Using Summer Employment to Expand Out-of-School Opportunities for Older Youth in D.C.

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

Abstract

Objectives:The Trust is the primary resource for developing partnerships that expand and improve services and opportunities for children and youth in the District of Columbia (DC). A key component of The Trust’s activities is providing development training to staff who will serve as mentors and trainers to children and adolescents. The Trust believes that encouraging and equipping them to rise within the ranks of their field to levels of greater responsibility. In turn, this will increase youth worker investment in the programs they provide, which should improve the experiences of youth served by these workers.
The aim of the Center for Education and Youth Development CEYD (within the Trust) is to help to build core competencies that strengthen the knowledge and skills of youth-serving organizations and agencies across DC.8 The program with be executed in levels; currently, the organization is focused on the first level of program piloting. The levels of program implementation are as follow:
● Level 1: Build a foundation of knowledge for youth workers. At the end of this level, participants will have a basic set of skills necessary to a front-line youth worker.
● Level 2: This level builds on the knowledge and skills gained from Level One and through working the field. The Level should deepen knowledge and skills that an experienced youth worker can apply to direct interaction with youth in the community.
● Level 3: The final level develops advanced skills in an experienced youth worker that includes program mastery and organizational management skills.
• This paper will address the short-term goals of CEYD, which are
o At the end of phase one of CEYD, 75% of participants will feel strongly they have the skills they need to move forward working with youth.
o At the end of phase one of CEYD, 75% of participants will value and feel strongly connected to the youth work profession.
• The CEYD approach is grounded in the “Advancing Youth development” curriculum and concept. These provide an asset based approach to human development, addressing the constructs of safety of structure, self worth, mastery and future, responsibility and autonomy, and awareness and spirituality. The CEYD curriculum and program provide money for materials, sessions, and other logicstics. This project also includes implementation of between project of objectives and design, creation and implementation of pre and post surveys, and input of facilitators.
• A total of 32 individuals were invited to attend the various sessions. The participants consisted of 22 females and 10 males. The lowest number of participants (n=23) attended the session dealing with Youth Development. The average number of participants attending a session was 28.
• Overall, participant’s positive responses (Agree and Strongly Agree) increased in the post-survey. These six statements showed an increase by at least 10% towards a positive response: understanding stages of child/adolescent development, indicators of sexual, physical and emotional abuse (two sessions), and reporting procedures in cases of abuse, diverse youth backgrounds, and ways to build on diversity to strengthen institutions.

Author

• Nisha Sachdev, DC Trust