Organizational Coaching YDN provides organizational coaching for schools, community organizations, and institutions that seek to integrate youth development practices with their work. Coaching takes the form of customized resources, training, program design, and specific action-focused planning.
Agencies who implement Youth Development Practices will experience youth attending programs more regularly, more leadership and civic opportunities being offered to youth in the organization, increased and program offerings and partnership that offer a broader array of skill building for students, more interesting and relevant programming for students:
- Youth Development Practices
- Supports and opportunities for youth
- Youth Program Quality Assessment Tool
- Youth Survey Tools for Program Quality Improvement
- Healthy Kids Survey Data
- Youth Development Institute
- Youth Engagement Learning Community
Framework for Practice:
The YDN bases its work on the framework created by Community Network for Youth Development (CNYD). The CNYD is a youth development intermediary in the Bay Area. The Youth Development Framework for Practice is based on the research of Michelle Gambone and James P. Connel. The research shows that children and youth who have certain supports and opportunities are more likely to achieve positive developmental outcomes. These outcomes include: being productive (graduating, becoming employed or going to college); being able to navigate (solve problems, know where to get help, manage living situations) and be connected (have healthy relationships, contribute to the community, belong to groups).
The framework identifies five key supports and opportunities that contribute to the outcomes: access to emotional and physically safe environments; caring, healthy relationships; opportunities to participate (voice and choice); opportunities to contribute and know the community and opportunities to build skills in engaging and challenging ways.
Supports and Opportunities for Youth Success ⇒Challenging and Interesting
⇒Growth and Progress
⇒Knowledge of the Community
⇒A Chance to Give Back
⇒Involved in Meaningful/Responsible Roles
⇒Input in Decision-Making
⇒Leadership Opportunities
⇒Social Supports & Caring from Peers/Adults
⇒Emotional
⇒Physical
⇒Growth and Progress
⇒Knowledge of the Community
⇒A Chance to Give Back
⇒Involved in Meaningful/Responsible Roles
⇒Input in Decision-Making
⇒Leadership Opportunities
⇒Social Supports & Caring from Peers/Adults
⇒Emotional
⇒Physical
Organizational Evaluation and Program Quality Assessment
Youth Program Quality Assessment Tool (YPQA). Using the YPQA , YDN helps organizations examine youth development practices that need to be in place in a classroom or organization. The YPQA tool developed by the High Scope Educational Foundation is easy to use. It can be used as a self assessment or as an external assessment. YDN will introduce your organization to the tool, help you complete the assessment and develop an action plan for program improvement.
Youth Survey Tools for assessing program quality:
- YDN can provide agencies a youth survey tool to assess program climate and student perceptions of supports and opportunities. The tool measures emotional and physical safety, caring relationships, opportunities to belong, have voice and choice and make decisions, involvement in community and exposure to engaging, relevant & challenging skill development. The tool is on survey monkey. YDN can support agencies in using the data to examine its practices and determine areas for improvement. Agencies will learn how to do Youth focus groups to better understand the data as well as learn a process for developing action plans to guide their program improvement. This tool is based on the research of Michelle Gambone at YDSI
Healthy Kids Survey Data. Another very useful youth survey tool is the healthy kids survey developed by West Ed. This tool is used by schools who receive safe and drug free school funds. The tool measures caring adult relationships, high expectation, safety and opportunities to participate. You can find school district results on the survey as well as download the tool.
Youth Development Institute (YDI)
What does the YDI accomplish?
Helping agencies implement youth development principles is paramount. YDN provides a transformational training experience for agency teams of line workers and agency managers. Through interdisciplinary, experiential learning the YDI creates stronger interagency partnerships and more intentional, high impact services for youth. After completing the 28 -50 hour training, each agency team develops a plan for aligning its work with youth development principles. YDN staff then provides an additional 10 hours of coaching and implementation support.
The YDI curriculum was developed by the Community Network for Youth Development (CNYD) as part of the national Building Exemplary Systems for Training Initiative. YDN was trained in 2003 to deliver the curriculum and since then has trained over 80 agencies in YDI.
Through the YDI, participating organizations and staff will:
- Develop new professional skills and abilities using research-based practices.
- Connect with a professional community of youth developers.
- Receive up to 10 hours of on-site coaching assistance to build staff and agency capacities to apply concepts and lessons learned through YDI.
- Receive resource materials and assessment information to develop an organizational plan to help agencies better align with youth development practices.
The YDN has developed a three day youth engagement institute that trains teams of youth and adults on how to create youth adult partnerships, how to engage youth in the community as change agents and how to put into place organizational practices that enable on going youth engagement in the organization.
