The Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth (MPY) is pleased to announce that State Senator Brendan Crighton was presented with MPY’s inaugural Champion of Children and Families award.
Senator Crighton, of Lynn, was honored for his legislative work, which includes filing numerous bills that could benefit youth across the Commonwealth, as well as for his work supporting students across the Commonwealth.
“Senator Crighton is a leader in the Massachusetts Senate regarding providing funding for social and emotional programs that support children, youth, and families,” said Tony Pierantozzi, President of the MPY Board of Directors and Superintendent of Nahant Public Schools. “MPY is pleased to present the 2023 Champion of Children and Families Award to Senator Crighton to recognize his contributions to the health and safety of students in the Commonwealth.”
The award was presented on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at an MPY-sponsored conference about mental illness and depression in teens and young adults at Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School in Danvers.
Senator Crighton serves on the Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery Joint Committee, as well as the Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities Joint Committee, and also serves as Co-Chair of the Afterschool Caucus, which seeks to ensure that all children and youth across the Commonwealth have access to effective afterschool and out-of-school programming that supports positive social, emotional, cognitive, and academic development and physical health.
He was a lead sponsor of the recently passed Work & Family Mobility Act, and helped secure a $300,000 increase in last year’s budget for the Mass Mentoring Partnership, as well as $250,000 for Roca, Inc., to provide services to young parents in Lynn.
Senator Crighton has also supported legislation to increase opportunities for judicial diversion, as well as the Healthy Youth Act, which would ensure that Massachusetts schools that offer sex education use an age-appropriate, medically accurate, and LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum.
About the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides training, fosters collaboration, and develops programming to increase the health and safety of students. MPY is committed to bringing cutting-edge information and high-quality trainings to constituents and endeavors to provide solution-oriented, community-based, multi-disciplinary approaches to reducing and ideally eliminating risky behaviors for youth.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth is governed by a Board of Directors made up of school superintendents, police and fire chiefs, and other community leaders who work closely with MPY staff to deliver this mission. To learn more, visit: https://massachusettspartnershipsforyouth.com/.
