Transcript Document

Bringing Principles into Policies:
Taking the Youth Development Movement
to the Statehouse
The Forum for Youth Investment
Impact Strategies, Inc.
Washington, DC
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Phase I
The Paradigm Shift:
Establishing New
Principles
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Broaden the Goals: Beyond Prevention
Addressing youth
problems is critical…
Positive
Development
Primary Prevention
High Risk
Treatment
But, problem free is
not fully prepared.
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
…Even Beyond Preparation
Better preparation is
critical...
Power
Sharing
Participation
Preparation
Primary Prevention
High Risk
Treatment
But, young people need
to be fully engaged.
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Broaden the Outcomes:
Beyond Academics

Cognitive

Social/Emotional

Physical

Cultural

Civic

Vocational

Moral/Spiritual
Core Functional Areas
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
…and Beyond Competence

Competence

Character

Connection

Confidence
Behavioral Outcomes

Contribution
Core Functional Areas
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Broaden the Inputs:
Beyond Services

Services, Supports,
Opportunities

People, Places,
Possibilities


The 5 Resources
The 40 Assets
Inputs
Outcomes
Core Functional Areas
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Broaden the Strategies:
Beyond Programs to Pathways for Development
Good programs are not enough, especially for young people who
cannot see a clear and positive future. Pathways are essential.
Across Settings
Pathways
Inputs
Outcomes
Core Functional Areas
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Remember the Contexts in Which
Development Happens
Institutions & Communities
Families
S
P
A
C
E
Youth
TIME
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Broaden the Evidence Base:
The National Research Council Affirms Youth Assets

Personal & Social Assets that Facilitate
Youth Development
Physical development
•

Intellectual development
•

life skills, vocational skills, school success, critical thinking,
decision-making, navigation
Psychological & emotional development
•

health habits, risk management skills
good mental health, positive self-regard, self-regulation, coping
skills, autonomy, time use
Social development
•
connectedness, sense of place, attachment to pro-social
institutions, navigate cultural contexts, commitment to civic
engagement
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
NRC Features of Positive Developmental Settings

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

Physical & psychological safety
Appropriate structure
Supportive relationships
Opportunities to belong
Positive social norms
Support for efficacy & mattering
Opportunities for skill-building
Integration of family, school & community efforts
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Broaden the Assumptions:
Beyond Youth as Recipients
Fixing Youth Problems
Preventing Youth Problems
Promoting Youth Preparation
Promoting Youth Participation
Promoting Youth as Problem Solvers
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
ADDING IT UP:
Building Blocks of Youth Development
Problem Reduction
Prevention
Pathways
Basic
Functional
Areas
Cognitive
Participation
Clear
PATHWAYS
for success
Supports
Key
Community
Inputs
Desired
Outcomes
Preparation
Services
Opportunities
Confidence
Connections
Competence
Character
Contributions
Social/
Emotional
Cultural
Civic
Physical
Moral/
Spiritual
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Vocational
Phase II
The Policy Shift:
Assessing the
Adequacy of Supports
and Opportunities
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Making Mandates Out of What We
Know about Children & Youth

Young people need & deserve supports &
opportunities throughout their waking hours.

Young people deserve early & sustained investments
throughout at least the first two decades of life.

Young people need investments & involvement to
help them achieve a broad range of positive
outcomes from academic to physical to civic.
(This requires a steady focus on protection, prevention,
preparation & participation within each area.)
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Putting Shape to What We Know:
Defining Developmental Space
From their earliest years
until their twenties,
children, teens & young
adults awaken every
morning looking for
people to talk to, places
to go & things to do that
will help them feel that
they matter.
Outcome
Areas
Age
This is
developmental
space
This is a developmental
imperative.
Times of Day
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Schools Fill Some,
“After-School Programs” A Bit More
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
A Hodgepodge of Other Programs Fills the
Rest of the Space for Teens & Young Adults
Diversion
Prevention
Youth
Development
Youth
Employment
Service
Recreation
Enrichment
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Who Is Responsible for Filling
the White Space?
?
Youth, families, peer groups
Schools & training organizations
Youth-serving organizations
Media/entertainment
Faith-based organizations, CBOs
Businesses
Libraries, parks, recreation departments
Community-based health & social service agencies
Law enforcement, juvenile justice
?
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
All of Us. None of Us.
It is a truism that it takes a village to raise a
child. But in the U.S., the villagers rarely
come together to take stock of their efforts.
When General Powell and America’s Promise
challenged the country to provide every young
person with five fundamental resources, communities
had no idea how many resources their young people
commonly had. There are no mechanisms to track
the quality or even quantity of support young people
receive across systems. All children and youth are
worse off because of this, but it is especially
problematic that the supports offered to low-income
teens just don’t add up to what they should.
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
The Dangers of Not Adding Things Up

A false sense of accomplishment
•

Unchecked support for narrow interests
•

Busyness is not the same as effectiveness. There are many, many
policies, programs and initiatives addressing youth problems &, to a
lesser extent, supporting preparation & participation. But these efforts
are not evenly distributed within & across sub-populations.
Our chronic inability to ask what all of our efforts add up to suggests that
there are reasons why no one really wants to know. Need arguments can
be made for almost any program or policy if they are made in a vacuum.
Unleveraged resources in scarce times
•
Our growing inability to help all young people succeed, despite rhetoric
to the contrary, suggests that communities & states have no choice but
to call the question:
Are we doing the best that we can by all of our youth?
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
It Is Time to Call the Question




There has been too much talk & not enough action in
the youth fields.
It is time to decide not only that every child counts &
every dollar counts but that every opinion, every
meeting, every report, every evaluation counts.
It is time to bring discipline & direction to meandering
discussions about how to support young people’s
growth & development.
This doesn’t necessary mean more planning, but it
does mean more precision.
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Questions Are the Wonder Drug
Seek Clarity
 Surface Tensions
 Share strategies
 Shape agendas
 Scrutinize policies

©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Lock in Commitments to Improving a
Linked Set of Outcomes





Learning
+
Thriving
+
Connecting
+
Working
+
Leading
school achievement, basic skills
physical, behavioral health/risks
social/emotional well-being
employment & career experience
civic & community engagement
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Promote a Youth Policy Dashboard,
Not Just a Report Card
Cars are Complicated
Children are More Complicated
Drivers Monitor their Progress by:
Communities Should Monitor Policies by:
Odometer
Distance Traveled
+
Age of Young Person
Speedometer
Rate of Speed
+
Quantity of Fuel
+
Quality of Fuel
Rates of Growth (indicators)
Fuel Gauge
Octane
Quantity of Services, Supports
& Opportunities
Quality of Services, Supports &
Opportunities
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Define Outcomes Across the Age Span
Learning
Developmental Areas
(Basic and
Applied
Academics)
Thriving
(Physical Health)
Connecting
(Social/Emotiona
l Well-Being)
Working
(Vocational
Career
Experience)
Leading
(Civic and
Community
Engagement)
Early Childhood
(0-5)
Elementary Age
(6-10)
Middle School
(11-14)
High School
(15-19)
Young Adults
(20-24)
All Young Children Ready
to Learn
All Children Developing
Basic Skills and
Competencies
All Youth Are
Succeeding in School
All Young People
Are Fully Prepared
for Higher
Education or Work
All Young Adults Enter
Workforce or Higher Ed
With Marketable Skills
All Young Children Fully
Immunized
All Children Meet Physical
Standards for
Developmental Age
All Youth Develop
Proper Nutrition,
Hygiene, and Exercise
Routines
All Youth Are
Engaged in
Physical Activity
and Avoid RiskCompromising
Behaviors
All Young Adults Have
Good Health and
Health Habits
All Young Children Have
Appropriate Attachment
to a Significant Adult
All Children Have Positive
Self Awareness, and an
Ability to Express
Themselves
All Youth Engage in
Socially Acceptable
Behavior and Have a
Healthy Self-Concept
All Young People
Have a Sense of
Independence as
Well as Positive
Relationships With
Those Around
Them
All Young Adults Foster
Personal and Social
Growth in the People In
Their Lives
All Young Children Have
Awareness that Adults
Work
All Children Have Positive
Attitudes Towards The
Employment of Adults in
Their Lives
All Youth Are Aware of
Possible Career Paths
that Give Them Hope
and Purpose
All Young People
Make a Successful
Transition to
Adulthood
All Young Adults Are
Employed With a Living
Wage And Benefits
All Young Children Feel
Supported By a
Community Around Them
All Children Accept Rules
and Social Boundaries
All Youth Demonstrate
Attitudes and
Behaviors of Civic
Responsibility
All Young People
Are Involved in
Programs to Give
Back
All Young Adults Are
Making a Difference in
Their Community
SAMPLE
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Define the Full Range of Indicators For Each Age
Group (Shown for 15-19 Year-Olds)
D
E
V
E
L
O
P
M
E
N
T
A
L
A
R
E
A
S
GEARS
Protecting/
Punishing
Learning
(Basic and Applied
Academics)
Thriving
(Physical Health)
Connecting
(Social/ Emotional
Well-Being)
Working
(Vocational and
Service)
Leading
(Civic and Community
Engagement)
Preventing
Promoting
Participating
% of Students Who Are Not
Enrolled in School
% of Students Who Skipped Or
“Cut” Classes or School Days in
the Last Three Weeks
% of Students Achieving at Grade
Level
% of Students Actively
Involved in Service Learning
Programs
Rates of Youth Deaths
% of Youth Who are Overweight or
Obese, Have STDs, Use Tobacco
or Illicit Substances, or Binge
Drink.
% of Youth Reporting Regular
Exercise, Healthy Diet, and
Reproductive Health
% of Youth Who are Active in
Programs to Promote Physical
Health Among their Peers
Suicide Rates
% of Youth Who are Reported to
be Sad, Unhappy or Depressed
% of Youth Reporting “Adults in My
Community Care About People My
Age,” and “Students in my School
Treat Each Other With Respect”
% of Youth Serving as Peer
Tutors and Counselors
Number of Youth in
Hazardous and Illegal
Working Conditions
Unemployment Rate Among 1619 Year Olds
% of Youth With Workplace Skills
% of Youth Engaged in
Workplace Activities
Number of Violent Juvenile
Arrests Per 100,000 Juvenile
Population
% of Youth Who Report Physical
Fighting
% of Youth Who Participate in One or
More Community Organizations
% of 18-24 Year Olds Voting
SAMPLE
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Check the Fuel Tanks:
Monitor Inputs across Systems
SYSTEMS
Child
Welfare
D
E
V
E
L
O
P
M
E
N
T
A
L
A
R
E
A
S
(Basic and
Applied
Academics)
Thriving
Connecting
(Social/
Emotional WellBeing)
Working
(Vocational and
Service)
Leading
(Civic and
Community
Engagement)
Health and
Human
Services
Employment
Juvenile
Justice
Community Based
Organizations
Promotion
Learning
(Physical Health)
Education
Protection
Prevention
Protection
Prevention
Promotion
Promotion
Protection/
Punishment
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Participation
Mix the Fuel: Analyze Mix of Inputs from Each
System (Education System Shown, High School Ages Shown)
GEARS
Protecting/
Punishing
D
E
V
E
L
O
P
M
E
N
T
A
L
A
R
E
A
S
Learning
(Basic and
Applied
Academics)
Thriving
(Physical
Health)
Connecting
(Social/
Emotional WellBeing)
Working
Ending Social
Promotion
Preventing
Remedial Education
(Civic and
Community
Engagement)
Academic
Courses
Participating
Active Learning
SAMPLE
Reporting
Suspected Abuse
Sexual Education School
Clinic
Physical Education
Team Captains
Reported Suspected
Neglect
Counseling
Student Clubs
Peer Tutors
Workers Rights Class
Remedial Education
Vocational Education
Career Awareness
Community Internships
School-To-Career
Expulsion Policies
for Dangerous Youth
Conflict Management
Training
Civics Education
Student Council Service Learning
(Vocational and
Service)
Leading
Promoting
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Check the Octane: Do the Places Where Young People Spend
their Time Really Support Their Growth? Quality Counts
Harmful
Minimal
Optimal
Physical and Psychological
Safety
Physical and health dangers, fear, feeling of insecurity, sexual and
physical harassment, verbal abuse.
Safe and health-promoting facilities; practice that increases safe peer group
interaction and decreases unsafe or confrontational peer interactions.
Appropriate Structure
Chaotic, disorganized, laissez-faire, rigid, overcontrolled,
autocratic.
Limit setting, clear and consistent rules and expectations, firm-enough control,
continuity and predictability, clear boundaries, and age-appropriate monitoring.
Supportive Relationships
Cold, distant, overcontrolling, ambiguous support, untrustworthy,
focused on winning, inattentive, unresponsive, rejecting
Warmth, closeness, connectedness, good communications, caring, support,
guidance, secure attachment, responsiveness
Opportunities to Belong
Exclusion, marginalization, intergroup conflict
Opportunities for meaningful inclusion, regardless of one’s gender, ethnicity, sexual
orientation, or disabilities; social inclusion, social engagement and integration;
opportunities for socio-cultural identity formation; support for cultural and bicultural
competence.
Positive Social Norms
Normless, anomie, laissez-faire practices, antisocial and amoral
norms, norms that encourage violence, reckless behavior
consumerism, poor health practices; conformity
Rules of behavior, expectations, injunctions, ways of doing things, values and
morals, obligations for service
Support for Efficacy and
Mattering
Unchallenging, overcontrolling, disempowering, disabling.
Practices that undermine includes motivation and desire to learn,
such a excessive focus on current relative performance level rather
than improvement
Youth-based, empowerment practices that support autonomy, making a real
difference in one’s community, and being taken seriously. Practice that is enabling,
responsibility granting, meaningful challenges. Practice that focus on improvement
rather than on relative current levels
Opportunities for Skill
Building
Practice that promotes bad physical habits and habits of mind;
practice that undermines school and learning.
Opportunities to learn physical, intellectual, psychological, emotional, and social
skills; exposure to intentional learning experiences; opportunities to learn cultural.
Integration of Family,
School, and Community
Efforts
Discordance, lack of communication, conflict
Concordance, coordination, and synergy among family, school, and community
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Promoting Youth Development:
A Quick Summary of Ideas

Broaden the goals: beyond prevention

Broaden the outcomes: beyond academics

Broaden the inputs: beyond services

Broaden the strategies: beyond programs

Broaden the settings: beyond schools

Broaden youth roles: beyond recipients

Broaden accountability: beyond lists & promises
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Lessons from Resiliency Research
Successful children remind us that
children grow up in multiple contexts
– in families, schools, peer groups,
baseball teams, religious
organizations… – and each context
is a potential source of protective
factors as well as risks…
– Masten and Coatsworth, The Development of
Competence in Favorable and Unfavorable
Environments…, 1998
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Development is biased toward
competence, but there is no such thing
as an invulnerable child. If we allow the
prevalence of known risk factors for
development to rise while resources for
children fall, we can expect the
competence of individual children and
the human capital of the nation to
suffer.
– Masten and Coatsworth, The Development of
Competence in Favorable and Unfavorable
Environments…, 1998
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Getting There from Where We Are
Saturating neighborhoods with effective & sustainable
services, supports & opportunities can only be
achieved if communities:

Strengthen infrastructures for coordinating, managing,
delivering, monitoring & sustaining efforts

Create a climate conducive to action for & with young
people.
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Recognize What It Takes
Saturate neighborhoods…
Saturate
neighborhoods
with solid supports
& opps
Define &
Strengthen
strengthen public
infrastructures…
& private delivery
systems
Monitor
Build
resources,
sustainable
outputs &
local
outcomes
intermediaries
Counter negative
perceptions
of youth
Clarify
the message:
what, why,
how, for whom?
Connect to popular
issues, institutions
& strategies
Build
vocal, savvy
constituencies
Create a
climate for
action…
Strengthen
& interpret the
evidence base
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Realize the Power of Young People
©2002 The Forum for Youth Investment/Impact Strategies, Inc.. All rights reserved.