Southborough Youth & Family Services announces internship hire, camp-aid tiers and March programs; Friends plan open house March 27

At the Feb. 10 meeting the Youth & Family Services director summarized recent program work and upcoming events. She told commissioners that graduate internship recruitment resulted in an offer that was accepted by a candidate named Cooper Harris, identified as coming from Boston University; the director said the intern has accepted but did not provide a definitive start date.

The director said staff are processing camp scholarship applications and verify eligibility levels: families may qualify for a 25% discount, a 50% discount or up to a 90% discount based on annual income. Janet (staff) is handling financial-assistance applications.

The department is partnering with the Worcester County District Attorney's office and Northborough Health and Human Services to deliver healthy-relationships programming at Algonquin. The DA's office has given classroom presentations and staffed an outside table tied to a student collaborative project; the program includes incentives such as prom-ticket or gift-card prizes for student participation.

Staff who attended the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) conference in Washington, D.C., will prepare a concise debrief for the commission. The director also announced a parent webinar on virtual teen dating safety to be presented by the DA's office on March 5 from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. via Zoom and encouraged parents to attend.

The director said she will provide QPR suicide-prevention training for library staff; an earlier session was canceled because of snow and a rescheduled date was mentioned but not confirmed in the record.

In the Friends update, Karen (representing Friends of the Southborough Youth Commission) said they are planning an open house at Theracopia on Friday, March 27, from 5 to 7 p.m. The event will include chair massages, paraffin hand-dipping, brief rotating presentations about programs, light refreshments and a raffle (a donated $50 gift card was cited). Friends said recruiting volunteers and new members is a priority because prior fundraisers have become harder to run and local restaurant participation has declined.

Commissioners discussed marketing plans and a meeting to finalize the event name and promotional materials; staff said they will distribute flyers through schools, town channels and social media.