Newtown Youth Services Saw Changes In 2004

By Larissa Lytwyn

Newtown Youth Services (NYS), a youth and family support and community service agency, underwent a number of changes in 2004.

Tony Tozzi, a former program director at South-End Community Center in Bridgeport, began his first day as Newtown Youth Service’s new executive director on December 17, 2003.

Mr Tozzi said he was excited to increasingly engage NYS with Newtown’s business, school, and health communities.

One of NYS’ biggest transitions was its move to 10 Glen Road in Sandy Hook on June 2.

For several years, NYS had been based in part of the former Newtown Congregational Church building on 41-A Main Street. They had to make other arrangements when the Newtown Savings Bank purchased the building.

The owner of 10 Glen Road, Ray Ruzek, said he was a longtime supporter of NYS and thrilled to welcome the agency into the more than 200-year-old colonial.

Then, on September 19, NYS rolled out the welcome mat at its first open house.

The event captured the breezy informality of a family barbeque, offering visitors an opportunity to munch on a hot dog, listen to live music, or engage in a game of volleyball.

Representative Julia Wasserman presented Mr Tozzi with an official citation recognizing the organization’s successful move.

On November 6, NYS held its first Opportunities Fair at Newtown High School, in which area families could find out everything from community service opportunities to resources for counseling and health needs.

Agencies and businesses attending the fair included orthodontist Curtiss Beck, Charter Communications, which will advertise its student internship program, Cullens’ Nature Camp, Dental Associates, The Family Counseling Center, Girl Scouts of America, Venture Crew 70, Grassy Plain Drum & Bugle Corps, Graceful Planet, Little Explores, LLC, Misty Morning Daycare Center, the Newtown Centre of Classical Ballet, Newtown Congregational Co-Op Nursery, the Newtown High School Greenery, Newtown Hikers, the Newtown Junior Women’s Club, and the Newtown Library Youth Council.

In addition, Danbury Rotary sponsored an Amber Alert registration event, in which parents could register their child’s age, description, and other personal details with the state of Connecticut. The information is automatically released on statewide media and community outlets in the event of a child abduction.

On December 6, NYS hired Nancy Anderson of Westport to serve as the coordinator of NYS’s Drug-Free Communities program.

Newtown Prevention Council was the fiscal agent for a $100,000 grant, renewable annually, awarded to NYS to help prevent underage substance use and abuse.

Research shows that youth are less inclined to use and abuse substances if they have at least one close, positive relationship with an adult. In accordance with this research, NYS recently began piloting its Intergenerational Community Service Program between five elderly residents who frequent the town’s senior center and six seventh grade students from the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School.

Ms Anderson has already taken on an active role in managing the program, which could possibly expand to the public school sector in the year or so ahead.

In 2005, NYS plans to continue its efforts to form and maintain close ties with the Newtown community through an assortment of youth and family focused programming.