Engaging Youth Through Recreation Services

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• Engaging Youth Through Recreation Services

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Youth Development

• A process which prepares young people to meet the
  challenges of adolescence and adulthood through a
  coordinated, progressive series of activities and
  experiences which help them to become socially,
  morally, emotionally, physically, and cognitively
  competent.
• Intentional Youth Development, or IYD, is a way
  to program that consciously and intentionally
  builds in opportunities for youth to participate
  in a way that best meets youth-specific
  developmental needs.

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Understanding Youth

• Seven Developmental Needs of Youth
• Self-Definition
• Physical Activity
• Meaningful Participation
• Mastery and Achievement
• Positive Interaction with Adults/Peers
• Structure and Clear Limits
• Creative Expression

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Self-Definition

• Sense of who they are as individuals
• Awareness of physical body changes
• Relationship to gender and ethnicity
• Where they fit in family, peers, others
• Creating the self of the future
• EXAMPLE GIRLS ONLY PROGRAMS

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Physical Activity

• Test out changing abilities
• Keep bodies active and awake
• Hard becomes easy
• Easy becomes hard
• Want new experiences
• EXAMPLE HIP HOP DANCE

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Meaningful Participation

• Desire to be part of the real world
• Looking for legitimate participation
• Committed to ideals, action, people
• Reward through recognition
• Reward through increased responsibility
• Need to be more than in the room
• EXAMPLE YOUTH COUNCILS

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Mastery and Achievement

• Need a sense of personal recognition
• Have a desire to succeed
• Increasing comfort with new activities
• Mastery is moving a skill into action
• Skill competence is achievement
• EXAMPLE
• COMPETITIONS or EXHIBITIONS

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Positive Interaction with Adults/Peers

• Increasing importance of peers vs family
• Look for approval, acceptance, friendship
• Continued importance of adults
• Importance of approval from adults
• Evidence of maturing social skills
• EXAMPLE LEADERHSIP PROGRAMS

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Structure and Clear Limits

• Want to know/understand rules/limits
• Increase autonomy, desire for security
• Need/demand to be part of process
• Challenge the norm to understand
• EXAMPLE PEER MONITORING

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Creative Expression

• Natural desire to explore creativity
• Take on new interests
• Test new ideas and concepts
• Challenge authority figures
• Explore emerging identities
• Obvious to subtle changes
• EXAMPLE GRAFITTI PROGRAMS

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Learnings from the Field

• Children's programming doesnt work
• The process is the program
• Adults are important
• The gendered s words
• Leadership opportunities are programs
• Flexibility is key

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Final Thoughts.

• MARION PRICE
• Parks and Recreation Ontario
• 416-426-7065
• mprice_at_prontario.org