"I’m Not Gonna Lie….Real Questions, Real Answers, Produced by Real Teens"

Youth Leadership participants take Center Stage for World Premiere!

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On Monday December 4^th a "RED CARPET" event took place at Center Stage in downtown Shelton.  Twenty-five United Way Youth Leaders were all dressed up for their premiere showing of "Ain’t Gonna Lie, Real Questions, Real Answers Produced by Real Teens".

It all began in the fall during one of their weekly meetings. Members of Youth Leadership voted to partner with Pam Mautte, Director of Valley Substance Abuse Action Council to help identify, produce and star in taping segments that would be used for Valley High School Guidance Departments to show at their schools.

The Valley Substance Abuse Action Council in collaboration with Tele-Media (Comcast) received funding to implement a new youth initiative which would raise awareness on what critical issues affect youth in our community. VSAAC chose to partner with the Valley United Way’s Youth Leadership Program because their mission dovetailed with VSAAC’s goal. The primary objective of the Youth Leadership Program is to develop teens into future community leaders, while learning about community needs in the Valley, non-profit agencies and the role of volunteerism in addressing those needs. This partnership has led to the successful completion of five shows titled "Ain’t Gonna Lie, Real Questions, Real Answers, Produced by Real Teens."

Youth Leaders dove in and spent tireless hours just doing the research. The next job was to report back all of the information they had uncovered and then work to produce the tape.

Liz Kennard along with the extremely talented technical support staff at Tele Media offered an enormous amount of support and encouragement to the kids.

The show will be aired on Comcast’s CN-8 which is the community access channel and will also be used by the area’s school resource officers and health educators in the Valley middle and high schools.

This program was funded through the Valley Substance’s Abuse Action Council’s

Youth Leadership advisors, Melissa Pucci, Pam Mautte and Dave Grant, Jr presented the teens with a special United Way/Youth Leadership hat.

The night was a great success and certainly will be a life long memory for these 25 Valley Teens.

Valley United Way Home Page