By Mary O’KEEFE

On March 14, the Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition will present a community and family summit with Clay Roberts. Roberts will be speaking on the 40 Developmental Assets, described as a common sense approach to raising children from the toddler years through college age. Roberts is an author, consultant, speaker and prevention expert. The 40 Developmental Assets were developed by the Search Institute.

“We [CVDAPC] were feeling that we wanted to create a positive message,” said Nancy Stone, CVDAPC board member and Assets co-committee head, on why the coalition chose to bring Roberts to the community.

The coalition began a few years ago as a grass roots effort to educate the community on the affects of drugs and alcohol on youth. Since its inception, the coalition has conducted many seminars and outreach meetings to discuss these issues. Stone said the upcoming event would be a positive solution to those issues already discussed.

“We have told parents of the dangers, but we wanted to give them tools, equip them with assets,” she said. “It is another protective layer.”

“No matter where you are in parenting, there is an asset document for you,” said Linda Evans, coalition board member and co-committee head.

Evans is the former principal at Crescenta Valley High School. She likes the 40 Assets information because it is not geared just for one age group but spans throughout childhood into young adulthood. It is information that can help not only parents but also grandparents and all family and friends who deal with youth.

The assets include family support, positive communication, community values and school boundaries. Each asset has an explanation that Roberts will cover.

“Over my 38 years of teaching, I have attended several [seminars with several speakers and] I found that Clay was the most inspirational of all,” Evans said.

The assets were created through the Search Institute, which for over 50 years has been a leader in finding out what kids need to succeed. The information has been gathered from surveys of over 3 million kids in addition to books published and by working with schools and youth organizations, according to its website.

To prepare for the seminar, Stone and Evans visited local PTAs, spoke about the assets and gave parents surveys of their own. They asked both the students and parents what they felt the most important asset was and how well either of them were in covering particular assets within their family.

It was surprising that often times the assets the parents thought they were doing a good job in or they thought were important were different from the child’s perspective, Evans said.

The assets are logical and common sense-based, so many parents may find they are already incorporating them in their child’s life, however Roberts will help reinforce that positive approach and add nuances.

“Spending time with Clay is so enriching,” Evans added.

The event will be held at the CVHS MacDonald Auditorium, 4400 Ramsdell Ave., La Crescenta on March 14 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

CVDAPC will also be hosting free childcare that will be provided at First Baptist Church of La Crescenta. For those who would like childcare, RSVP by calling (818) 249-5832 or email info@fbclc.org.