Using the Advancing Youth Development Curriculum to Effect Change Among Youth Resource Workers

• In Event: Nontraditional Approaches to Improving Extended Learning Time for D.C. Older Youth

Abstract

Paper 1: The fist paper addresses the results of training of youth workers in a DC Trust program titled “DC Youth Link.” Youth Link is a collaboration between the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) and the DC Trust , whose goal is to provide services and to respond to the needs of DC youth who are involved in the Court Services. The goal of the program is to create an experience that is more service and resource based, rather than punitive, thus using an asset based approach. Building upon the work of Posner & Vandell, in out of school time programs, the DC Trust places the youth in situations that are structured, but flexible, and provide them with several positive opportunities for growth. One of the key changes that the DC Trust has implemented includes changing the paradigm of the youth workers from security guards to resource officers. This paper provides qualitative and descriptive quantitative information about the youth resource workers’ training using the Advancing Youth Development training. This includes both qualitative and quantitative results of the officers’ training assessments, their needs assessments, and their desire for more training and more youth development training, in order to better understand the youth that they serve.

Perspectives: The perspectives are based upon the concept of Asset Based youth development, seeing the youth more as individuals who are inherently good, and with the youth workers seeking to improve the positive aspects of the characters of the students that they serve.

Methods and Modes of Inquiry:
The methods of inquiry included surveys and needs assessments of the youth resource officers took prior to participating in the workshop, and the pre and post tests that are used to measure their understanding of the concepts taught. They also include qualitative analyses (document review and grounded theory)

Data Sources:
Data Sources include surveys administered, the Advancing Youth Development (AYD) curriculum that was modified for the DC Metropolitan Police, and the Pre- and Post tests.

Results of the surveys suggest that the youth workers not only benefitted from the curriculum, but that they wanted follow-up information. Results also showed that the youth workers were interested in receiving additional training on how best to interact with the youth.

Scientifically this report addresses the concept of Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Educational Development, which suggests that students need more capable others in order to progress to their potential. In this case, the youth resource workers are the students, and their goal is to improve their interactions with the youth, and eventually improve the youth outcomes as a result of these interactions. The presenters of the AYD curriculum serve as the "more capable others," helping to guide them in their understanding of youth development and social justice, in order to become better champions for the youth that they serve.

Author

• Lisa Rucker, DC Trust