
For Immediate Release
CONTACT
Liza Javier, (206)774.2460, lizaj@acrs.org
SEATTLE – December 10, 2019 — Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) received a $150,000 grant from Forward Promise, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant will support the efforts of ACRS’ Children, Youth and Families Program to improve the health and well-being for boys and young men of color.
ACRS’s Children, Youth and Families Program strives to make meaningful system changes to support youth of color whose needs are often invisible. Together with ACRS youth leaders, the South East Seattle Education Coalition (SESEC), and a coalition of youth-serving systems, ACRS will create a mental health Youth Advisory Board to amplify youth voices so they are recognized for their worth beyond simplified school-based outcomes such as attendance, grades and standardized test scores.
This narrow definition of success dehumanizes youth, especially Southeast Asian young men who struggle with their cultural/ethnic identities and intergenerational trauma stemming from wars and refugee/immigration experiences. This comprehensive approach will more accurately identify the needs of youth, assess and effectively refer them to mental health services, and at the same time center youth voices in the decision-making about their care. With these partnerships, ACRS strives to create new definitions of what it means to thrive.
“ACRS recognizes a shared commitment with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to promote opportunities for youth of color to heal, grow, and thrive in the midst of challenges that they face as children of immigrant or refugee families,” said Elisa Del Rosario, ACRS Deputy Director. “We are excited for this opportunity to partner with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to further amplify the youth’s voices and insight in strengthening strategies that promote the increased wellbeing of boys and young men of color, especially when it comes to mental health policies and their mental health care.”
Asian Counseling and Referral Service is one of seven organizations nationwide to receive a grant from Forward Promise. Each organization will partner with a local youth-serving system such as juvenile justice, child welfare, or health. Together, the partnering organizations will identify current practices that harm and dehumanize boys and young men of color, and lift up solutions that are more humane, culturally grounded, and consistent with positive youth development approaches.
“Ending dehumanization is a collaborative effort, one that requires communities and systems to find new ways to affirm boys and young men for color through both narratives and decision-making,” said Rhonda Bryant, co-director of Forward Promise. “Our hope is that these new partnerships will create healthy, supportive villages that wrap around our young people and enable them to heal, grow and thrive.”
A full list of the grantees selected for the Forward Promise: Partnering with Systems to Disrupt Dehumanization initiative is available here.
Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) offers hope and opportunity in over 40 languages and dialects. We provide one door through which AAPIs of many generations — immigrant, refugee, or American born — can find the resources they need. We help transform the lives of families and individuals by helping people feed their loved ones, find jobs, access resources, gain English language and job seeking skills, become American citizens, recover from addiction, and achieve mind and body wellness. We serve seniors and people with disabilities, and connect youth with job training and leadership development opportunities while ensuring that they and their families receive the support they need to succeed in a new land. We support Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and other underserved populations with advocating on behalf of themselves and their communities about issues that matter most to them. For more information, visit www.acrs.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
About Forward Promise
Forward Promise is a national program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support culturally-responsive practices that buffer the effects of historical and systemic trauma on boys and young men of color. For more information, visit www.forwardpromise.org. Follow Forward Promise on Twitter at www.twitter.com/forward_promise or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ForwardPromise.
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