The importance of mentoring relationships among youth workers

Organizational leaders often work to retain their employees and teach them the knowledge needed in becoming future organizational leaders. The purpose of the study examined in this article was to determine how mentoring within Camp Adventure Child and Youth Services contributes to the development of students selected to deliver programs to children and youth worldwide. Strong evidence of mentoring and development were found in both the training and delivery of services. The results of this study are meaningful not only for the particular program studied but for all youth-serving organizations. Supervisors and administrators of youth-serving organizations should be intentional about developing and promoting healthy mentoring relationships to create positive environments for staff and the youth being served.     

Afterschool programs that support homeless youth: igniting hope and opportunities in the midst of trauma,uncertainty, and displacement

Across the United States, many afterschool and out-of-school time programs are making constructive and lasting impacts on the lives of homeless children and youth by providing expanded learning opportunities and positive youth development outcomes in a safe space. In this brief, we profile two youth-serving organizations and the After School Division of the California Department of Education to illustrate how afterschool programs can be part of the solution for homeless children and youth. Staff from these organizations shared their practices, successes, challenges, and lessons learned. Most importantly, they shared a message of hope and a vision for what is possible in the midst of trauma, uncertainty, and displacement.     

The Community Action Framework in Practice: An Illustration Based on the Ready by 21 Coalition of Austin/Travis County

The field of positive youth development has expanded focus from articulating and measuring desired manifestations of positive well-being to assembling the environmental conditions known to promote these desired outcomes. Evidence of the effectiveness of community-level efforts promoting positive youth development is still emerging, in particular theory-driven examples of community-driven youth development. This study examined the Community Action Framework, one theory-based community youth development model, through the experiences of the Ready by 21 Austin/Travis County coalition (RB21). The coalition connects youth-serving organizations and also regional coalitions, while promoting the positive development of area youth. Participant observation, interviewing, and archival strategies were integrated to capture information related to the complex and dynamic coalition. Results indicated that RB21 represents a practical and meaningful application of the Community Action Framework. Specific examples and recommendations are provided as guidance for other community level youth development efforts.     

Measuring conflict management,emotional self-efficacy,and problem solving confidence in an evaluation of outdoor programs for inner-city youth in Baltimore,Maryland

Substantial evidence supports the value of outdoor education programs for promoting healthy adolescent development, yet measurement of program outcomes often lacks rigor. Accurately assessing the impacts of programs that seek to promote positive youth development is critical for determining whether youth are benefitting as intended, identifying best practices and areas for improvement, and informing decisions about which programs to invest in.We generated brief, customized instruments for measuring three outcomes among youth participants in Baltimore City Outward Bound programs: conflict management, emotional self-efficacy, and problem solving confidence. Measures were validated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of pilot-testing data from two groups of program participants. We describe our process of identifying outcomes for measurement, developing and adapting measurement instruments, and validating these instruments.The finalized measures support evaluations of outdoor education programs serving urban adolescent youth. Such evaluations enhance accountability by determining if youth are benefiting from programs as intended, and strengthen the case for investment in programs with demonstrated success.     

Strengthening child and youth programs: A look at inter-organizational mentoring strategies

Community-based non-profit organizations rarely have access to research or evaluation evidence to inform their programs and often lack the capacity to gather or use this information independently. In 2016, Wisdom2Action—a network of knowledge mobilization (KMb) experts, policy makers and service providers across Canada—launched an inter-organizational mentorship program to facilitate the implementation and sharing of best and promising practices within community-based programs for young people. This article outlines the findings from a developmental evaluation of eight mentoring relationships. Drawing on the Promoting Action on Research in Health Sciences (PARiHS) model of KMb, we look at mentoring as a type of facilitation that supports the increased use of evidence and evaluation information by non-profit organizations and identify key themes that support effective organizational mentorship in this sector. Findings reinforce the importance of establishing connected relationships and understanding context in mentoring relationships, creating adaptive and responsive work plans, ensuring consistent communication, and maintaining a focus on capacity-building if knowledge mobilization is to occur.     

Measuring youth connections: A component of relational permanence for foster youth

This article presents the development and preliminary validation of the Youth Connections Scale, a measure of youth connectedness as a component of relational permanence for youth in out-of-home placement. The instrument measures different domains of youth's connectedness, including the number and strength of connections to caring adults and the types of support perceived by youth. Results of a pilot validation study of the instrument, with a sample of 53 adolescents in out-of-home care, indicate good concurrent validity and high test–retest reliability. Child welfare and youth-serving agencies can use this instrument in their efforts to strengthen and measure the connectedness and relational permanence of youth.     

Addressing spiritual development in youth development programs and practices: opportunities and challenges

If strengthening children's moral and spiritual selves is the most important challenge facing youth-serving organizations in the United States today, three things are required to respond: a clear road map of where to go and how to get there, a critical mass of champions prepared to lead the way, and candid readiness assessments and strategies for individuals and organizations ready to take on this work. More clarity is needed on defining the concepts of spiritual development and spirituality, the boundaries and bridges needed between religious and secular organizations, and the activities and practices that are both effective and allowable under separation of church and state. Immediate steps to take include engaging frontline workers across sectors and identifying strategies for integrating spiritual development into youth practice.     

Barriers and facilitators for access to mental health services by traumatized youth

Polytrauma is a highly prevalent public health problem in the U.S. with even higher rates in urban areas. Children with polytrauma often end up in multiple child-serving systems (e.g., mental health, child welfare, education, juvenile justice) with needs that are both complex and severe. Providers within these child-serving systems have potential to serve as gatekeepers to trauma services by linking youth with trauma-informed treatments and supports that promote recovery. The purpose of our study was to assess the perspective of providers who participated in a nine-month, trauma-informed care (TIC) training intervention on 1) their capacity to make referrals to trauma-specific services following the training, and 2) factors external to the training intervention that supported or hindered their ability to link traumatized youth with services. A subset of sixteen participants from the TIC training completed individual interviews. These participants were predominantly female, African American, and based in the social services sector. The constant comparative method was used to derive three thematic domains related to participant perceptions regarding youth referrals: 1) Organizational and provider capacity to provide trauma treatment or to make referrals to trauma-specific services, 2) Barriers to youth accessing trauma services, and 3) Suggestions for improving coordination of care and referrals. Our study highlights the influence of contextual factors on whether a TIC training can improve the capacity of agencies and individual providers to support traumatized youth in accessing appropriate services. The development of a structure that formally connects youth-serving agencies and providers with specialists trained in addressing traumatized youth is recommended.     

Organizations advocating for youth: the local advantage

Youth occupy a unique place in our democratic society. They must primarily rely on others to speak on their behalf as decisions are made about the allocation of resources within and across various youth-serving institutions. Advocacy organizations comprise crucial representational assets for all youth, but America's poorest children and youth especially need an effective voice to speak for and about them. Yet advocates for youth in urban areas face tough challenges since urban voters typically have few positive connections to youth. This article draws on three years of research focused on three organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area that have successfully advocated for better policies for youth. The authors explore the strategies that these organizations have employed to overcome the challenges they face, with particular attention to the advantages that follow from advocating at the local rather than at the state or federal level.     

Evaluation of a youth agency's supervision practices: A mixed-method approach

This research presents the findings from an evaluation and organizational development initiative that was requested by a Canadian youth agency working in a large urban setting. A team of four researchers affiliated with the Center for Research on Educational and Community Services (CRECS) at the University of Ottawa conducted the evaluation. The purpose of the evaluation was to identify the supervision needs and challenges of coordinators and front line staff, assess the efficiency of the current supervision practices, and evaluate the supervisors’ and supervisees’ satisfaction with these current practices. A literature review was performed to help provide a clear definition of ‘supervision’ and the different professional roles it encompasses. Additionally, research evidence pertaining both to what contributes to supervision efficacy and supervisor competency was reviewed to distill the most robust findings in the existing literature. The lines of evidence consisted of a document and file review, an online employee survey, group discussions (i.e. focus groups), and interviews with key informants. The results of the evaluation helped the research team formulate recommendations to the agency for the development of enhanced supervision practices across its various service areas.     

Positive Manhood Development: A Look at Approaches and Concerns from the Frontline

This mixed methods study, using the perspectives of administrators and frontline workers, identified the key developmental needs of African American boys involved in manhood development programs. Five conceptual themes emerged: values and behavior; men needed for guidance; successful organizations; economics and systems; and stable quality parenting. Themes from the conceptual clusters are compared to themes in the positive youth development literature, specifically the 40 developmental assets framework proposed by the Search Institute. The resulting distinctive ecological focus is rarely discussed in the youth development literature and may have implications for youth development interventions that target positive African American manhood development.     

A multi-level examination of how the organizational context relates to readiness to implement prevention and evidence-based programming in community settings

Prior theoretical and empirical research suggests that multiple aspects of an organization's context are likely related to a number of factors, from their interest and ability to adopt new programming, to client outcomes. A limited amount of the prior research has taken a more community-wide perspective by examining factors that associate with community readiness for change, leaving how these findings generalize to community organizations that conduct prevention or positive youth development programs unknown.Thus for the current study, we examined how the organizational context of the Cooperative Extension System (CES) associates with current attitudes and practices regarding prevention and evidence-based programming. Attitudes and practices have been found in the empirical literature to be key indicators of an organization's readiness to adopt prevention and evidence-based programming. Based on multi-level mixed models, results indicate that organizational management practices distinct from program delivery may affect an organization's readiness to adopt and implement new prevention and evidence-based youth programs, thereby limiting the potential public health impact of evidence-based programs. Openness to change, openness of leadership, and communication were the strongest predictors identified within this study. An organization's morale was also found to be a strong predictor of an organization's readiness. The findings of the current study are discussed in terms of implications for prevention and intervention.     

Workforce development for older youth

The challenges facing youth who are disconnected from our nation's employment and education systems are expansive. Research has suggested that youth services and supports that are grounded in a developmental approach not only help young people avoid self-destructive behavior, but also enable them to acquire the academic and work-readiness skills and personal attributes that employers seek. In 1995, the National Youth Employment Coalition and its members established the Promising and Effective Practices Network (PEPNet) to identify the key elements of quality youth programs and develop tools that would help organizations establish, connect to, and promote quality programs. PEPNet represents a standards framework that captures the key elements common to successful programs that connect youth to jobs, careers, and education. This chapter provides some insights into the current practices that have been implemented to facilitate older youth's transition to the workforce and highlights the supports youth need for successful adulthood, citizenship, and career pursuits.     

Promoting Youth Development and Community Involvement with Technology: The Long Beach YMCA CORAL Youth Institute

ABSTRACT

The Long Beach YMCA CORAL Youth Institute is an innovative program that uses technology as a mechanism for promoting positive youth development and technology skills while enhancing school and life success among low-income, culturally-diverse, urban high school students. This article describes the Youth Institute and explores program outcomes on participants from the 2003 Intensive Summer Program (N = 37). Results from the quantitative and qualitative research indicated significant positive changes in both technology and leadership skills as well as increased positive youth development and community involvement for participants involved in the program.     

Recreation as a component of the community youth development system

In an era of fragmented school systems and budget cuts, many educators and youth leaders seeking to solve the problems that youth face are turning to out-of-school-time programs. In many communities, these programs are seen as essential in the development of youth into fully functioning adults. One such area of the out-of-school-time sector is the provision of recreation services. Recreational services have a vital role in connecting youth to their communities, as well as enabling youth and adult allies to improve challenging conditions. This chapter outlines the historical role that recreation has played in community youth development programs and shows how community youth development has evolved. It then looks at how organizations in three communities--the Youthline Outreach Mentorship program in Minneapolis, a 4-H initiative in Parker City, Texas, and the Hockey Is for Everyone program--have successfully applied the theoretical knowledge. Best practices from these programs illustrate that the role of recreation in community youth development is changing. No longer are recreation programs about providing just "fun and games." Recreation organizations are now placing more value on the development of the community as a whole, in addition to the individual well-being of young people.     

Understanding the factors that influence health promotion evaluation: The development and validation of the evaluation practice analysis survey

The demand for improved quality of health promotion evaluation and greater capacity to undertake evaluation is growing, yet evidence of the challenges and facilitators to evaluation practice within the health promotion field is lacking. A limited number of evaluation capacity measurement instruments have been validated in government or non-government organisations (NGO), however there is no instrument designed for health promotion organisations. This study aimed to develop and validate an Evaluation Practice Analysis Survey (EPAS) to examine evaluation practices in health promotion organisations. Qualitative interviews, existing frameworks and instruments informed the survey development. Health promotion practitioners from government agencies and NGOs completed the survey (n = 169). Principal components analysis was used to determine scale structure and Cronbach’s α used to estimate internal reliability. Logistic regression was conducted to assess predictive validity of selected EPAS scale. The final survey instrument included 25 scales (125 items). The EPAS demonstrated good internal reliability (α > 0.7) for 23 scales. Dedicated resources and time for evaluation, leadership, organisational culture and internal support for evaluation showed promising predictive validity. The EPAS can be used to describe elements of evaluation capacity at the individual, organisational and system levels and to guide initiatives to improve evaluation practice in health promotion organisations.     

Intergenerational Programs

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to provide an overview of the current state of intergenerational programming in one Canadian city. One-hundred and seven individuals in charge of programming in youth and seniors' organizations completed a telephone survey about intergenerational programs. More than one-third of organizations surveyed reported offering intergenerational programs, and the majority of these perceived their program to be successful. Participants added that there were no current overlaps in services, though a variety of gaps in and barriers to intergenerational programming were identified. There was also significant interest in and ideas for offering a diverse range of programs in the future. It was concluded that while interest in offering intergenerational programs was high, multiple barriers currently exist to offering such programs.     

Reflections on experiential learning in evaluation capacity building with a community organization,Dancing With Parkinson’s

This paper discusses what was learned about evaluation capacity building with community organizations who deliver services to individuals with neurological disorders. Evaluation specialists engaged by the Ontario Brain Institute Evaluation Support Program were paired with community organizations, such as Dancing With Parkinson’s. Some of the learning included: relationship building is key for this model of capacity building; community organizations often have had negative experiences with evaluation and the idea that evaluations can be friendly tools in implementing meaningful programs is one key mechanism by which such an initiative can work; community organizations often need evaluation most to be able to demonstrate their value; a strength of this initiative was that the focus was not just on creating products but mostly on developing a learning process in which capacities would remain; evaluation tools and skills that organizations found useful were developing a theory of change and the concept of heterogeneous mechanisms (informed by a realist evaluation lens).