State Sen. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) was presented with Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth’s inaugural Champion of Children and Families award, honoring him for his legislative work and for his work supporting students across the Commonwealth.

Crighton has filed numerous bills that could benefit youth across the Commonwealth, MPY said in a statement announcing the award.

“Senator Crighton is a leader in the Massachusetts Senate regarding providing funding for social and emotional programs that support children, youth, and families,” said Superintendent of Nahant Public Schools Tony Pierantozzi, who serves as president of the MPY Board of Directors.

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.

Crighton serves on the Mental Health, Substance Use, and Recovery Joint Committee, as well as the Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities Joint Committee. He 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.

Crighton has supported legislation to increase opportunities for judicial diversion, as well as the Healthy Youth Act, which would ensure Massachusetts schools that offer sex education use an age-appropriate, medically accurate, and LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum.

Read Lynn Item article here