One of the 10 QYD Benchmarks is for businesses to display signage that welcomes youth. There was no requirement regarding how the sign would be designed or what the specific content would be.
Attached is a wonderful “welcome poster” designed by Middlebury youth. After designing it, a couple of the teens displayed it at school (when kiddos used to go to school), asked youth to respond to 5 questions. 30 youth provided responses. The short version of the responses were:
1. 90% liked the poster.
2. 60% indicated they were more likely to enter a business with this poster.
3. 70% indicated they would feel more welcomed in the community if these signs were posted in stores.
4. 73% indicated they had a positive reaction when first seeing the poster
5. 76% indicated they felt the poster was visually appealing.
When the 10 QYD Benchmarks were created, there was some debate about which of them would be most impactful. A lot of folks felt that this particular Benchmark was not as important as most of the others. Perhaps it is more substantive than many thought.