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Project Cornerstone

Project Cornerstone, an initiative of the YMCA, is committed to helping all children and teens in Silicon Valley feel valued, respected, and known.  Its programs and services help individuals and communities build a web of support around young people so that they grow into healthy, caring, and responsible adults.

Through the funding support of the Cherry Chase PTA, we have developed a partnership with Project Cornerstone which allows us the opportunity to provide our students and families with the Asset Building Champions (ABC) Family Engagement Program, Expect Respect Trainings, and Take It Personally Parent Workshops.  Through the program, students and adults learn to create positive connections in their community.

 
ABC Program

The Asset Building Champions (ABC) program trains parents and community volunteers in the developmental assets model for positive youth development. They are trained to read a specially selected children’s book and lead related activities and discussions in classrooms each month. The program’s goal is to help school communities achieve the following:

  • Create a common language and vocabulary about student respect and behavior expectations among all members of the school community — students, parents, and caregivers, teachers, and staff. 
  • Help students develop skills to handle physical, verbal, relational, and digital bullying and to STAND UP if they see someone else being bullied. (Be an Upstander, not a Bystander!)
  • Increase the number of caring adults on campus so that all students feel that there is at least one adult they can turn to if they have a problem.
  • Contribute to a positive school climate where every student feels valued and supported to achieve and thrive.
  • Preschool is the newest ABC program and continues to grow throughout Silicon Valley. It is available in English and Spanish.
Expect Respect

To empower students to combat bullying and peer abuse, Project Cornerstone developed the Expect Respect program. Expect Respect helps students from different social groups—including bullies and victims, athletes and “mathletes,” tough kids and cheerleaders, class presidents and class clowns, and everyone in between—work together to find common ground and create a “new normal” for their school where all students are accepted and supported by their peers.

In Expect Respect, a diverse team of students attends an intensive half-day workshop where they learn about bullying’s serious consequences, how to identify bullying behavior, and how to effectively STAND UP to bullies. Then, the team identifies the kinds of bullying that take place at their school and creates an action plan to stop bullying and improve the overall school climate. Project Cornerstone provides follow-up support and coaching throughout the year to students and faculty advisors to help ensure that their action plan is fully implemented.

40 Developmental Assets 
 
Developmental assets are the positive values, relationships, skills and experiences that help children and teens thrive. Young people with high asset levels are most likely to make healthy choices, while those with lower asset levels are more likely to get involved with negative or risky behaviors like violence, trouble in school, drug and alcohol use and more. A list of important developmental assets by age is provided below. (Search Institute created the developmental assets framework. For more information, visit www.search-institute.org.)