The SPAN Youth Hub

Summertime has arrived! With the clouds gone and the sun out, it's a great time to head outside and enjoy the weather. Whether it's heading down to the beach or visiting your favorite parks. Also, New Jersey is offering the State Parks Vax Pass, perfect for all the nature lovers out there. First off, I'd like to briefly mention a quick, 10-minute survey about 'Living Safely with Disabilities.' This survey is geared towards addressing the needs of people with disabilities in an emergency. The survey is anonymous, so fill it out if you identify as: • A person with a disability or special health need  • A parent or caregiver • An educator or trainer • An emergency responder Filling this out will go a long way towards improving people's lives, so if you're interested, follow the survey link below, under the Resources tab. If you love the beach but want to avoid beach pass fees, there's a list of free beaches all over NJ. If you would rather stay home but are...

One of the most talked-about topics recently has been the topic of diversity and inclusion. There are many ways to define inclusion, but to keep things simple, let's define it as allowing all kinds of people into a group, no matter how different they are. Being different is what makes us each unique, but inclusiveness is what makes us a community.  Inclusiveness can be defined as "actively incorporating people of diverse backgrounds and groups." But, most importantly, focusing on everyone's challenge and providing the tools to succeed and be part of the community.  The following video, Inclusion Makes the World More Vibrant,   on YouTube is a video example of what inclusion is and how it makes the world a better place. Find it under Resources at the end of this post.  Inclusion is a model of thinking. We should think about how we can make our communities inclusive in our everyday life and find ways to create a future where a community stands for All. The fo...

Personal values reflect who we are and what is important to us.  As we grow from kids to young adults, not only do we learn about more and more values, but the values that we see as important might change too. As a kid, you might consider "Honesty" and "Success" to be the most important; as an adult, it might now be "Honor" and "Respect" that you see as the best. Values can paint a picture of who you are. The values of  "Honor" and "Loyalty" normally can reflect policeman or military personnel. Values don't define the person as a whole, but they can foreshadow your future goals.  If you're unsure which values you care for the most, then there's a great resource we'd like to show you. The website:  https://personalvalu.es has a free online test that helps to sort which values you'd like the most, based on the answers you give. These values are then sorted into a Top 5 list, showing the most important values...

Learning can be one of the most important things to do in your whole life. An amazing way to learn things even faster and more effectively is to have someone teaching you, especially when it comes to skills that not everyone can do. This could be from a teacher, a parent, a coach, a friend, or even someone you work with. This kind of teaching is called mentorship, and those that can teach you are called mentors. Mentors can have a great impact on your life because what they teach you can stay with you for the rest of your life, and you might even share their wisdom with others later on. While mentorship is best started at a young age, it can actually happen at any age, as long as you're willing to learn something new, or improve what you already know. Identifying who can be a good mentor isn't hard, it just needs you to focus on people that you likely already know. The most important thing to look for in a mentor is experience, as it's their experience that shows them what ...