The past two years, Youth Services Bureau of Monroe County and Building a Thriving Compassionate Community (BTCC) have convened approximately 200 community members for the Monroe County Childhood Conditions Summit (MC3). The theme for the first Summit was, “what surrounds us, shapes us,” and the second Summit theme was child and adolescent health. The decision to organize the event around conditions was grounded in the understanding that children are shaped by the relationships they have, the neighborhoods they live in, the places they learn and play, and the community organizations that serve them. When children have access to safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments they are more likely to thrive- and thriving children are more likely to grow into thriving adults.
Our third MC3 Summit will continue exploring conditions by focusing on connections. We selected this theme because it is our connections to others and to resources that protects us and our children from a host of health and social problems. Among the questions we are asking as we approach the event are: How can we improve connections within and between individuals, families, neighborhoods, organizations, and sectors? What gets in the way of connections? And how do connections affect health?