Helena Expect Respect

A great letter to the editor ran in Sunday’s Independent Record! Kathy Mortimore of the Great Northern Carousel supports Youth Connections and their work in Helena Expect Respect. She also commends the school district for their support of Youth Connections!

Over the past weeks you have run a few articles mentioning the service Youth Connections provides youth and families in our community. A couple of articles in the beginning of March highlighted the Helena Expect Respect initiative and its aim to gain the perspective of youth and adults on what is universally regarded as respectful behavior when we are out and about in the community. This respectful behavior is then universally expected of both adults and youth.

I am a manager of the Great Northern Carousel, one of the businesses involved with Helena Expect Respect from the very beginning. It was heartening to read the IR’s editorial endorsement of our work.

As a person who interacts with all age groups who frequent the Carousel, I am really excited to be working with youth and adults in our community who want to develop skills in respectful ways to acknowledge behaviors we want to see and also to redirect those behaviors we don’t. Youth Connections worked with us to bring Helena Expect Respect to Downtown Helena, and it is wonderful that the Helena School District supports the work of such an important entity in our community.

Kathy Mortimore, Great Northern Carousel