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An asterisk (*) marks each of the five key youth development practices described in the Youth Development Framework for Practice. See the Our Approach section for more detail.
Our Approach - Youth Development Framework
for Practice
capacity building
Our approach to working with organizations and institutions that builds
or improves their ability to focus their practices to create quality youth
development experiences for young people. We strengthen those practices
through skill building, on-going assessment, and coaching.
community involvement*
Community involvement in this context refers to activities that increase
young people's knowledge of the community and allow them to give back
to the community while experiencing a sense of connection to it. These
experiences, along with concrete knowledge of the community and its resources,
are critical for promoting young people's healthy development and learning.
developmental
youth outcomes
Developmental youth outcomes are the intermediate milestones that measure
young people's progress toward successful early adult outcomes. Developmental
outcomes may also be described as the most fundamental skills that young
people must learn to successfully transition into healthy adulthood: how
to be productive, how to connect with others and how to navigate in a
complex world.
early
adult outcomes
Early adult outcomes articulate what we want young people to be able to
do, at a minimum, as they enter adulthood, indicating healthy development.
These are: economic self-sufficiency, healthy family and social relationships
and positive contributions to community life.
intermediary
organization
An intermediary organization connects the organizations and people it
serves with a body of knowledge and skills. In CNYD's case, we connect
youth-serving organizations, youth workers, policy-makers and funders
with the youth development approach as described in the Youth Development
Framework for Practice. Our purpose is to strengthen the entire youth
development field through community capacity building and policy alignment.
organizational
practices
Organizational practices refer to the policies, structures and actions
of an entire agency. We focus our definition of organizational practices
on those that directly support effective youth development programming,
including: maintaining a low youth to staff/volunteer ratio, ensuring
the availability of a safe and reliable place to be, allowing flexibility
in allocating program resources, providing a range of skill-building activities,
articulating high, clear and fair standards, implementing an ongoing staff
and organizational improvement process, providing continuity and consistency
of care and promoting youth involvement.
policy alignment
This refers to efforts to increase the awareness and implementation of
youth development principles at all levels of the field, from wide-ranging
funding decisions to specific organizational practices to individual youth
worker decisions on the job. The hope is that community discussion, based
on a commitment to the youth development approach and using a common vocabulary,
will result in a more effective and efficient use of resources and a greater
ability to make wise, community-wide decisions.
relationship
building*
Relationship building is considered a key youth development practice and
critical for promoting young people's healthy development and learning.
It involves the development of caring, supportive relationships between
adults and young people, and among young people and their peers. When
young people experience relationship building in their programs, they
build knowledge of adults and peers, gain emotional and practical support
from adults and peers, and experience guidance from adults.
resiliency/resiliency
research
Resiliency is the quality that allows young people to "bounce back", recover
from negative experiences or overcome obstacles and risk factors in their
lives. Research on young people's resiliency fueled the youth development
movement, shifting the focus from young people's deficits and problem
behaviors to the environmental factors that help young people succeed.
risk factors
Risk factors refer to the deficits in young people's environments which
researchers believe put them "at risk" for engaging in problem behavior
and/or having difficulty achieving positive outcomes as young adults.
safety*
Promoting emotional and physical safety is a key youth development practice
and critical for promoting young people's healthy development and learning.
When young people experience safety, they know they can depend on the
surrounding adults to protect them from physical and emotional harm, and
that they will be accepted and valued by their peers.
skill building*
The practice of skill building encourages young people to expand their
understanding and knowledge of themselves and their environment and master
specific new concepts and skills. Creating challenging and engaging skill
building opportunities is a key youth development practice. In this context,
we define challenging to mean that participants stretch beyond their current
range of knowledge and skills and have opportunities to test and master
their skills in the real world. Activities which tap into young people's
natural curiosity and interest in discovery will motivate, rather than
discourage, their eagerness to learn.
supports and opportunities
In the youth development context, supports and opportunities refer to
the crucial support young people need from caring adults and their peers,
and the opportunities they need to grow and develop important skills and
competencies. We define the supports and opportunities critical to young
people's healthy development as: supports which help young people experience
a sense of safety and build positive relationships; and opportunities
for meaningful participation, community involvement, and challenging and
engaging learning experiences that build skills.
youth
development
Youth development refers to the natural process through which all young
people seek ways to meet their basic physical and social needs and to
build knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in adolescence and young
adulthood.
youth development
approach
The youth development approach is a way of working with young people.
In contrast to a deficit approach - one focused on reducing negative behaviors
- this approach calls for providing young people with the developmental
experiences shown to promote a healthy trajectory toward adulthood.
youth development
practices
These are the practices which youth-serving organizations can implement
to ensure that the young people in their programs receive the support
they need to learn and grow. These practices are: providing physical and
emotional safety, creating environments where young people build supportive
relationships with adults and their peers, providing opportunities for
meaningful youth participation, community engagement, and skill-building.
See Youth Development Framework for Practice for an overview of the five key youth development practices
youth development
framework for practice
The Youth Development Framework for Practice is a tool for planning, examining,
and evaluating youth programs from a youth development perspective. The
framework illustrates the logical link between youth development practices
and positive outcomes for young people. It also shows the connection between
practices at the organizational and program levels.
The research-based framework was developed by researchers Michelle Gambone and Jim Connell. CNYD worked in partnership with Michelle and Jim to adapt the framework to reflect youth development in a youth-serving organizational context. Local youth workers, agency leaders and funders provided crucial input during the adaptation process.
youth
participation/meaningful youth participation*
Meaningful youth participation is considered a key youth development practice
and critical for promoting young people's healthy development and learning.
In this context, youth participation refers to activities through which
young people have opportunities to make meaningful decisions, develop
and practice leadership skills, and experience a sense of belonging or
mattering.