Serving Youth-Leaders in the Willamette Valley.
Grassroots Counseling & Consulting’s program, Rooted Resilience, completed its inaugural program year with measurable impact across youth leadership development, behavioral health advocacy, and community engagement. Funded by Willamette Health Council, the program served 15 unique youth ages 16–21 through ten months of structured skills training, three mini retreats, and meaningful real-world advocacy opportunities.
Participants showed positive growth across all four leadership competency areas measured by a pre/post confidence survey. The overall group average increased from 3.24 to 3.91 out of 5.00 — a shift of +0.67 points — reflecting meaningful gains in public speaking, networking, advocacy, and general leadership confidence. The strongest gains were observed in General Leadership Confidence (+1.11 pts), directly aligned with the program’s primary goals of providing leadership skills training to youth involved in youth councils.
Beyond self-reported confidence, youth demonstrated their growth in action: delivering professional training to adult stakeholders, partnering with various community agencies, and serving as peer mentors for middle school students.
