Community Voting Results Are In!

The results of the Blaine County Communities for Youth Initiative’s voting on youth well-being priorities are officially in and the “winning” areas are a) continuing efforts around improving youth social connection, and b) finding ways to increase young people’s feelings of mattering and belonging, as well as levels of self-awareness.

Both of these areas were found in the 2025 Blaine County Youth Well-being Survey to be drivers of local teens’ mental health and well-being challenges. Promoting youth social connection will be a continuing focus from the 2023/2024 school year, while the focus on increasing youth feelings of mattering, belonging, and areas like youth levels of self-awareness is new for 2024/2025. However, like many risk and protective factors for youth well-being, social connection and mattering/belonging/self-awareness are related and thus complementary areas on which to focus.

Blaine County Communities for Youth Initiative’s voting on youth well-being priorities are officially in!

In the coming weeks a variety of Blaine County partners including those from Blaine County Schools, the Blaine County Mental Well-being Coalition, and many others will be coming together to create specific goals/objectives, and activities to address these areas and move well-being prevention activities upstream. Local partners and community members will be supported by the Communities for Youth Empowerment Team in planning efforts and in ensuring activities selected for implementation are in line with the best available evidence and best practices. Organizations and individuals that would like to get more involved in this process should contact Communities for Youth Blaine County Community Lead Sarah Seppa (seppas@slhs.org).