8 Key Principles of Youth Development

By Cassandra Mack

The youth development framework is an approach to working with young people that encompasses four things: it is designed to meet the developmental needs of youth, builds on their assets and potential, views young people as resources and builds partnerships with youth to create positive, sustaining change.

The youth development framework derived from common theories and approaches that strive to build a core set of skills, characteristics and competencies on the individual as well as the organizational level that are needed to provide support and opportunities for all young people. By nature this framework is multi-faceted. No one person, institution or organization acting alone can ensure that all youth acquire the assets, skills and support they need to succeed. It takes all of us working toward common goals and adhering to the common principles of youth development to make this happen.

There are 8 key principles of youth development. They are: an organizational structure that is supportive of youth development, a safe, physical environment that is supportive of the youth and staff’s needs, a holistic approach to all youth, youth contribution and collaboration, supportive relationships, high expectations and clear limits, activities that are engaging and that foster learning, mechanisms in place to help youth move forward as young adults.

1. An Organizational Structure That Is Supportive of Youth Development

An organizational structure that is supportive to youth development encompasses five elements. First, the mission and vision statements of the organization promote youth development and a sizeable portion of the organization’s budget is allocated for direct services for youth. Second, staff and board members have a clear understanding of the organization’s mission and vision statement and direct their planning, advocacy efforts and services around this mission and vision. Third, the organization invests in staff development and training and staff’s input is encouraged and implemented. Fourth, all levels of staff are kept abreast of the organization’s goals, plans and changes. And fifth, the organization advocates around policy, funding and direct service issues as they relate to its constituents.

2. A Safe, Physical Environment That Is Supportive of the Youth and Staff’s Needs

A safe physical environment that is supportive of the youth and staff’s needs encompasses five elements. First, the actual building is physically safe, clean with good lighting and working facilities. Second, a safety and emergency plan is in place with all staff being trained in emergency procedures. Third, rules are published and displayed in a conspicuous place. Fourth, staff members are equipped with the supplies, equipment and space that they need to perform their job duties effectively. Fifth, youth have their own youth friendly space where they can hang out while waiting for a worker.

3. A Holistic Approach To All Youth

Taking a holistic approach to all youth means at the very minimum your organization is doing these four things. Promoting cultural diversity with respect to ethnicity, social background, gender issues, sexual orientation and youth culture. Second, staff at all levels are reflective of the population that is being served. Third, the entire organization is orientated to the agency’s mission, vision goals and services by way of staff meetings, announcements and newsletters. Fourth, a referral system is in place by way of a directory of services as well as staff contacts to ensure that all youth get proper referrals when needed.

4. Youth Contribution and Collaboration

A critical component of the youth development framework is providing youth with opportunities for contribution and collaboration. This means: allowing youth to contribute their ideas for programs, services and special events and projects. Set up youth advisory councils and committees. Create volunteer and paid opportunities for youth. Develop community service projects in which youth plan and implement the tasks. Involve youth in advocacy efforts. Encourage youth to participate in civic events, forums and town hall meetings. Sponsor voter registration drives in collaboration with youth. Youth should also play a role in planning activities, decorating the space and orientating new youth to the program. Provide youth with membership cards, buttons or t-shirts to create a sense of ownership and identification with the program.

5. Supportive Relationships

All youth need adults in their lives who care about them and support them in their dreams, goals and aspirations. It is essential that the organization and its staff provide a caring climate where every young person has someone who he can talk to, tracks her progress, helps him set goals and connects her with resources when necessary. Second, there should be strategies in place for parental involvement and for parents to talk to staff about their concerns and challenges. Third, interactions with youth should be respectful, positive and appropriate. Fourth, there should be some degree of staff consistency. Lastly, confidentiality procedures should be clear and communicated to all youth.

6. High Expectations and Clear Limits

Youth service providers should have high expectations for youth and should model these expectations by way of their behavior at work. Focus on strengths. Clear limits should be set with consequences other than expulsion. All youth should receive a copy of the organization’s written code of conduct and staff should thoroughly go over the rules. Create ownership of the rules by setting up a youth court to help deal with problematic behavior.

7. Activities That Are Engaging and That Foster Learning

The organization should provide programs, services and activities that promote cognitive, social and emotional development. Build critical thinking, decision making, team building and problem solving skills into group and individual activities. Provide life skills training on topics such as: money management, employment readiness, time management and other important life skills. Make sure that activities are developmentally and age appropriate for your target group. Make learning interesting by fostering curiosity and creativity.

8. Mechanisms In Place To Help Youth Move Forward As Young Adults

Build room in your programs for youth to transition towards adulthood. Programs should be provided for different age groups. When youth age out of one program they should be easily bridged into the next. Give youth more rights and responsibilities as they move up from one program into the next. Create volunteer opportunities and internships for older youth. Train older youth and hire them as paid staff. Create closure by way of formal rituals such as: graduations, awards ceremonies or a one-on-one termination session that creates closure for youth and helps them to plan their next steps. For some interesting, out-of-the-box, ideas on rituals and ceremonies you can refer to my book, “Her Rite of Passage: How To Design And Deliver A Rites of Passage Program for African-American Girls and Young Women.”

After you have spent some time familiarizing yourself with the 8 key principles of youth development, take a closer look at your organization and see how it measures up in terms of being supportive of the youth development approach. Then, share this information with your supervisor, your colleagues and people you supervise if you are a supervisor. And if your organization is not doing so already, then perhaps together you can make it an agency wide or at least a program wide effort to incorporate the 8 key principles of youth development into the different service areas of your organization.

Copyright © 2006 by Cassandra Mack

This article was excerpted from Cassandra Mack's book, "Smart Moves That Successful Youth Workers Make."

Cassandra Mack, MSW is the CEO of Strategies for Empowered Living and the author of "Smart Moves That Successful Youth Workers Make." For more information go to: http://www.strategiesforempoweredliving.com

Why Is Love Important In Life

By Neel Raman

The world is undergoing massive upheaval and social change. There are experts who tell you that global warming will destroy natural habitats, and that land mass will decrease with rising tides. Conflict is in the headlines every day and our leaders take us in directions that feel dangerous and unsettling.

Now more than any other time, you have the opportunity to change the world around you in the way people live and coexist.

Does that sound possible? Just one person out of the billions on this planet has the capacity to effect such change?

It is absolutely possible. With love in your heart, anything is possible. You have the potential to affect entire communities, change people's lives, bring people together.

It just takes one person.

When you open your heart and live from your heart, you honour others with the respect that comes from acknowledging their right to be. You impose no condition or restriction on the way they live or how they relate to you. By being open and feeling love towards all people, you create a space for communication and connection rather than confronting others with doubt, fear, prejudice, ignorance, and creating barriers that force people and communities apart.

Love is everywhere. It's in the supermarket as you stand in line with those too tired or too stressed to be polite, and you help them with their load. It's in the traffic jam when someone starts honking their horn out of frustration and impatience, and you let them cut in front of you because there's no kindness in making them even more stressed than they already are. It's in the workplace where people gossip and backbite and you understand the pain and unhappiness they must be feeling to act in such a way.

Love allows you the freedom to treat others with kindness and compassion.

And in these difficult times, love conquers fear and mistrust, and gives you courage. Knowing in your heart that you act and speak with love will dissolve all prejudice and suspicion. How can you truly fear anyone whom you love, and how can you be afraid of standing up for principles of justice and rights when you're guided by the clear, inner voice of truth?

You have the capacity to show others quite how powerful the energy of love can be.

You can make a difference.

The Trick To Life

By Robert Daniel

What forces that first step, when you first go travelling or make that first big decision at life’s major crossroads?

For me it was when I'd left school and worked for about a year and a half. I was going to travel, but began to drift and get into a comfort zone. Then the guy who owned the business came in and said, 'We have to start talking about your pension scheme Rob, for when you retire."

The Earth tilted.

At lunch I went into town and bought a tent, sleeping bag, backpack and a train ticket to Paris for that night, then went back to work and handed in an instant notice.

The next day I was outside Paris with my thumb in the air, with a bottle of red win, lump of cheese, a French loaf, an apple and a bar of chocolate in my bag. I walked passed over a hundred people hitching and got to the back of the line, turned and the first car that passed, stopped and picked me up.

That whole decision, choice process, finally led me to Australia seven years later. Providence stepped in and led the way.

The evening before I caught the train, I nearly didn't. It was so hard to leave the house, my family, my comfort zone, but that first step was magic, because the second was easier, and after that it was just adventure.

Nothing compares to that sense of total freedom. For some it drives them insane, but for me the not knowing what’s going to happen or where I’m going to be, or even where I am, from one moment to the next is the most exhilarating feeling I have found.

Twenty-one years later I am still in Australia, but see it as still part of the trip. I have two wonderful teenage children, a marriage that sadly didn’t work but one that most definitely is working and a long list of successes and interesting learning curves we wont call failures. Businesses, jobs, adventures, life, and all because I took that first step out of the house.

People like to plan their future, but the planning can stop them from getting to where they really want to be. With a plan there is often little room for the unexpected, and life is all about the unexpected.

Sitting back and waiting for things to happen the way you want them is a recipe for dying sad and full of regrets. There is no second-guessing the Universe. We have no idea what’s going to happen once we make the step to where we want to be, because Providence will step in as well and lead us to places we never dreamed.

And what may seem the worst possible luck, often leads to the best possible outcome.

I fell down a donkey track on a Greek Island and fractured my ankle. It was agony, and the injury swelled up so I couldn’t put any weight on it. 27 years later it’s still swollen.

I’d been running to meet a boat, as in return for free accommodation, food and copious amounts of wine the old lady of the house asked me to meet all the ferries and bring paying customers back to her ‘Rooms For Let’ in the village.

This was a great deal, but I was late and ran instead of walked down a donkey path. For an hour I lay there, missing all the big ferries carrying thousands of people, before finally hobbling to the port and watching a tiny, twenty person ferry pull alongside the jetty.

A girl walked off, and I asked her if she wanted a room. She said yes, and as a result I travelled to Australia four and a half years later to visit this girl for a holiday, and ended up staying. We didn’t stay together, but we still see each other sometimes, and our children have been in the same class together for most of their schooling. If I hadn’t fallen over, this simply wouldn’t have happened. I would have gone in another direction.

Life is full of these twists and turns. Full of ‘what if’ moments that if we thought about them, would send us crazy and paralyse us into not moving – in case we got it wrong.

But there is no ‘wrong’. There is what works and what doesn’t work sure, but right and wrong, these are concepts we’ve made up and we’re the only species to do it.

We’re the only species that do a lot of things that maybe it shouldn’t. Our planet is in crisis because of our actions, but this is just an example of what works and what doesn’t, if only we’d learn!

The secret is so simple. We are in charge of our lives in that we get to choose whether to live a life of doing, or watching other people do. Living a life of fear, of worrying about what others will think or believing a lifelong belief we made up about not being good at or able to do what we want, is a choice we make. It isn’t forced upon us.

I have been privileged recently to work with a small group of severely disabled children and their families. I have been humbled, touched, moved and inspired by who these people are and I swear, I will never take ANYTHING I do for granted again.

For all our complaining about what is and isn’t right about our lives and the world, these children cannot do anything for themselves, yet they smile, they laugh in spite of the fact their brains are functioning just like ours and they can think, reason, dream and imagine just like us, but they cannot ‘do’. Many cannot communicate in any way.

If you’re dreaming about doing something, take the first step and try not to have pre-conceived ideas of what it will all look like. It’s all about the first step, and having the courage to make it AND accept; to go with whatever comes next.

And the trick to life is simple. Find whatever it is you’re passionate about. If you don’t know, go on a quest to find out. Try everything until you find it.

And you’ll know when you do, because your heart will race faster, your tummy will turn and there will be a zithering sensation through your body that you get from nothing else. It’s the thing that makes you jump out of bed in the morning and cant wait to get started on.

If you don’t have this now, then change. Life is a stunning adventure in which we take the lead. And then – it’s over.

Take the step, hold on tight, and don’t forget to breathe and enjoy the moment.

Rob Daniel is a children’s author and presenter, who visits schools to run workshops in creative writing, memory and self-esteem. He also runs a creative writing online studio at: http://www.chocmint.com for aspiring writers and illustrators of all ages. Rob is also doing his TEFL course to teach English overseas because it provides him with both his passions. Travelling, and making a positive difference to young people.

Some Fear is Good, It Keeps You From Making Mistakes

By Lance Winslow

We all have heard the saying; No Pain, No Gain. We have also heard and have come to believe that which does not kill you makes you stronger. Some say pain is nature’s way of telling you to chill out or you messed up. Others will tell you that; "Fear is what keeps you from repeating the lesson."

Indeed we have come to often discuss these issues in our Online Think Tank and these are very good quotes. Some FEAR is good and it is part of life. They say FEAR of Falling in humans is innate, which might be a throw back from evolution? If you put a baby on a glass table they go to the edge and go back to the center, universally yet they have no knowledge of heights or fear of falling, having never fallen yet? All other FEARs seem to be learned.

If you are in the Army then your Drill Instructor makes an interesting comment when he tells you; "That what you FEAR is not actually what will end up harming you or doing you in. Stupid people do stupid things because they have not planned, trained or even considered in advance of their next move." quoted from a former Military Man.

You see; Some Fear is Good, it keeps you from Making Mistakes. Not all fear should be avoided. Some must be recognized for what it is and dealt with accordingly. Other types of fear are nothing more than motivators from external sources that you choose to accept thus the comment; You Have Nothing To Fear but Fear Itself. I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/