By Steve Van Bockern, President
Sarah and I have been in Australia since December 30 with twenty university students. We return to our homes in the United States at the end of January. Our intent has been to compare and contrast what is happening with at risk youth in Australia and the USA. Students read the Reclaiming Youth at Risk book and completed the Response Ability Pathways training to give them a working understanding before their shadowing experiences with youth workers from Youth off the Streets (Sydney) and the Allambi (Newcastle) programs. In Bimberri, outside the capitol city of Canberra, we visited the 150 million dollar juvenile prison. The director told us it costs about $2000 per day to hold their kids in this facility. In a refuge, we did a service project by helping the kids build a veggie patch. We heard from wonderful guest speakers including Clair Jackson, Andrew White, Peter Walsh, Diana Boswell, Frank Smith, Sally Fitzmaurice and Tim Moore. Their gifts of experience and insight were invaluable.
The 2010 Victoria Seminars are just around the corner. We invite you to join us in the beautiful setting of Victoria, British Columbia for exceptional training, rejuvenating interaction with your peers and breath-taking scenery! To give you a taste of the beauty of Victoria, we have prepared the following slide show from images taken by our very own Mark Freado!
Greetings and Happy New Year from the RYI Home Office! A new year, a new beginning, a clean slate – don’t you just love fresh starts? With so many new friends joining our network, we thought we would take this opportunity to acquaint you with our office staff at Reclaiming Youth International.