Solano County Office of Education

Solano Friday Night Live Program (SFNLP)

MISSION STATEMENT

Friday Night Live builds partnerships for positive and healthy youth development which engage youth as active leaders and resources in their communities.

About SFNLP

The Solano Friday Night Live Partnership (SFNLP) office and staff are housed in Solano County Office of Education, Youth Development Services Department. SFNLP works with the California Friday Night Live Partnership (CFNLP) and is committed to the belief that a youth development framework, which is inclusive, comprehensive, youth-driven, and founded on current research, will improve the lives of young people and the communities in which they live.

SFNLP takes the form of a club on school campuses and in community-based organizations, and consists of several programs:

Friday Night Live (FNL) for high school-age youth
Club Live (CL) for middle school-age youth
Friday Night Live Kids (FNLK) for elementary school-age youth

Youth involved in the SFNLP programs work on alcohol, tobacco,drug prevention, and other issues of concern in their school and community. The programs provide young people with the skills, support, opportunities, and competencies they need to become healthy, productive adults.

Standards of Practice

Youth in FNL programs will experience the following:

A Safe Environment
- Physical safety - to feel safe physically, free from the risk of harm.
- Emotional safety - to feel safe emotionally, to feel like they can be who they are.
Opportunities for Community Engagement
- Knowledge of Community - to learn about their communities and its resources.
- Interaction/Interface with the Community - to interact and work with community members.
- Communication with the Community - to communicate about the program and/or youth issues.
- Contribution to the Community - to give back and serve the community.
Opportunities for Leadership and Advocacy
- Decision-Making and Governance - to participate in decision-making and occupy leadership roles, such as staff or board roles.
- Youth Voice - to lean to express their opinions constructively and to hear those of others.
- Action - to take action on issues or projects they care about outside of the program - in the community, at school.
Opportunities to Build Caring and Meaningful Relationships with Peers and Adults
- Peer Knowledge - to learn about their peers and build relationships with them.
- Adult Knowledge/Guidance - to learn about the adult staff and build relationships with them.
- Emotional Support - to feel supported emotionally by others in the program.
- Practical Support - to feel like their practical needs are met by adult staff.
- Sense of Belonging - to feel like the belong, like they matter to the group and its success.
Opportunities to Engage in Interesting and Relevant Skills Building Activities
- Specific Skills - to develop and build specific skills through program activities.
- Challenging and Interesting Activities - to engage in interesting and challenging activities.

Core Components

Core Components are elements within the FNL Programs and reflect youth development best practices.

Chapters - defined as a group of committed young people and a minimum of one adult ally working together. The chapters provide the other 3 Core Components (Opportunities, Outreach and Skill Development) to the members through partnerships.
Opportunities - any safe environment or avenue in which youth and adults complete a project, sharing in power and ownership (in partnership).
Outreach - engages youth, adults, and systems in building partnerships, creating positive and healthy youth development.
Skill Development - through purposeful activities and opportunities promoting or resulting in building skills, mastering resiliency, and core competencies.