OFFERED TRAINING:  For Youth-Serving Professionals

We EQUIP Youth-Serving Professionals with Best Practices

Adults who work with youth are building the future! The Training Institute EQUIPs youth serving professionals with professional development resources and support, ranging from best practices in the youth development field to developing best-in-class programs that help young people develop skills, grow confidence, build character and form closer connection through supportive and empowering environments.

Advancing Youth Development
This 28-hour curriculum, created by the Academy for Educational Development and Center for Youth Development and Policy Research, is based on a set of values inherent in the youth development approach and its implications for youth work practice.

The curriculum is divided into seven, 4-hour training sessions best conducted in one or two sessions at a time within a given time frame. Sessions include:

• foundations of youth development,
• core competencies of youth workers,
• cultural assumptions about youth,
• strategies for youth participation,
• opportunities and supports for youth development.
• Time: 28 hrs.

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Rethinking Youth: Basic Principles of Positive Youth Development
A condensed version of the Advancing Youth Development curriculum for youth workers, available in a 4-hour session which provides:

• key principles of positive youth development,
• action planning for integrating the approach,
• opportunities for networking.
• Time: 4 hrs.

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Supervising Youth Development Practice
Based on the Advancing Youth Development curriculum for youth workers, this training provides:

• supervisors of youth workers with an understanding of principles and practices,
• strategies for supervising youth development practice.
• Time: 6 hrs.

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Creating a Safe and Supportive Program Setting
Based on the youth development belief that youth programs do more than just provide a source of entertainment or help grow academic skills, this session:

• introduces youth program staff to a research-based framework,
• focuses on creating program that empower youth to succeed.
• Time: 3 hrs.

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Strategies for Working with Teens
Effective programs for teens recognize and celebrate their energy, creativity and emerging maturity. This session provides:

• insight into the developmental needs of teens,
• effective tools for working with teens.
• Time: 3 hrs.

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Building Effective Youth & Adult Partnerships within Programs
Giving youth meaningful opportunities and roles to lead is a key part of an effective youth program and working in true partnership increases overall success. This session:

• addresses barriers and benefits of youth/adult partnerships,
• insight into establishing partnerships,
• strategies for sustainability.
• Time: 3 hrs.

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What to Know About Tweens and Teens
Recent brain research gives us insight into why teens act the way that they do and implications for planning youth programs. This session:

• identifies the stages of adolescent growth and brain development,
• addresses techniques to build programs and improve interactions with tweens and teens,
• teaches age and stage indicators toward developmental outcomes.
• Time: 3 hrs.

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What Teens Need to Succeed
Teens can overcome risk factors when we focus on strengthening positive assets in their lives. Participants will learn how to support teens by:

• fostering resiliency,
• building developmental assets,
• assessing their program for asset development.
• Time: 3 hrs.

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Building Youth Leadership Skills
Lead the way! Program settings are ideal for equipping youth to become leaders. This session provides:

• practical strategies for engaging young people in program settings,
• tools that help teens discover their leadership potential,
• skills that guide young people to act responsibly.
• Time: 3 hrs.