ACE MV’s White Paper on Island Youth
Next Steps for Martha’s Vineyard: Recommendations to Expand Opportunities for Youth and Young Adults
ACE MV is pleased to provide you with the Final Report “Next Steps for Martha’s Vineyard: Recommendations to Expand Opportunities for Youth and Young Adults.“ This research report stems from our UMass Chan School of Medicine Rural Scholars project, sponsored by the Dukes County Health Council. Our focus was to identify service gaps, barriers, and needs of the Vineyard’s disconnected youth and young adult population, and we worked with dozens of community stakeholders to develop these comprehensive and formal recommendations.
We hope these recommendations will be embraced by you, your organization, and our community partners as we all strive to improve the lives of our Island’s youth. Please share this with your team and refer to it when making decisions about planning, equity, inclusivity, education, economics, housing, workforce, and community health. Your feedback is welcome.
Rural Scholars findings featured in Vineyard Gazette
Rural Scholars Find Limited Options for Island Young Adults
In past years, Rural Scholars teams have examined Islandwide health issues including homelessness, aging, reproductive health care and substance use disorders.
This time, at the request of community education provider ACE MV, the future health care providers focused on conditions for Islanders aged 16 to 26 who may be disconnected from the larger Vineyard community.
“The young adult population is one of the least served on Martha’s Vineyard,” ACE MV executive director Holly Bellebuono said, as she introduced the UMass team to about 40 people who turned out for Monday’s presentation in the regional high school library.