How to Start a JourneySafe Club:
In most school districts, the process of starting an on campus club is relatively simple.
First and foremost is the need for an adult club moderator or advisor. In most cases this can be a teacher or other faculty member. Outside of schools, it can be a youth leader, coach or counselor.
Most school districts then require that a proposal be presented for approval by the principal or school board. (Each school district or institution has their own process.) A sample proposal is provided below which can be customized according to specific group needs. After obtaining approval, the club can start advertising, soliciting members and participating in youth action projects. Each club manages itself according to their own objectives, interacting with the larger JourneySafe organization periodically and/or as needed. Leaders from the Gillian Sabet Memorial Foundation JourneySafe program will be available and happy to provide guidance and support.
Sample Proposal for a JourneySafe Club:
I would like (my school) to establish an official JourneySafe Club. Our club would be directly affiliated with the JourneySafe outreach program of the Gillian Sabet Memorial Foundation, designed to encourage strong communication and leadership qualities among teens, and founded for the purpose of promoting the JourneySafe goals on our campus and in our community.
The primary goals of JourneySafe are:
(At this point, insert the goals listed above plus other group specific goals in keeping with the concept of the organization)
Within the club, members will discuss and come up with manageable ways in which teens can confront and deal with the pressures and crises that often affect adolescents. We will concentrate on how we can learn to use and practice positive peer pressure as a tool to help protect ourselves and our friends from dangers like drugs and alcohol, sexual promiscuity, unhealthy body image and eating disorders, depression and isolation, and reckless behaviors on and off the road.
Because driving is a modern teen right of passage, we will encourage our peers to treat that privilege as a "solemn" right that should not be perceived as our ticket to freedom, but rather our initiation into the adult world of being responsible for the lives of others. As JourneySafe club members we will commit ourselves to donating at least 20 hours per year to aid in the efforts of JourneySafe approved organizations and/or help promote programs with similar goals.
