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NEW SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE GIVES TEENS A PLACE
TO GROW
I
by Leah Fisher Nyfeler
f you’re a parent, you know what it’s like to try to separate your teen from social media; sometimes it seems that the cellphone has become another appendage, while connecting through sites like Facebook and text messaging can seem necessary for life itself. Social events, for example, get planned through Facebook and what teen doesn’t text home to arrange for rides? YouTube is the go-to place for everything from entertaining videos to replaying scenes from games or school performances. But that digital world is not always a healthy one for kids—national and international news can sometimes be frightening, kids may witness bullying, and there’s the constant stress of who’s “friending” (or “unfriending”) you. Imagine harnessing that connectivity with an eye towards empowering those plugged-in kids while improving their social and emotional wellbeing. Welcome to the Austin Healthy Adolescent Initiative powered by the PlumbBrain project! Physical, emotional, and mental health are tied together in young people, explains Nikki Trevino, program coordinator of the City of Austin’s Healthy Adolescent Initiative (AHAI). Trevino used to be the coordinator for Safe Routes, a group that encourages kids to walk and ride to school. “Why didn’t people walk to school? It comes down to fear of their neighborhood,” says Trevino. “It’s real empowerment for community people to do things to keep themselves and their children healthy.” Walking or riding together as a group to and from school took away the fear and also provided those families with an
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additional 20 or so minutes of exercise and togetherness that had been missing. It’s no surprise that Trevino found a passionate calling to put together AHAI. As program coordinator, she’s the bridge between the City of Austin, four nonprofit groups (Planned Parenthood, SafePlace, LifeWorks, and Youth Launch), and PlumbBrain, a new social media project developed by OneSeventeen Media. The AHAI program vision is that kids are “active decision makers and fully engaged in improving their communities.” The mission is to empower adolescents (ages 13-19) and engage them as