POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE MANUAL
Positive Youth Development
Resource Manual
ACT FOR YOUTH UPSTATE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE
Positive Youth Development Resource Manual
Jutta Dotterweich
Cornell University
Family Life Development Center – Beebe Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone 607/255-4108 • Fax 607/255-8565
Table of Contents
Introduction
SECTION 1
What is Positive Youth Development?
1.1. Positive Youth Development: What do young people need to thrive?
1.2 Positive Youth Development: Origins and Principles
SECTION 2
Positive Youth Outcomes
2.1 Adolescent Development
2.2 Adolescence – Positive Outcomes
2.3 Positive Youth outcomes
2.4 Buildings on Strengths
2.5 A Typical Day – 24 Hours in the Life of a 9th Grader
SECTION 3
Youth Involvement
3.1 Meaningful roles for young people
3.2 Youth Involvement: A Challenging Notion!
3.3 Benefits of Youth Involvement
3.4 Organizational Roadblocks to Youth Involvement
3.5 Recruiting, Preparing and Retaining Young People
3.6 Preparing Adults for Youth Involvement
3.7 Youth Adult Partnerships
SECTION 4
Youth Development in Care Settings
3.1 Struggles and Strengths
3.2 Fostering Resilience
3.3 Resiliency Strategies
SECTION 5
Effective Youth Development Programming
5.1 Best Practice Strategies in Youth Development Programming
5.2 Feeling Safe – Creating Safe Environments
5.3 Checking Stereotypes and Cultural Assumptions
5.4 Intentional and Engaging Youth Activities
5.5 Engaging Young People Effectively
5.6 Experiential Education and Service Learning
5.7 Engaging Older and Marginalized Young People
5.8 Integrating Youth Development into Organizational Practice
SECTION 6
Community Involvement and Collaboration
6.1 It Takes a Community…
6.2 Knowing Your Community
6.3 Asset Based Community Building
6.4 Involving Businesses
6.5 Understanding Collaboration
SECTION 7
Resources
Websites and References
Manuals
ADDENDUM
Energizers and Team Building Activities (pending)
Introduction
History and Purpose
The purpose of this manual is to provide user-friendly resources and tools to community members and professionals who want to promote positive youth development in their communities. The materials can be used to educate community groups and service providers about positive youth development with the ultimate goal of facilitating organizational and community change. The manual includes training activities, handouts, brief power point presentations and references to other resources.
The impetus to develop this manual came out of lessons learned from ACT for Youth, a statewide initiative, funded by the NYS Department of Health, to promote positive youth development through community partnerships (for more information see www.actforyouth.net). Many practitioners have learned about positive youth development through attending trainings, reading publications and accessing the ever growing number of youth development resources on the web. Increasing knowledge of youth development is a critical, first step. But in order to educate and engage other local groups and organizations, they need concrete educational strategies and materials - materials that take the somewhat abstract and general concepts of positive youth development and put them into user-friendly and practical interventions and ideas. This is precisely what this manual attempts to do. The content of the manual is based on five years of working closely with diverse community partnerships and the ongoing review of research and training resources in the youth development field.
Structure
The manual is divided into 6 sections each of which has a theme and includes several activities with instructions, overheads (slides), handouts and facilitation tips. Additionally, there is a section for resources and references and an addendum of energizers. All overheads are attached as power point slides. Any slide can be converted to an overhead if desired. Additional resources are listed with direct web links.
How to use the manual
You can choose and combine activities according to your audiences and educational goals. This is not a standard curriculum that mandates certain sequence of activities. The manual is viewed as a resource kit intentionally created to be flexible and adjustable depending on your goals and interests. The recommendations given are meant as suggestions based on actual training experiences.
We have tried not to duplicate existing training materials, and have listed other available resources (via reference or web link).
Future plans
A compendium of positive youth development readings is under development. Using the benefits of web technology, annual updates with new activities, references and handouts are planned.
What is Positive Youth Development? 1
1.1 What Do Young People Need to Thrive?
Objective: Participants will learn the core concepts of positive youth development
Material: Newsprint, markers, prepared poster
Slides: From Traditional Youth Services to Positive Youth Development;
Community Groups and Organizations
Handouts: 1.1.A What is Positive Youth Development?
1.1.B From Traditional Youth Services to Positive Youth Development
1.1 C Community Groups and Organizations
Time: 50 minutes
Audience: General
Lesson Plan
I would like to introduce you to a new way of thinking about young people and what we as adults in our community can do to help young people succeed. Some of you might have heard the term positive youth development or community youth development before.
When you think about young people, adolescents, or teenagers, what comes to mind? What headlines pop into your head?
Invite participants to share some of the concerns they are thinking about. Remind them of the headlines they commonly see.
Most of time we are inundated with negative news, events and statistics. We worry about young people, their behaviors and pathways. On the other hand we have expectations, hopes and goals for young people. We want to see them succeed, to become successful productive adults. How do you define success? What characteristics, skills, attributes would you like to see?
Brainstorm briefly positive outcomes. Highlight that there is usually agreement about the desired outcomes.
The question is how to we get to those desired outcomes despite the challenges and risks young people face. One thing we as adults sometimes forget is that we faced challenges, risks, difficult 5
situations as adolescents as well. They probably looked a little different, maybe, but they were challenges nonetheless.
Step 1 > Small group activity (20 min)
Form small groups (people at one table, or 5-7 people)
Let’s take a few minutes to think back when you were a teenager, 13 - 17 years old. What did your life look? What influences shaped your life then? Or, think about some of the challenges you faced. What helped you through a difficult time? Share a personal experience.
Think about it for a minute, then share your experiences with folks in your group.
Process. Ask volunteers to share, write comments on newsprint. Highlight supports - adult role models or relationships, participation/competence, safe places.
Step 2 > Brief lecturette and discussion (25 min)
What do young people need to thrive? Research reinforces our personal experiences. Research in child and adolescent development has told us what young people need to thrive, to become healthy productive adults.
Poster
Engagement
Connectedness
Preparedness
Safety and Basic Needs
What do young people need to thrive?
Talking Points:
Bottom line – Young people need their needs met (shelter, food, etc) and feel safe before they can grow and learn. Youth in survival mode do not thrive.
Preparedness – Young people need to develop competencies and skills to ready themselves for work and adult life. Competencies range from academic, social, emotional to vocational, cultural.
Connectedness – Young people need to belong, to be connected to family and community to thrive. A growing body of brain research indicates that we are hardwired to connect. It is a core requisite to learn, develop and interact with the world.
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Engagement – Young people need opportunities to engage in meaningful activities, have a voice, take responsibility for their actions, and actively participate in civic discourse.
This sets the agenda for positive youth development. This reflects a major shift in thinking. Instead of asking what we can do to prevent and fix behavior problems, we are asking what opportunities, learning experiences, supports do we need to give young people so that they feel connected, prepared and engaged.
Slide and Handout 1.1.B – From Traditional Youth Services to Positive Youth Development
Talking Points:
This presents a real shift in thinking of how we provide services for young people.
Instead of concentration on problems and problem prevention, we move to nurturing positive outcomes; we focus on what young people need to thrive.
From reacting to problems and needs, we become pro-active.
We move from targeting young people – either high risk or gifted – to planning and creating opportunities for all young people.
Instead of looking at young people as recipient of services and programs, we look at young people as resources, as partners who can make valuable contributions in planning and implementing activities.
This also means we are moving from programs to a more community wide net of learning opportunities, interactions and activities. This can mean enhancing and expanding existing programs as well as creating intergenerational activities outside of traditional youth programming.
Ultimately, this means that youth development is not just a task of professionals but all community members.
This does not mean that prevention programs and efforts should be abolished. A positive youth development approach means to look at the bigger picture; it looks to strengthen existing services and programs and to expand opportunities and supports a community offers to young people so
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that they all can develop to their ful
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