TheLookUp941.org is the result of a strong commitment from the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners and the Human Services Advisory Council (HSAC) for positive youth development.

Because the Board has shown strong support for positive youth development activities in the past and a recognition of the importance of youth being engaged in positive, supervised activities, the HSAC appointed a subcommittee to explore developing a project focused on "Out of School Time" (defined as any time youth are not in school) activities for school aged children and youth in Sarasota County. The common goal of Out of School Time initiatives is to ensure that children, youth, and families have access to high quality programs, activities, and opportunities during non-school hours.

Building Strong Children, Youth, Adults, and Families has been designated as the top human services funding priority by the Board. When children are involved in non-school time activities, they are more likely to stay away from risky behavior.

Many youth and parents don't know about the out of school time activities currently offered across the county. This led to the recommendation to identify providers of out of school time activities for school aged youth and catalogue the programs available through use of a website. The goal of the web site will be to provide information on all activities available to youth in Sarasota County during non-school hours. Agencies and programs that offer these activities will be able to go online and quickly update their information.

High School aged youth were hired and trained as "youth mappers" to gather data on the activities available through a variety of research methods including telephone interviews and on-site visits with organizations. By utilizing youth to survey their own activities, they will be better able to identify activities that other youth might find interesting. The youth mappers will be neighborhood-based throughout the county, so youth in North Port will be mapping the activities available for other students in North Port.

The website is being maintained by staff from Community Youth Development of Sarasota County.

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